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Chicago Eliminated From 2016 Olympics Bid In First Round, Rio FTW

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Photograph of the shocked crowd at Daley Plaza by Marcus Gilmer/Chicagoist

[UPDATE BELOW] Chicago, welcome to how NYC felt back in 2005! The Second City was eliminated in the first round of International Olympics Committee voting for the 2016 Olympics location. One lesson: The star power of President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey is not enough to win an Olympics. The city is apparently in shock. But let's face it—if NYC wasn't getting the 2012 Olympics when times were flush, what made Chicago think they could get it during a recession?

UPDATE: It's just been announced that the 2016 Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro, which is a pretty beautiful city, but forget about getting any decent deep dish pizza there.

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Comments [rss]

  • snickerdoodle

    Chicago should be happy they dodged an Olympic-sized bullet. Daley's cronies won't be pocketing millions of dollars while taxpayers foot the bill for years and years. Chicago doesn't need the Olympics to validate their status as the best second city in the world.

  • momoran

    MO: “For the first time in my adult life, I am not proud of my husband. We sacrificed, prepped the crowd, and he comes in and blows the deal. Do you realize how long we have planned this? This was our future. Our children’s future. Now, we’ll have to devise another way to make money from our position as First Family. Valerie? Get that bitch, I mean, Hillary on the phone. We need some advice.”

  • ides_of_march

    The political puppet masters in Chicago will not be happy. They just watched a whole bunch of real estate scams go down the drain.



    Did anyone hear the speeches the Obamas made? It was all me, me, me. What a pair of spoiled narcissists.

  • Leon Freilich

    INACTION FIGURE



    Moms deliver babies



    Resorts deliver beaches



    Postmen deliver mail



    Obama delivers . . . speeches.

  • DaleyGrind

    Wow, that's clever stuff man! Can I use it!?

  • SonnyBobiche

    A friend just emailed me the best list ever on why Chicago did not get the Olympics:



    10. Dead people can't vote at IOC meetings



    9. Obama distracted by 25 min meeting with Gen. McChrystal



    8. Who cares if Obama couldn't talk the IOC into Chicago? He'll be able to talk Iran out of nukes.



    7. The impediment is Israel still building settlements.



    6. Obviously no president would have been able to acomplish it.



    5. We've been quite clear and said all along that we didn't want the Olympics.



    4. This isn't about the number of Olympics "lost", it's about the number of Olympics "saved" or "created".



    3. Clearly not enough wise Latina judges on the committee



    2. Because the IOC is racist.



    1. It's George Bush's fault.

  • farleft

    Does your friend have any hilarious lawyer jokes too?

  • hotstepper

    what is this olympics thing you speak of?

  • JenChungsBaby

    No surprise that Madrid didn't get it. It was just in Barcelona not that long ago. Either way, just keep it out of NYC please.

  • verbal

    This is great news for Rio, they absolutely deserve it. First ever games in South America, and economically makes huge sense with the World Cup there in 2014.



    Chicago never had a chance, and all of Obama's slickness wasn't going to change that.

  • ides_of_march

    What does Obama expect? He and angry old lady just spent the last 9 months telling the world what a horrid country the USA is.



    Anyway, so much for Obama's highly touted expertise at international relations. I thought the world was supposed to love us again once Obama was elected.



    Iran and North Korea won't have any qualms about telling this over-rated fraudster to get lost too.

  • farleft

    You are a genius. I hope you write a memoir. May I suggest the title, "Going Rogue"

  • billbaird

    Social Engineering?

  • NannyState

    Chicago got Brazilian waxed.

  • Wza

    I'm all for Brazilian porn.





    Oh.

    I mean..I'm all for Brazil!

    :D

  • airtech1

    Two words for Obama, Oprah, Chicago OC: postcolonial world. Go Rio.

  • SonnyBobiche

    The IOC is racist!

  • matty

    I look forward to the space olympics.

  • silver

    Why spend more taxpayer dollars on this crap during a recession? With Bloomberg's stadiums, they try to say they won't be using taxpayer money, with Olympics they don't even cover it up.

  • Ph

    And I was proven wrong. Hmm, Rio has lots of tits. I may have to actually attend that one.

  • billbaird

    Tits on a bull?

  • Spirit of 76

    Weren't the participants in ancient Olympic games usually nude? Time to go back to tradition. Beach volleyball would be interesting that way. Although the high divers usually had the best figures in the games.

  • Dead Himmler

    This was one of the dumbest political moves of all time. Obama risked a considerable amount of political capital only for getting some of his cronies in Chicago money. Flying to Denmark?? Priorities fail. War, Recession, Healthcare, Joblessness, Iran/NK nukes......2016 Oylmpic GAMES?? Dear Obama, Fire your idiot advisors and get back to fucking that chicken again.

  • dr zippy

    While this was a dumb way to spend presidential prestige, I highly doubt the Olympics took more than a tiny fraction of Obama's worktime. It probably didn't even take up more than a small portion of the flight time over to Copenhagen.

  • momoran

    That may be true? But, it sure ate up alot of taxpayer hard earned dollars!

  • Ph

    Yeah and like bush didn't play a whole lot of fucking golf while his cronies were (wait for the hyperbole!) dismantling the constitution and fighting two wars, one of which is still considered unjust by conventional wisdom.

  • SonnyBobiche

    Dismantling the Constitution? Hate (Love, actually) to remind you, but Obama has kept every executive order and law that Bush pushed, including extraordinary renditions.

  • Dead Himmler

    Why are you bringing up the idiot Bush?? Is he now the measuring stick to compare Obama with? I voted for Obama and support him. Im just calling it how it is.

  • billbaird

    So what your point?

  • Matt Joyce

    Rio has a lot of soccer stadiums. They can easily be retrofitted for a number of other uses.

  • Peter

    Rio and Madrid are the main remaining candidates. I imagine Rio will get the nod, as giving the Olympics to Madrid would mean two in a row and three of the last four would be in Europe.

  • Ph

    They probably didn't want to give it to us considering how many times we've hosted both types of olympiads in recent memory. Lets look back, shall we?



    We've hosted the summer olympics four times since they started the modern games, more than any other country.



    We've also hosted the winter olympics 4 times.



    Sad thing is, we're one of the few countries that actually has the money and infrastructure to pull it off relatively easily. I'd be surprised if Rio even gets considered. If Greece almost completely missed the ball in 2004, I don't think they're going to fare much better.

  • billbaird

    Yea, Right!

  • nicemarmot

    Please, like Chicago would be any better for the Olympics than NYC? They would both be utterly awful. Just like Beijing sucked last year.

  • Kevin Walsh

    Chicago 2016: sigh of despair



    NYC 2012: sigh of relief



    www.forgotten-ny.com

  • DaleyGrind

    Nah. I've yet to talk with anyone here in Chicago who's too upset about the decision. A bit surprised - yes - especially with the round one bit.



    Most of us were pretty indifferent from the start and a good number of us are glad that - for once - Daley wasn't able to bully his way to a win.

  • matty

    It's pretty clear that Chicago wasn't even in the running. If all that start power couldn't seal the deal, we never had a chance to begin with.



    OH WELL!



    Also, I'll never forget how bad I felt and Baku, Azerbaijan failed to make it to the final round.



    A look back...



    http://www.2016baku.org/

  • ANGRYGOD11

    Cheer up Chicago.

    With terrorism and heightened security, it's just not worth it.

  • BarneyFrankfurter

    “Eloquence, Persuasiveness”

  • billbaird

    I guess they forgot their teleprompters?

  • farleft

    I blame Oprah.

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