Brazilians celebrate at Copacabana beach following the announcement that Rio de Janeiro won the race to host the 2016 Olympic Games.
In a leap of faith that recognized Brazil's status as an emerging global player, the International Olympic Committee today awarded the 2016 Summer Olympic Games to Rio de Janeiro, the first time the mega-event will be held in a South American nation.
The announcement in Copenhagen that Rio beat out Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid unleashed a joyous celebration in Rio, where Brazil has promised to spend $14 billion to prepare for the event in the face of daunting logistic and social challenges.
“The decision is a homage to the people of Rio who normally only appear in newspaper pages with bad news," said a teary-eyed Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who traveled to Copenhagen to make a final pitch for the Games. “I confess to you that, if I died now, my life would have been worthwhile."
Today's announcement dashed the hopes of U.S. boosters -- President Obama chief among them -- who had put their reputations on the line to help win the games for Chicago.
Word came from the IOC as Obama and the first lady headed back to Washington, hours after making a last-minute appeal in Copenhagen for their hometown. Lula asked the Olympic panel to choose a country that has never hosted the Games.
“The opportunity now is to expand the Games to new continents," he told the panel in his presentation. “Light the caldron in a tropical country, in the most beautiful of cities. Send a powerful message to the world that the Olympic Games belong to all people, all continents, and to all humanity."
Nearly 50,000 people cheered in Rio de Janeiro as their city was announced as the winner, jumping and shouting in a Carnaval-like party on Copacabana beach.
A huge roar was heard at the famed beach the moment IOC President Jacques Rogge said the words “Rio de Janeiro" to announce the winner.
Some of the cost and planning will be shared with Brazil's preparations to host the 2014 World Cup soccer match. In a transit plan that still has not been fully publicized, Rio will construct a series of express bus lanes to ferry athletes, officials and the press around the city. The city's mountains and lagoons limit mass transit options and the short subway system will add just a few stops.
In Chicago, the news of the city's elimination came as a shock. It had long been viewed as a front-runner. But the emotional appeals from Obama and his wife, Michelle, fell on deaf ears in the European-dominated IOC.
