In an announcement that stunned the city of Chicago, the International Olympic Committee announced on Friday morning in Denmark that of the four hopefuls, the Windy City was the first to be eliminated from contention in early balloting. The decision on who would win the 2016 Olympic hosting duties continued in Copenhagen with the elimination of Tokya and Madrid.
Heavy favorite Rio de Janeiro won the balloting and will host the 2016 Olympics–the first time the games will be held in South America. The big event is scheduled for August 5-21, 2016, and will feature 26 sports and a total of 38 disciplines. The 2016 Summer Paralympics will be held in the same host city and will be organized by the same committee.
The team presenting Chicago’s plan had several high profile people on hand to lend their support, including Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama.
The plan focused on clustering Olympic venues in parkland along the Lake Michigan shores but not everyone in Chicago favored the prospect of such an undertaking. Public sentiment dipped to 47 percent, with many worried that taxpayers might end up footing the bill if the games didn’t reap the monetary rewards as expected.
View more photos below – click to expand. We’ve also included a video report from Copenhagen.