The 2016 Summer Olympics officially known as the
Games of the XXXI Olympiad and as
Rio 2016, is a major international multi-sport event due to be celebrated in the tradition of the
Olympic Games, as governed by the
International Olympic Committee (
IOC).
The host city of the
Games will be
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, announced at the
121st IOC Session held in
Copenhagen, Denmark, on October 2, 2009. The games will open on the
5th of August and the closing ceremony will be on the
21st of August.
There will be 35 competition venues mainly in
Barra da Tijuca, but also in three other zones:
Copacabana,
Deodoro, and
Maracanã. It will be the first time a
South American and Lusophone city will host the event.
The bidding process for the
2016 Summer Olympic Games was officially launched on
May 16, 2007.[1] The first step for each city was to submit an initial application to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by
September 13,
2007, confirming their intention to bid. Completed official bid files, containing answers to a 25-question IOC form, were to be submitted by each applicant city by
January 14, 2008. Four candidate cities were chosen for the shortlist on June 4, 2008:
Chicago,
Madrid,
Rio de Janeiro, and
Tokyo (which hosted the
1964 Summer Olympics). The IOC did not promote
Doha to the Candidature phase, despite scoring higher than selected candidate city Rio de Janeiro, due to their intent of hosting the
Olympics in October, outside of the IOC's sporting calendar.
Prague and
Baku also failed to make the cut.[2]
Nawal El Moutawakel of
Morocco headed the 10-member
Evaluation Commission, having also chaired the evaluation commission for the
2012 Summer Olympics bids. The commission made on-site inspections in the second quarter of 2009. They issued a comprehensive technical appraisal for
IOC members on
September 2, one month before elections.[3]
There are many restrictions barring the bidding cities from communicating with or influencing directly the 115 voting members.
Cities cannot invite any IOC members to visit them and they cannot send them anything that can be construed as a gift. However, bidding cities invest large sums in their PR and media programs in an attempt to indirectly influence the IOC members by garnering domestic support, support from sports media and general international media. Jon Tibbs, a consultant on the Tokyo bid, was recently quoted as saying “Ultimately, you are communicating with just 115 people and each one has influencers and pressure groups but you are still speaking to no more than about 1,
500 people, perhaps 5,
000 in the broadest sense. It is not just about getting ads out there but it is about a targeted and very carefully planned campaign.”[4]
The final voting was held on October 2, 2009, in
Copenhagen with Chicago and Rio de Janeiro perceived as favourites to land the games. Chicago and Tokyo were eliminated after the first and second rounds of voting, respectively, while Rio de Janeiro took a significant lead over Madrid heading into the final round. The lead held and Rio de Janeiro was announced as host, becoming the first city in
South America to host an Olympic Games.
- published: 11 Oct 2014
- views: 26693