Chicago Selected as U.S. Bid City for 2016 Olympics

WASHINGTON, D.C., April 14. THE United States Olympic Committee chose Chicago as its bid city for the 2016 Olympic Games, opting for the Windy City over Los Angeles, a two-time host of the Games – 1932 and 1984. Now, Chicago will try to convince the International Olympic Committee that it is worthy of hosting the Olympics.

"It was a very tough decision," said USOC Chairman Peter Ueberrothy. "If I had all the power, and sometimes people accuse me of that, I would take the map and merge the two cities, because I'll tell you what, if you could take the mayors of these two communities and have them run our country, we would all be better off."

Chicago will try to become the first United States city to host the Summer Olympics since Atlanta in 1996. The 2008 Games are set for Beijing and the 2012 Games will be held in London. Expected to challenge Chicago are Madrid, Prague, Rio de Janeiro, Rome and Tokyo. The IOC will announce the 2016 host city in October 2009. Chicago's bid included an 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium that will cost $366 million.

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