(ATR) More than two years after it started, the longest campaign ever for a Summer Olympics comes to an end later today when the IOC chooses between Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.
Final presentations from the bid cities are ahead, with the most anticipated final presentation – Chicago – coming first at 8:45 am (CET). For the first time in the annals of IOC sessions, a U.S. president will speak to the members, Barack Obama hoping to woo support for his hometown. He arrives in Copenhagen aboard Air Force One at 8 am, literally minutes before the start of the Chicago presentation. While motorcades make the going quick for a president, the Bella Center is also only about 10 minutes from the Copenhagen airport.
Chicago will be followed by Tokyo, with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, just three weeks in office, joining the bid team on stage for the first time.
President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva will lead the Rio de Janeiro delegation which makes the third presentation of the day. Lula has been a constant for the Brazilian bid and is expected to ask the IOC to consider the historic nature of a first Olympics in South America.
The IOC members will break for lunch around 1 pm, reconvening an hour later for the final presentation of Madrid. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luiz Rodriguez Zapatero and King Juan Carlos will lead the Madrid delegation.
Voting by the IOC members begins at 4 pm. At most, 98 of the 106 IOC members will vote in the first round. The seven IOC members from the countries with bids are ineligible to vote while their city is in the race and IOC President Jacques Rogge won’t vote unless he has to break a tie. It’s possible some members may be absent from Copenhagen for illness or other reasons, which would lower further the number needed for a first round majority.
The city with the lowest vote count drops out in each round until one city obtains the majority of votes. The whole process should be finished within 20 minutes or so. While the cities which are eliminated will be known as they fall by the wayside, the winner will be kept secret until a ceremony at 6:30 pm.
That’s when IOC President Jacques Rogge opens the oversized envelope containing a card bearing the name of the 2016 host city.
The ceremony, with all the IOC members seated on a stage at the Bella Center, is broadcast live around the world, the signal organized by Olympic Broadcast Services, the IOC host broadcasting company.
Each of the four cities plans large public gatherings to watch the results. For Chicago and Rio de Janeiro the news will come at midday, for Madrid in the early evening, while Tokyo crowds will have to forego a night of sleep to watch the live event early in the morning of Oct. 3.
Around the Rings will provide on the scene coverage of each bid city presentation as well as the joy – and anguish – of the results of the IOC vote.
Written by Ed Hula.
Your best source of news about the Olympics is www.AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
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