Rio de Janeiro To Host 2016 Olympic Games

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (CNN) — Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee announced Friday.

It is the first time South America would host an Olympics event. The city has budgeted $14.4 billion to the effort, the largest amount of any of the four finalists, according to IOC figures.

The final vote was down to Rio and Madrid, Spain. In earlier voting, Chicago, Illinois, and then Tokyo, Japan, were eliminated from contention.

After the cities made their presentations to the IOC on Friday, the IOC members sat down to cast their votes in a secret ballot.

Congratulations to Brazil, and broader South America, for playing host to the 2016 Games. Strictly on the principle of rooting for the home team, I was hoping Chicago would win it. But I really can’t hate on the IOC’s decision. It’s Rio freakin’ de Janeiro! Sounds like a pretty nice place to have games hosted.

President Obama made the 11th hour decision to fly to Denmark and try to use some of his clout to lobby on his hometown’s behalf. He, along with First Lady Michelle Obama (who KILLED in her speech), were the U.S.’s best possible hand, but it didn’t work out. You have to wonder if this was a snub. U.S. media seems to think so. I don’t think President Obama would have made the trip unless the White House was given some type of assurance that his presence would make a difference. Considering that Chicago was eliminated in the first round of voting, it honestly doesn’t look like it did.

President Obama addressing the IOC.

Because everything amounts to politics, I wonder what the backlash will be. Obama’s opponents, chiefly the GOP, have been critical of Obama for flying to Denmark, arguing that there are more important priorities. Nevermind that the other candidate countries were represented by their respective leaders. Or that it was about 3am in the morning Chicago time when Obama was addressing the committee. They are the party of descent and this case was no different.

It’s going to be interesting to see what the haters say since Chicago didn’t get the games. Honestly, half of the reason I wanted them to win was simply to watch the GOP stumble over themselves to applaud Obama’s last second decision. Since that didn’t happen, I wonder if they’ll walk about with their chests inflated.

Besides Rio, there’s definitely one group of people ecstatic about this…

Chicagoans for Rio! *cough*traitors*cough*