Chicago Won’t Host the 2016 Olympics

By Amanda Pendolino on October 2nd, 2009

It’s sad news for America: Chicago, hometown of President Obama, will not host the 2016 Olympic Games. According to CNN, the International Olympic Committee eliminated both Chicago and Tokyo as contending cities this morning. There are only two cities left in the running: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Madrid, Spain.

After the cities made their presentations to the IOC, the IOC members sat down to cast their votes in a secret ballot. Only members who do not represent the competing countries are eligible to vote in the first round. A city must receive a majority of votes in order to win. If no city receives a majority, voting moves on to a second round, with the city receiving the lowest number of votes being eliminated, an IOC spokeswoman said.

President Obama had urged the IOC to pick his hometown of Chicago, saying the city represents the American dream as well as the Olympic spirit. “Chicago is a place where we strive to celebrate what makes us different, just as we celebrate what we have in common,” he said. He pointed out the city’s experience hosting the World’s Fair in 1893 and World Cup events in 1994 made it the right choice for the Olympics.