Jun 4, 2008 9:30 am US/Central
Chicago On Shortlist To Host 2016 Olympics
IOC Pares 7-City Field Down To 4: Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo And Rio
ATHENS, Greece (AP) ―
Chicago was the first city called Wednesday among four cities on a shortlist of finalists to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Tokyo , Madrid, and Rio de Janeiro were also on the list. Prague, Czech Republic; Baku, Azerbaijan; and Doha, Qatar were eliminated.
The decision sets the stage for a high-profile, 16-month global bidding contest.
After the announcement, the IOC was to release a report assessing the technical merits of the bids, offering an insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates going into the final phase.
The race will end Oct. 2, 2009, when the full IOC picks the host city by secret ballot in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The 2016 campaign shapes up as a tight battle between strong candidates from the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Chicago is a contender to take the games back to the U.S. for the first time since the 1996 Atlanta Games. Madrid is back again after a third-place finish in the vote for the 2012 Olympics, which went to London.
Tokyo, which held the games in 1964, hopes to bring the Olympics to Asia eight years after Beijing. And Rio, which hosted the 2007 Pan American Games, would be the first South American city to get the Olympics.
Chicago bid leader Patrick Ryan said earlier it did not matter how many cities are in the final mix.
"Everybody has an opinion on that," he said. "What I hear is three, four or five, and hear arguments for each one of those numbers. If I'm guessing, I would say five. But what's most important is we stick to Chicago's plan. We're not looking at the number of candidates, just maximizing Chicago's potential."
Cities that made the cut will have to submit their detailed bid files to the IOC by February 12, 2009. After that, a panel of IOC experts will visit each of the cities, tour the proposed sites and meet with bid and government leaders. The panel will release an evaluation report to the IOC members a month before the October 2009 vote.
The 2016 cutoff is the centerpiece of a three-day IOC board meeting in Athens, the last before the committee gathers in Beijing on the eve of the Aug. 8-24 Olympics.
(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments