The International Olympic Committee (IOC), meeting in Denmark, has announced that the 2016 Summer Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rio was chosen from a final group of four cities -- Rio de Janeiro, Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid. The 2012 games had already been awarded to London, England.
Rio had a great argument. They pointed out that North America, Europe and Asia had already hosted the Olympics several times each, while no South American country had ever had the opportunity to host the games. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told the IOC, "It is a time to adress this imbalance. It is time to light the Olympic cauldron in a tropical country."
President Obama had flown to Denmark, but only spent a few hours in the country, and was gone before the votes were taken. Some believe the quick trip could have been taken as an insult by the IOC. I doubt that. I think they probably realized it was past time to put the games in South America.
I wouldn't have minded seeing the games in Chicago, but I have no objection to the city of Rio de Janeiro getting the games. At least they will be held in a time zone that will make it possible to see many events as they are being held -- rather than on tape delay.
Chicago was voted out in the first round of voting. Tokyo left in the second round. That left just Madrid and Rio de Janeiro. But even a personal plea for Madrid by former IOC director Juan Antonio Samaranch could not keep the Olympics from going to Rio de Janeiro in the third round of voting.
NOTE -- The above picture is of a Rio crowd as they heard their city was the winner.
I was kind of hoping for Rio.
ReplyDeleteI have to confess, when I first heard that Chicago was eliminated in the first round, I felt a twinge of Schadenfreude, after all the hoopla about Oprah and the Obamas flying to Copenhagen to lobby for the Windy City.
ReplyDeleteBut then I remembered Lake Placid in 1980, and how proud I felt when our hockey team defeated the Soviet Union (I was on a convoy from Fort Carson, Colorado to Fort Irwin, California at the time). Then I remembered watching the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics (I was in Germany at the tme) and once again being so proud to be an American. Then there were the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, when they carried in the American flag that was recovered from the ruins of the World Trade Center. Again, I felt proud to be an American.
I'm happy for Rio for getting the 2016 Olympics, but I'm a little saddened that Chicago didn't get it. We could all use the boost that Lake Placid gave us in the midst of the hostage crisis and Salt Lake City gave us in the wake of 9/11.