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Chicago, Tokyo don't get 2016 Olympics
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-10-02 23:42 COPENHAGEN: Tokyo were eliminated after the second round of voting for the 2016 Olympics host city.
Rio de Janeiro and Madrid go through to a final round of voting, after Chicago were eliminated in the first round. The result will be announced in a presentation due to start at 1630 GMT. It was a stunning defeat for Chicago, which was expected to be one of the two finalists. Not even the presence of President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama — nor a long list of celebrities — was enough to help the United States' third-largest city. Chicago had seemed to pick up momentum in the last few days, with many International Olympic Committee members seemingly charmed by Mrs. Obama. But when IOC president Jacques Rogge announced the results of the first vote, Chicago's name was announced. Hoping to persuade the IOC to award Chicago the 2016 Olympics, Obama and his wife led a heartfelt and, at times, very personal plea Friday. Instead of stodgy technical details, discussions of finances or computer-generated graphics, Chicago took members inside the city to show why it should win the games. Obama spoke of finally finding a home in Chicago after a nomadic childhood. Michelle Obama recounted how, growing up on the city's South Side, her disabled father taught her how to throw a ball and a "mean right hook." Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley invoked the memory of Jesse Owens. "Like so many young people, I was inspired" by the Olympics, the first lady said. "I found myself dreaming that maybe, just maybe, if I worked hard enough, I, too, could achieve something great. But I never dreamed the Olympic flame might light up lives in my neighborhood.
Chicago, competing with Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo for the 2016 Games, was the first of the finalists to make its presentation. Some of its speakers looked nervous and parts of the presentation came off as stilted. It also was surprisingly low-key, with a video featuring blues legend Buddy Guy and slick snapshots of the city the splashiest part of the presentation. But that's how it was designed, Daley said. "It's not about the words," he said. "It's about the heart and the soul." Though Chicago is the third-largest city in the United States, it is largely unknown overseas. Or, if people are familiar with it, they see it as the home of Michael Jordan and Al Capone — and not necessarily in that order. So Chicago showed videos of its picturesque lakefront, where most of the venues will be clustered, and artsy Millennium Park, which will be a gathering place for fans during the games. Schoolchildren read letters to the IOC in another video, and a teacher spoke of a troubled student who turned his life around after joining the wrestling team. Highlighting the city's diversity — "It's a place where our unity is on colorful display," Obama said — the videos featured people of different colors and nationalities, including a group of veiled women playing basketball. |
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