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Could Milwaukee host the Summer Olympics? This author says yes

A native Wisconsinite says hosting the Summer Games in Milwaukee may not be as far-fetched as you’d think.
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MILWAUKEE — Jay Sorgi is a news and sports reporter who spent lots of his time traveling from Milwaukee to Green Bay during his days at 620 WTMJ, imagining the legitimacy of hosting the Summer Games in the Milwaukee area.

His new book, Greater Than the Games, is an "exploratory, nonfiction novel" about this very topic.

In his book, Sorgi imagines the first day of the Summer 2028 Olympics to be held on July 19, and his book explores the first 10 days of the Games. While the 2028 games have already been awarded to Los Angeles, Sorgi's hope is the city may some day be considered for the competition.

“With that simple kick, 34 hours and 27 minutes before the start of the Opening Ceremony, the 34th Olympiad, the 2028 Summer Games of Milwaukee and the Lake Michigan Triangle, would begin,” Sorgi writes in Greater Than the Games.

2002 Winter Olympics Open
400804 47: (NEWSWEEK, US NEWS, MACLEANS AND GERMANY OUT): U.S. gold medal speed skaters Bonnie Blair and Dan Jansen carry the olympic Torch towards the Olympic Flames cauldron at the Opening Ceremony of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games at the Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium February 8, 2002 in Salt Lake City, UT. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Sorgi acknowledges the longshot of a city as small as Milwaukee hosting the Olympics, but says it may not be too far-fetched: "Could Milwaukee, with the help of its nearby neighbors, become ‘the little city that could’ and pull off the best Olympic Summer Games ever?”

The idea may be more realistic than imaginary, as 5-time Olympic gold medalist Bonnie Blair Cruikshank supports Sorgi’s hypothesis, and even wrote the foreword for Greater Than the Games.

“Years later, I finally decided to dive into what Jay shared with me, in book form, and he showed how after years of study, research and advice from many in the Olympics and Wisconsin sports community, there's actually reason that such a bid could make sense in an innovative way,” Cruikshank writes in her foreword.

To read more about the possibility of the Milwaukee Summer Olympics, Greater Than the Games is available on Amazon. Sorgi is releasing his second volume soon, as well.


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