Chicago and Tokyo knocked out of 2016 Olympic voting

Despite appeals by the Obamas and Oprah, Chicago has been fallen out of the running for hosting the 2016 Summer Olympic Games at the first hurdle, gaining the least amount of votes in the first round of voting by the International Olympic Committee, quickly followed by Tokyo in round two.

This leaves Rio de Janeiro and Madrid as the two remaining candidates. The votes have already been cast in the third and final round of voting between the two cities, with the announcement due within an hour.

Chicago had been installed as favourite by betting agencies, but failed to survive the first round in an embarrassing result for President Obama, who became the first sitting US president to lobby directly for an Olympic bid.

Madrid’s bid may be hurt by the relative recency of the Barcelona games of 1992, while the fact that the continent of South America has never hosted an Olympics of either season may get Rio over the line.

Maybe it won’t be all bad for American interests. Perhaps the 2016 Rio Olympics will be sponsored by Amazon.

Related posts:

1. Obama Travels To Copenhagen; Makes Push For 2016 Olympics In Chicago
2. Election 08: Where to find voting poll locations, voting hours
3. Olympic Internet Access will be unrestricted
4. Ready for the Latest Olympic “Cover-Up”?
5. Iran admits voting fraud, stats though show it could be far larger again