Rio to Host 2016 Olympics; Chicago Spurned

Obama's Last-Minute Appeal Unable to Swing the Games Chicago's Way; Brazilian City Also Beats Out Madrid, Tokyo in IOC Vote

(CBS/AP)  The 2016 Games are going to Rio de Janeiro. Finally, South America gets an Olympics.

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 handed down by the International Olympic Committee. President Barack Obama's last-minute hop to Denmark didn't swing the games Chicago's way. He came, saw, charmed but did not conquer.

Even Tokyo, which trailed throughout the tight race, did better - eliminated after Chicago in the second round. On Rio's Copacabana beach, where the city will hold beach volleyball in 2016, the party was heading into the night. In Chicago, there was bewildered silence.

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.

"It is a time to address this imbalance," Brazil's charismatic president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, told the IOC's members before they delivered their verdict. "It is time to light the Olympic cauldron in a tropical country."

As the four cities began their final presentations, analysts say at least 25 of the 101 delegates had not made up their minds who they would vote for, reports CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar from Copenhagen.

The final result was decisive: Rio beat Madrid by 66 votes to 32. Chicago got just 18 votes in the first round, with Tokyo squeezing into the second round with 22. Madrid was leading after the first round with 28 votes, while Rio had 26.

In the second round, Tokyo was eliminated with just 20 votes. Madrid got 29, qualifying it for the final round face-off with Rio, which by then already had a strong lead, with 46 votes.

Beating three rich, more developed nations that had all previously held the games represented a giant, morale-boosting coup for Brazil, an emerging nation bounding up the ranks of the world's biggest economies but which still has millions of people living in poverty. Rio is known as much for its crime-ridden slums as for its stunning natural beauty.

Silva, a bearded former union leader, disappeared into a huge group hug with the joyous Rio team after IOC president Jacques Rogge announced the city's name. Football great Pele had tears in his eyes. Silva wept into a white handkerchief at a post-victory news conference. Brazil will now hold the world's two biggest sporting events in the space of just two years: in 2014, it is organizing the World Cup.

The slap to Chicago was such that some IOC members were left squirming. The city's plans for Olympic competition along its stunning Lake Michigan waterfront had long made it a front-runner and earned support from the highest possible level - Mr. Obama himself. His wife, Michelle, flew in two days before the vote to butter up IOC members, an essential part of the selection process. And Mr. Obama himself flew in Friday morning.

IOC members had seemed wowed, posing for photos with Mrs. Obama and taking souvenir shots of the president with their mobile phones. But, in the vote, Chicago was shunned.

"Either it was tactical voting, or a lot of people decided not to vote for Chicago whatever happened," IOC member Gerhard Heiberg said. "Nobody knows, but everybody is in a state of shock. Nobody believes it. I'm very sorry about it."

Some delegates said they were less than impressed that Mr. Obama stayed just four hours - and left before the voting even began, reports MacVicar.

Sources familiar with the Olympic committee told CBS News Chicago focused too much on celebrity at the expense of what the city has to offer.

It's estimated close to $70 million had been spent already on Chicago's Olympic campaign, reports CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds. Private money was to pay for the games themselves during which the city would maximize its lakefront locale and its existing facilities while hoping to contain an epidemic of violence that has shaken many neighborhoods.

Did Derrion Albert Beating Footage Kill Chicago's Dream?

Rio's bid, while high on romance, is not without risk. Because of Rio's high crime and murder rates, security will be a constant issue in 2016. Preparing Rio for the Olympics will cost billions of dollars - money that critics said could have been better spent on tackling the city's social problems.

But the lure of that untapped frontier proved too strong for the IOC.

"There was absolutely no flaw in the bid," Rogge said.

Added Heiberg: "We have sent out a message that we want to go global."

Now, Africa and Antarctica are the only continents never to have been awarded an Olympics.

Madrid's surprising success in reaching the final round came after former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch made an unusual appeal for the Spanish capital, reminding the IOC's members as he asked for their vote that, at age 89, "I am very near the end of my time."

Samaranch ran the IOC for 21 years before Rogge took over in 2001.

Mr. Obama himself only spent a few hours in the Danish capital and left before the result was announced.

Former IOC member Kai Holm said 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.

Added Dennis Oswald, another member: "It was a defeat for the USOC, not for Chicago."

The biggest bloc of voters on the IOC - 46 - are Europeans. The IOC's last two experiences in the United States were bad: 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.

Mr. 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."

