South America getting much needed attention with Olympics coming to Rio
When finding out that Chicago would not host the 2016 Olympics Summer Games, one thought crossed my mind: Go Rio.
As much as most Americans wanted the Games to be within the States, it truly is only fitting that Rio de Janeiro in Brazil be awarded the games. The modern Games have been played since 1896 and have only been hosted on four continents. The Brazilian city tried for the Games in 1936, 2004 and 2012.
With everything happening with the American infrastructure — health care reform, the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, the economic meltdown happening across the country — now is not the time to prepare for the Games, which would cost the city of Chicago about $4.8 billion, according to USA Today.
Although the United States is disappointed the Games won’t be coming here, the unity in a South American nation for the Games will be ever present. The continent is one of the last civilized continents to host the Games, with Africa being the only other one.
The benefit of Rio hosting the Games in 2016 is the stadiums and structures will all be ready anyway. Brazil is hosting the 2014 World Cup, so preparation has already begun. It also is clear the world is ready for the games to go south of the Equator once again. While most of the votes from the International Olympic Committee in the first round went to Madrid, after Chicago was eliminated, most of the U.S. city’s voters swung toward Rio.
“It is a time to address this imbalance,” Brazil’s president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said to the IOC’s members before the vote, according to espn.com. “It is time to light the Olympic cauldron in a tropical country.”
Chicago also spent a lot of money promoting the city as a “blue-green” site for the Games, a term coined to describe the environmentally-friendly setting the city proposed for the Games.
The city planted 500 plants in a rain garden to help filter runoff and reduce flooding while helping bolster its bid.
While most Americans are upset Chicago wasn’t even close to getting the Games — the city was eliminated in the first round in front of Tokyo and Madrid — the world knew it was time for Rio to host the Games.
Congrats, Rio. The spotlight will be on you for two years, between the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. The time has finally come.
