Features

SAN FRANCISCO — Great weather, top-notch sports venues and the glint of cutting-edge technology will be the focus of a visit by U.S. Olympic Committee as San Francisco puts its best foot forward in hopes of snaring the 2012 games host city bid. 

The Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee (BASOC) is convinced that San Francisco and surrounding cities have the best chance of competing internationally for the coveted 2012 Olympic host bid. 

San Francisco is one of the remaining four U.S. cities vying for the honor. New York, Washington and Houston are the others, and the site team and USOC officials have already visited the other three. 

Upon their arrival Sunday, members of the committee began their tour with something this area knows better than any other in the country — technology. 

Each member of the site evaluation team was given shiny iPAQ personal digital assistants, small handheld computers pre-programmed to welcome them by name and offer greetings from prominent area athletes including Michael Johnson and Brandi Chastain. 

Then it was off for a fast-paced tour of the Bay Area., lunch with San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, followed by a boat cruise on the bay, a bus ride to Stanford’s sport venues, then back to San Francisco for a cable car ride and reception at a Union Square hotel.