2016 Olympics Bidders Launch Bidding Process

2016 Olympics Bidders Launch Bidding Process

Four cities bidding for the 2016 Olympic Games unveiled the bidding process with a series of presentations to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and top sports officials in Denver on Thursday.
Chicago, Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro were each given 20 minutes to explain their Olympic vision and they duly obliged by rolling out catchy slogans with flashy videos featuring ambitious plans for stadiums and athletes villages.

While there will be many more opportunities to press their cases before the IOC selects the 2016 host in Copenhagen on Oct. 2,Thursday's presentations at the SportAccord convention were viewed as one of the most significant.

All four cities highlighted the compactness of their bids and passion for the Olympics.

Chicago, however, stood out as the only bid that failed to address a withering world economy and how the city would pay for the multi-billion dollar project.

While the other three candidates outlined a long string of government guarantees stressing financial security in turbulent economic times, the U.S. chose to focus on another message by highlighting the city's diversity and love of sport.

Bidding to become the first South American country to host an Olympics, Rio delivered the day's most passionate presentation that was backed by a pledge from all three levels of government to cover a staggering 14.4 billion US dollars budget.

Even with most of the facilities in place as part of the legacy of the 2007 Pan Am Games, the sprawling city will need to inject billions into infrastructure projects.