COPENHAGEN, Denmark, October 2. AFTER a dramatic day that featured a surprising ousting of Chicago in the first round of voting, Rio de Janeiro earned hosting duties for the 2016 Olympic Games as announced by the International Olympic Committee today in Denmark.
The final two cites of Rio de Janeiro and Madrid each had an ace of its sleeves. Rio built its bid on the fact that South America had never hosted an Olympics. The Olympic movement has always promoted itself as comprising representatives from all corners of the globe coming together under a single Olympism banner. The fact that the Olympics have yet to plant its flag in an entire continent must have been a big part of Rio's success.
From a purely swimming standpoint, we are assured of no morning finals conversation for the 2016 Olympics since Rio is in a similar time zone to the droves of fans watching NBC in the U.S.
Madrid, meanwhile, had former International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch pushing for Madrid to win the 2016 Olympics hosting duties. Having an honorary lifetime president of the IOC making a pitch for the city definitely made a huge impact on the final voting. However, having two straight summer Olympics on the same continent with London hosting in 2012 likely swayed voters towards Rio.
Tokyo fell out during the second round of voting despite an aggressive media campaign that included most of its past Olympians continually supporting its bid.
Even President Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey could not move Chicago past the issues the city faced in the final four round. In the past week, media outlets around the world continued to state that Chicago had too much crime and not enough of a desire from its populace to play host to the 2016 Olympics. In the end, Chicago fell out in the first round of voting.
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October 2, 2009 "Chicago had too much crime"
LOL And the crime rate in Rio is??? Submitted by: swimfin12
October 2, 2009 from wikipedia
Despite its charm and beauty, Rio is reputed to be one of the most violent cities in the world [6][7][8] and motivated movies such as Bus 174, City of God and Elite Squad portraying severe social issues. Much of the violent crime is concentrated in the favelas or shantytowns but it also spills into middle- and upper-income neighborhoods. In Rio, unlike other major cities, many of the slums are directly adjacent to some of the wealthiest areas of the city.
Now that sounds attractive. Let me bodyguards now. Submitted by: swimfin12
October 2, 2009 I remember one of the major complaints re Los Angeles getting the nod for the 1984 Games (besides the smog and traffic) was the crime. Well, many people were forced to eat their predictions when the traffic and smog was kept to a minimum as was the crime. LA was a huge success. I hope the same for Rio. It is exciting that one of the world's most beautiful and exciting cities will be hosting the Olympics. My bet is that they will succeed in dividends! Submitted by: paddles
October 2, 2009 Swimfin is right. Rio has a huge problem with crime. The problem with Brazil, as with much of Latin America, is that there is a tiny upper class which controls most of the wealth, a smallish middle class, and a huge underclass. The favelas down there are huge and growing, and if you want to get a sense of the place, rent the DVD of City of God. Even Vanderlei Silva, the fearsome mixed martial artist known as "The Axe Murderer" -- and who looked the part -- was carjacked in Rio a few years ago ago back when he was at the height of his (steroid-assisted) powers. The police down there are known to be equally lawless, and have long been rumored to have death squads which go into the favelas and just kill people thought to be criminals. There's no way this problem doesn't rear its head in 2016. Submitted by: halfbreed
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