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Blu-ray Baron
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Brazil won the bid.
Good for them, at least we had a shot. 
Quote:
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (CNN) -- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee announced Friday.
Soccer legend Pele, center, celebrates with Brazil's delegation in Denmark after the announcement.
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Rio beat out Madrid, Spain, in the final round. Chicago, Illinois, and Tokyo, Japan, were eliminated in earlier rounds.
For Rio, the major appeal was bringing the Olympics to South America for the first time.
More than half of Rio's Olympic venues are built, including state-of-the-art facilities constructed for the 2007 Pan and Parapan American Games: the magnificent Joao Havelange Stadium (the proposed 2016 venue for athletics), the Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, the Rio Olympic Arena (which will host gymnastics and wheelchair basketball), the Rio Olympic Velodrome, the National Equestrian Center and its close neighbor, the National Shooting Center.
Rio will hold the Games from August 5-21 and its theme will "Live your passion." Watch Brazil delegation celebrate as Rio is announced as winner »
According to Rio's bid, the Games will be held in four zones with varying socio-economic characteristics:
• Barra, the heart of the Games, is an expanding area of Rio that will require "considerable infrastructure and accommodation development." It will house the Olympic and media villages and some venues.
• Copacabana, a world-famous beach and major tourist attraction, will host outdoor sports in temporary venues.
• Maracana, the most densely populated of the zones, will contain an athletic stadium and the Maracana Stadium, which will host the opening and closing ceremonies. Major redevelopment is planned for the zone.
Brazil told the IOC its commitment to the Olympics could be seen in the investment already under way in Rio. Maracana Stadium will close next year for two years of refurbishment.
The areas around it will be renovated, with improved access and transportation links. The entire neighborhood will reborn, the Rio committee said, to host the final of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Work is already under way on the ongoing development of the Olympic Training Center, which includes many of the state-of-the-art venues built for the 2007 Pan and Parapan American Games.
This was Madrid's third attempt at hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games.
Madrid presented a "very capable" bid, with good transportation infrastructure and a number of venues already in place, said Ed Hula, editor of the Olympics Web site Around the Rings. Watch Madrid celebrate making it to final round »
Madrid's chances might have been hampered, however, by a recent tradition that consecutive Summer Olympics aren't staged on the same continent. The London 2012 Olympics will have happened just four years before 2016.
"Although there's no rule against it, the IOC has yet to award consecutive Summer Games to the same continent since 1952 in Helsinki," Hula said.
After the cities made their presentations to the IOC on Friday, the IOC members sat down to cast their votes in a secret ballot.
Ninety-seven of the IOC's 106 members are eligible to vote in the first round; seven must sit out that round because they represent one of the countries bidding for the Games.
A city must receive a majority of votes in order to win. If no city receives a majority, voting moves on to a second round, with the city receiving the lowest number of votes being eliminated, an IOC spokeswoman said.
Friday morning, President Obama in Copenhagen urged the IOC to pick his hometown of Chicago, saying the city represents the American dream as well as the Olympic spirit.
"Chicago is a place where we strive to celebrate what makes us different, just as we celebrate what we have in common," Obama said. Watch Obama makes his pitch to IOC »
Other cities also had their country's leaders attending the meeting to support their bids.
Spain's King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia and Spanish President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was planning to push the case for Madrid, according to the Madrid 2016 bid committee.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was expected to be joined by soccer legend and Brazilian native Pele as they advertise the benefits of a Rio Games.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, just two weeks into the job, also planned to be at the vote to demonstrate the government's full backing of the Tokyo bid, the bid committee said.
"It's not a requirement for heads of state to come to our session," said the IOC spokeswoman, who asked not to be named. "We are obviously very honored if they decide to come, but there's no particular requirement.
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Last edited by Lord_Stewie; 10-02-2009 at 06:13 PM.
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