COPENHAGEN (AP)—Finally, South America gets an Olympics. The 2016 Games are going to Rio de Janeiro.
In a vote of high drama, the bustling Brazilian carnival city of beaches, mountains and samba beat surprise finalist Madrid, which got a big helping hand from a very influential friend.
Chicago was knocked out in the first round—in one of the most shocking defeats ever in International Olympic Committee voting. Even Tokyo, which had trailed throughout the race, did better—eliminated after Chicago in the second round.
Rio spoke to IOC members’ consciences: the city argued that it was simply unfair that South America has never hosted the games, while Europe, Asia and North America have done so repeatedly. Chicago had long been seen as a front-runner and got the highest possible level of support—from President Barack Obama himself. But he only spent a few hours in the Danish capital where the vote was held and left before the result was announced. Former IOC member Kai Holm said that the brevity of his appearance may have counted against him.
The short stopover was “too business-like,” Holm said. “It can be that some IOC members see it as a lack of respect.”
Senior Australian IOC member Kevan Gosper surmised that Asian voters may have banded together for Tokyo in the first round, at Chicago’s expense.
“I’m shocked,” Gosper said. “The whole thing doesn’t make sense other than there has been a stupid bloc vote.”
He worried that the shock exit could do “untold damage” to the already testy relations between the IOC and the U.S. Olympic Committee. They had recent flare-ups over revenue sharing and a USOC TV network.
“To have the president of the United States and his wife personally appear, then this should happen in the first round is awful and totally undeserving,” Gosper said.
The European-dominated IOC’s last two experiences in the United States were marked by controversy: the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics were sullied by a bribery scandal and logistical problems and a bombing hit the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
Obama had held out the enticing prospect of a Chicago games helping to reconnect the United States with the world after the presidency of George W. Bush. He told the IOC earlier Friday that the “full force of the White House” would be applied so “visitors from all around the world feel welcome and will come away with a sense of the incredible diversity of the American people.”
TO ALL MY CHICAGOANS
Let me be the first to say I AM GLAD CHICAGO DIDNT GET THE OLYMPICS what is going on with you people in that city GET FREAKING REAL did you not see in the last 2 weeks the news, first a guy was shot TO DEATH in his head during road rage, then a 16 year old straight A high school student was beat to death by 20 people, then another lil 12yo kid was beat in the head with a pole 2 days ago and is in ER as we speak OLYMPICS MY ASS.. Try 2024 THANKS BUT NO THANKS CHICAGO!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment