2016 Olympics Vote Results

Written on October 3, 2009 – 5:43 am | by admin | | Tags: 2016 olympics, 2016 olympics announcement, 2016 Olympics Vote Results, Chicago Olympic Bid, Chicago Olympics, IOC 2016 Olympics Vote, Ioc Vote, Olympics, Olympics 2016

Rio de Janeiro Wins 2016 Olympics Vote

rio olympics 2016 pictures

It’s a surprise. Rio de Janeiro hit all the right notes on the IOC 2016 Olympics Vote, just like sweet sultry samba music. Tokyo had $4 billion in the bank. Chicago had Barack Obama. Madrid had powerful friends. But none of that mattered. Rio de Janeiro had the enchanting story of about 400 million sports-mad people on a giant untapped and vibrant continent yearning, hoping, that the Olympics finally might come to them. And the International Olympic Committee was hooked.

On a chilly Danish evening of high drama, the IOC 2016 Olympics Vote Results on Friday sent the games of the 31st Olympiad to Brazil’s bustling, fun-loving but crime-ridden city of beaches and mountains, romance and slums.

The IOC closed its eyes to the risks, the huge projected costs of the Rio Games, the concerns about how athletes will get around and where people will sleep, to focus on the reward of lighting the Olympic cauldron in one of the last corners of the globe yet to be bathed by its light.

“It is Brazil’s time,” said the country’s charismatic president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

rio de janeiro won 2016 olympics pictures
Maracana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, for the 2016 Olympics

Chicago was knocked out in the first round, in one of the most shocking defeats ever handed down by the committee of former Olympians, sports administrators, royals and other VIPs.

While blues legend Buddy Guy twanged “Sweet Home Chicago” in a promotional video the city played to the IOC, bad blood between the committee and its U.S. branch, they’ve had flare-ups over revenue sharing and lucrative broadcasting rights, proved to be a note of discord. IOC members said the slap to Chicago was more directed at the U.S. Olympic Committee than to the Windy City itself.

The win 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.