Bringing a handful of the world's top Olympians to Seattle for a summer sportsfest seemed like a pretty big idea when it was hatched last year.

Well, it's gotten bigger.

Turns out that more than a few top athletes from a few top nations wanted to drop in on Seattle from June 7-12. So the event, originally billed as the U.S./China Sports Summit, has grown in scope and taken on a new name: The Pacific Rim Sports Summit.

Now on board are folks from seven other nations — Canada, China, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand, with some participation by the Russians still being discussed.

Representatives of each nation are arriving in Seattle today for several days of meetings with Bob Walsh's Seattle Organizing Committee.

The goal: Nail down details, firm up the schedule — and, it is hoped, secure China's commitment to host a similar event in the summer of 2006, with Seattle picking up the reins again in 2007 to set the stage for the 2008 Beijing Games.

On Thursday, the Olympic delegates will bus to Vancouver, B.C., to meet with 2010 Games organizers.

Future Olympics 2006 (Winter): Turin, Italy 2008 (Summer): Beijing 2010 (Winter): Vancouver, B.C.

Seattle, for good reasons, has had its struggles putting together its own Games bid. But reports from TV networks, not to mention our own feedback here at the newspaper, show the Puget Sound area to be one of the nation's most reliable hotspots in terms of Olympic interest.

And we're pretty sure this is in spite of Bob Costas.

The summit's sports will be those previously advertised: men's and women's basketball; track and field; archery; women's softball; men's indoor volleyball; synchronized swimming; diving; track cycling; gymnastics; short-track speedskating; curling; and, perhaps, a figure-skating exhibition.

Competition will be spread from Tacoma to Everett, using most of the major sports facilities in the community. Dates have been secured for all, and contracts for most, Walsh says.

So when do locals start getting the sales pitch? Later this month. An ad campaign will be launched, a news conference will be attended by USOC brass and athletes, and organizers will announce the schedule, major sponsors and other details, including a TV deal with NBC.

Shortly after that, tickets will go on sale, probably in early February.

Still waiting for the other shoe to drop? It won't, says Walsh. The Summit's roughly $10 million budget will come from private financing.

As is usually the case with all things Walsh, the Pac Rim Summit probably won't prove to be an end unto itself.

We know what you're thinking: Pull it off, and Seattle gets back on the train for a future Summer Olympics bid. Walsh clearly still hungers for a full Games here.

But acknowledging substantial public resistance to the previous failed attempt, which foundered in 1998, he's setting his sights lower in the short term.

Walsh hopes a successful event here will solidify Seattle's good-sport image with the USOC, possibly bringing Olympic trials and other medium-scale showcase events here long into the future.

The organization has nothing but respect for Walsh and other leaders who have willingly stepped up to the plate to showcase Olympic sports, the USOC's Steve Brunner told The Times recently. Seattle is one of a handful of select cities, in fact, that the USOC will court for long-term relationships, which includes finding homes for national events long considered plums, including Olympic trials.

The Pac Rim Summit will be one of only two sub-Olympic "international-elite" competitions on the USOC's annual schedule, the other being the smaller Titan Games.

Nobody is saying much beyond that at this point. Given this city's stadium hangover and sluggish economy, that might be a good thing for now.

But don't be surprised if the Games' drumbeat is heard again, even if it's by a drummer other than Walsh.

• We know the words "Portland" and "figure skating" conjure all sorts of frightening, childhood, Tonya Harding memories. But put all that aside because America's best jumpers and twirlers are Northwest-bound for the National Figure Skating Championships, all this week in the Rose City. The big story: Michelle Kwan seeks her ninth U.S. title, eighth in a row, and begins to answer these questions: Can she finally put it all together for an Olympics, and after the disappointment of the last two, will she try again?

• Remember local bobsled heroine Jill Bakken, the Lake Washington High School grad and surprise gold medalist in the Salt Lake Games? She suffered through back injuries after Salt Lake but is finally back in the sleigh — and winning. After a series of victories on bobsled's second-tier circuit, word is that Bakken is bound for a return to the World Cup circuit to do battle with, among others, our old friend (and world bad-karma-collecting champion) "Mean Jean" Racine.

• We told you to watch out for the U.S. Ski Team, and it continues to produce, with Bode Miller leading the overall World Cup standings and young Lindsey Kildow of Vail, Colo., suddenly eating up the women's tour. It's infectious, too: Tom Rothrock of Spokane/Cashmere posted his best World Cup slalom finish, sixth, a couple weeks ago — on the Sestriere, Italy, course that will host '06 Olympics events.

Ron Judd: 206-464-8280 or at rjudd@seattletimes.com