Friday, October 2, 2009
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has selected Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. IOC President Jacques Rogge made the announcement Friday in an IOC meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark on Friday.
The other three contestants, Chicago, Madrid, and Tokyo, were eliminated in earlier rounds of voting. Chicago was the first candidate city eliminated in voting, with Tokyo being dropped in the second round. Rio de Janeiro was left to compete with Madrid.
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Rogge said that Rio de Janeiro had “a very strong technical bid, built upon a vision of the Games being a celebration of the athletes and sport, as well as providing the opportunity for the city, region and country to deliver their broader long-term aspirations for the future.” He added that “this call to ‘live your passion’ clearly struck a chord with my fellow members, and we now look forward to seeing Rio de Janeiro staging the first Olympic Games on the continent of South America.”
“Rio is ready. Give us this chance and you will not regret it,” Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had told the committee before the vote. “Rio will deliver an unforgettable Games. You will see for yourselves the passion, the energy and the creativity of the Brazilian people.”
“All those people who thought we had no ability to govern this country will now learn that we can host the Olympics,” Lula had said after the winning city was named. “There is a lot of work ahead of us and we will start working early. The Brazilian people are good and generous and the country deserves it.”