On October 2nd, many people were shocked to see Chicago had been the first to be eliminated in the bid for hosting the 2016 summer Olympics. Despite being a top candidate, Mayor Daley’s hard work and President Obama’s speech, Rio de Janeiro won the votes.
Rio’s central argument for their candidacy was that all of the Olympics had been hosted in the Northern Hemisphere. The only exceptions are in Australia—which hosted the summer Olympics in 1956 and 2000. Some of Rio’s other strengths was the fact that they are used to hosting major events, specifically the soccer World Cup which will take place in 2014. This, combined with the fact that they bid 14 billion dollars—twice the size of the second highest bid—led Rio to emerge on top.
But the real question is why Chicago got eliminated in the first round. The truth is that Chicago did not really have a good argument. Apart from Barack’s and Michelle’s inspirational speeches, Chicago did not really address any of the bigger issues, such as security. When questioned about it, the only answer given was that Chicago was a safe city, safer than Rio.
Despite being known as a crime ridden city, Rio has pledged to do better. With President of Brazil Lula da Silva’s approval ratings being around eighty-five percent, Brazil’s chances of getting rid of Rio’s bad reputation is high. Also, the majority of the population in Rio supported the prospect of hosting the Olympics. This, along with the fact that Rio had more support on the Olympic Committee, helped with the defeat of Chicago, who only had two other countries vouching for them.
Even with this huge blow to Chicago’s morale, the knowledge that there is always the future to host the Olympics keeps people’s spirits from plummeting.
Jessica Marone, Staff Writer