Now, Chicago can only rue what might have been. And Mr. Obama's gamble of expending his own political capital on the bid failed.

"He didn't do too much," French IOC member Guy Drut said.

He said that the USOC's financial disputes with the IOC were still unresolved. And he said White House security unnerved some IOC members.

"This morning the city was closed because of Barack Obama," Drut said.

The last U.S. city to bid for the Summer Games, New York, did scarcely better. It was ousted in the second round in the 2005 vote that gave the 2012 Games to London.

Tokyo did better than many expected by reaching the second round. It had offered reassurances of financial security, with $4 billion already banked for the games. But the fact that the Olympics were held only last year in Asia, in Beijing, handicapped the Japanese capital's bid.

[glassactly]

What did Chicago ever have to offer, other than Oprah(Whos that, does anyone in Copanhagen know her?) and one pretty street? No one who has any intrest would pick Chicago. Its a crime ridden cesspool that only a thug would like, or a social worker.
What a wonderful thing for Rio! They can truly use the injection of $$ to their economy. Sure they have had crime and povert for generations and little hopes of anything like the olympics to help them.

[bigmike65]

To my beloved president thank you for your effort and time this decision was not your fault you gave it a go and that's all we ask for the United States will survive we have before so to all the Obama haters we shall over come

[krmopilci]

congratulations rio!it is going to be samba all the way.it was the right thing to do-instead of these cold,arrogant,conceited guys,the world will be hoisted by the people sincerely happy to be hosts.brazilian big hearts and bigger smiles are going to be a great ambassador for the olympics.once more congratulations brasileiros!

[wdrussell1]

Whitewingers cheer at America's loss.
Whitewingers cheer when Americans die from lack of health care.
Whitewingers cheer when American jobs go to China.
Whitewingers might be a lot of things but being an American is not one of them.

[stuart-johns1]

Great post. So true is'nt it. Pathetic. Just pathetic.

[stuart-johns1]

Once again the ignorant, vile republican extremists are displaying their stupidity.

Why is this Obama's personal loss??? Is'nt it America's loss? What about Japan and other nations that failed. Are their leaders all despised by the IOC as you claim Obama is? As Chicago is? You sheeple are stupid indeed.

If you're going to blame a president, why not Bush?

There is no denying Bush had a terrible impact on the world. He angered our allies and our enemies. That's fact. The last 8 years really hurt America's standing in the world. So it is entirely possible and more reasonable that if you guys are going to blame a President, blame Bush, not Obama. Obama's favorability ratings in the world are so much better than Bush's were. So how can you guys sit here and blame Obama?

I am simply saying that it's entirely possible that Bush was at least a PART of the decision to give the nod to Rio. Bush left office leaving the world angry at America. That is certainly more plausible than blaming Obama. Obama has improved relations with the world. I don't really think reputation of Bush or Obama had any effect on the IOC's decision at all. And nobody can say for certain WHY the IOC voted as they did. The most plausible factor goverening their decision was probably the simple fact that South America was due.

But if a president was at fault, my bets would be it's Bush's fault.

And as to all of you bashing Chicago as a crime capital, a mafioso haven, having an inferior infrastructure let me tell you that Rio has more murders in that city per year than Chicago ever thought of having. 2000 homicides a year. I'll let you tell me how many Chicago has. So your all wrong there too. As far as infrastructure, Rio's is far worst than Chicago's so your wrong there too. And Brazil has its version of the mafia too and they are far more deadly and overt than any mobs in America so you're wrong on that point too.

Before you anti-American fools carry on just remember that for you to sit here and slam Obama over this loss is simply un-American behavior - something that American has already grown used to from the republican extremist party.

When you delight so that Obama failed to secure the win, you are also delighting in America failing to secure the win. To me and the majority of Americans, that's un-American. Whatever happened to United We Stand????

You demand that jobs be re-established NOW (which is just immature and shows pathetic ignorance of history and economic matters). But you also delight in the fact that 350,000 jobs were lost because of this. Nearly 25 billion dollars would have been infused into our economy but none of you care about that. You just delight that Obama failed. Forget the jobs, forget the cash infusion, as long as Obama fails you guys are delighted and on these boards you act like the mentally challenged children of wrath that you are.

So all you trolls can come on these boards and gang up all you want. I am NOT impressed with any of you or any of your responses and I will defend the United States of America which you freaks are a minority in - thank God!!!

