Chaska teen sets Olympian goal

If Tom Spargo's quest were an Olympic event, it would be a steeple chase: He's got a long way to go and there are a lot of obstacles in front of him.

But the 15-year-old Chaska High School student is determined to pursue his dream: bringing the 2020 Summer Olympics to Minnesota.

Don't laugh. He's serious.

"I've seen the benefits that the cities get from hosting the Olympics," Spargo said. "I think that it would be a good way to help Minneapolis."

The first obstacle he is striving to overcome is people's dismissive attitude toward his goal.

"I thought it would really be cool to have the Olympics here," said Spargo, who came up with the idea last year when he saw that Chicago was bidding to host the 2016 games.

In February he started a petition drive on Facebook, asking people to join his discussion group as a way to gauge interest. Within a day he had 1,000 Facebook users signed up. Within three days he had more than 5,000. Eventually, more than 70,000 people signed up.

He's not the only one who sees potential in pursuing the Games.

"It's a fantastic idea," said Rep. Melissa Hortman, a DFLer from Brooklyn Park who applauds Spargo's efforts.

She believes a successful effort by Minneapolis or St. Paul to attract the Olympics would bring in $1 billion or so in federal aid to pay for transportation and other infrastructure.

Three years ago, Hortman herself formed a task force to study bringing the Olympics here. The group disbanded last year when Chicago decided to bid for the 2016 games, but not before determining that the Twin Cities could handle the Games.

"We do have the facilities here except a stadium," Hortman said. "But it's feasible to expand the new [University of Minnesota] Gophers' stadium to hold 80,000."

"I think it's awesome what Tom is doing," she said. "When he gets into something, he really gets into it. I agree with him that we could do it all. Also, it would be a way for our sports teams to get their stadiums without us having to pay."

Spargo has run into some detractors, however. The large numbers attracted to the website also included some naysayers who tried to shut or shout down his Facebook discussion group.

Several posted comments such as: "Everyone should know that this is never going to happen." Some posters even laced their messages with vulgarities in an effort to shoot down the idea.

"I don't know why they keep spamming the board," Spargo said. "But the good thing is that there are many more positive postings than negative ones."

Reality check

He believes interest in a Minnesota bid will pick up later in the year, especially if Chicago does not land the 2016 Games and the field is wide open for another bid for 2020.

He and others believe chances are good that North America will host the Olympics in 2020 if Chicago doesn't get the 2016 games because the last Olympics here were in Atlanta in 1996. In fact, Minnesota made a bid in the late 1980s for the 1996 games and finished a close second among U.S. cities.

The International Olympic Committee will choose the 2016 host city on Oct. 2 at its session in Copenhagen.

"Right now Chicago's [bid] is going okay," Spargo said. "Hopefully Chicago won't get it and we will have a chance."