KEN SMITH
W o m aha w orl d - heral d
Harold Cliff Sports Wizard
hen the 2005 World Aquatics Championships was veering off-course in Montreal, Harold Cliff stepped in at the request of the host city’s mayor and did more than save the day. The Canadian Olympic Committee hailed him for producing one of the most successful World Championships ever. Two years later, Cliff was running the World Championships in Melbourne, Australia, followed by the 2008 U.S. Olympic Trials – Swimming in Omaha. After 2008, Cliff was hired as president of the Omaha Sports Commission, and led the charge in getting back the trials for 2012. In January, he’ll oversee the 2013 U.S. Figure Skating Championships at CenturyLink Center Omaha. “Harold under-promises and over-delivers,” said Harley Schrager, co-chairman of the 2012 Olympic swim trials. The Canadian-born Cliff takes pride in it all running without a hitch. And keeping the hiccups not only to a minimum, but unnoticed by the untrained eye. Cliff said the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority, which runs CenturyLink Center Omaha, has a can-do attitude, starting with President and CEO Roger Dixon. That can’t be underestimated when you’re putting an Olympic-sized pool in the arena and convention center, and letting the building be overrun by more than 1,800 swimmers and nightly crowds of 12,000-plus. “You don’t get the ‘no’ with them. You get, ‘Hmm, let’s see how we can do it,’” Cliff said. “And some of these can be pretty darn unreasonable requests. They don’t complain.”
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