[sam-kiley]

bonjour
by whosaid1 October 2, 2009 1:37 PM EDT
Chicago would have been better served if they had NOT sent Obama. My bet is that the 101 reps who had a vote said to themselves...."just who the hell do these people think they are"!!
trés drole..
c'est ncroyable ce que vous pouvez etre mauvais perdants, et le "fair play" alors..rien n'est acquis d'avance; ils étaient quatre finalistes, ils avaient leurs atouts, les memes chances, seulement voila le bresil a su convaincre, il a gagné...tant mieux pour lui..les autres ont perdu et alors, ce ne sera que partie remise, des jeux il y en aura encore, pourquoi en faire un plat....au revoir.

[american_11-2009]

I am surprised Chicago lost the bid! In a corrupt city like Chicago controlled by an very corrupt Democrat party the committee could have made some serious money!

[brian1920]

Obama made it all about him in his speech to the committee. Not the US, but about him personally because he is the most arrogant left wing chardonnay sipping individual ever elected. This arrogance permeates everything he does. Health care is about him and his power. This is a very dangerous individual who must be reined in.

[solidoak]

Obama has never mentioned the young man who was beaten to death in Chicago. The very thugs who beat him to death are the benefactors of the welfare state and the ACORN machine, which Obama has never mentioned either after all the revelations of their corruption. But he sure went all the way to Denmark at taxpayer expense to try and sway the IOC. What a sad statement for a sitting President to make. It is telling of his political payback to make for his friends in Chicago. That's all he cares about. Sad.

[Mr_Pragmatic]

America shouldn't be shocked and surprised at not getting the Olympics. How many times has America had the Olympics? Many times. How many times has South America gotten the Olympics? Zero times.

And you Republicans, stop picking on President Obama. It's not his fault. The Spanish sent their royal couple to lobby for Madrid. They didn't get it either.

Fairness should take precedence over clout.

[bokoo143]

Well we needed a huge laugh, felt great too. Now let's run these thugs out of the USA.

[mrjoshcan]

Saturday, October 3, 2009

While at a professional banquet sponsoring Gigglygoo, Incorporated Southeast US were asked for comment about yesterdays International Olympic Committees vote declaring Rio de Janiero to Host 2016 Olympics - One sponsor stated, "I preferred and would have voted for Tokyo as host," and also saying, "Ritzy Tokyo is a much nicer city, and Rio is one town abode of corruption that needs to strictly enforce a serious curfew."

[cs4466]

I'm a big support of Democrats and President Obama.

However...

1. I don't see why the President was involved in this at all. In my opinion he should not have been. He has much more important things to be concerned about.

2. Chicago is a horrible choice. I've spent time there over the years and there is nothing special about it. A typical midwestern city that is hardly noteworthy of anything except wind and size.

3. Being selected as a city for the Olympics is quite overblown. And, so are the Olympics.

[salmoc44]

Cons believe that Obama won't live up to Bush's record and so far they may be right. After all, this far into Bush's Administration, Bush had already lost 3 thousand Americans and the World Trade Center due to his ignoring of the threat of Al-Qaeda. Obama needs to get moving.

[salmoc44]

Cons think Obama is a failure on this because a few million was spent while trying to secure several hundred thousand new jobs.

George Bush lost 15 billion dollars cash in Iraq without a trace and almost choked to death on a pretzel. Last year at CPAC, Cons greeted Bush with chants of "4 more years!, 4 more years!"

[sopheapang]

Because the U.S. is still commiting crimes against humanity in Iraq and Afganistan, acording to Richard Gerbil Gere, Mia Fartlow, and Sharon Stoned, if Chicago won, then definately it would be called a Genocide Olympics.

[The-LoM]

hallo
me was on event and it is not for race or politics..pleese dont have politics. they had theyr eyes on rio before all this.

sory for bad englesh
fred
Denmark

[ROBACA]

Just saved what few taxpayers there are left a bundle of cash. Brazil has an abundance of drug money that can easily afford the Olympics.

Good choice IOC.

[melchg07]

Did you see the video clip of "conservatives" cheering after they learned Chicago was out?

Despite the cons of having the games in Chicago it would be a boost to the American economy as a whole at the time no matter which city it was held in. I guess the GOP hate seeing jobs actually imported into this country.

I am utterly baffled at how the GOP can cheer when America loses.

[kevjustice]

The neocons only cheer america when it benefits their agenda.

[solidoak]

For a sitting President to go to Copenhagen, with his wife, and lobby to get the summer Olympics is demeaning to the office. On top of that at a cost of 1.2 mil, when we have unemployment pushing at 9.8. Just what does this guy think about, himself or the country?