Blame It on Rio!

Congrats goes to Rio de Janeiro for beating out 3 major cities for the 2016 Summer Olympics!

As much as I was pulling for the city of Chicago (CHI-town), I could not help but hope that Rio would someone pull off the victory today when the IOC voted. I had been pulling for them for months since the cities which were vying were confirmed. Jacques Rogge announced that Chicago had been defeated in the 1st round and would not continue in the voting. It was a blow to the people of Chicago and to many other Americans. Tokyo was eliminated in round #2; I am sure many Asian dreams were also deflated as they went out. My hopes of Rio getting the bid were really elevated going into the final round. I was not really convinced that Madrid would get the bid as they and Rio were the final two cities left to vie for the 2016 Summer Games. I was clearly not disappointed at the final announcement because as a continent, South America has never had the pleasure of hosting any prior Olympics. They need the money as much as any of the other 3 cities do. I was disappointed at how the Chicago venue, the people who were part of the USOC, citizens or just spectators, were saying negative things about Rio. Speculations over Rio's monetary ability to play host to the games as if our country is any better off financially speaking. All countries world-wide are going through financial woes. Other further negative remarks pointed out Rio's large wave of crime. Just more shameful accusations coming from the Chicago venue as if Chicago was itself free of crime. It could very well be that the very crime, the crime plaguing the youth of Chicago lately, is what deterred the IOC from considering Chicago enough to allow it to continue beyond the 2nd round of voting. When a city such as Chicago has the kind of crime it has had involving teenagers in which they are dying and no one bothers to come forward to testify against the perpetrators, I understand why the IOC would be turned off. Indeed, I believe that the IOC was sending a clear message to Chicago that they were not the best city to host the Olympics in 2016. I am an indignant American over political pundits within the American media who say that President Obama had no business in traveling to Copenhagen, Germany to help the USOC try to make a final plea in getting Chicago the bid. That this country has enough issues for him to have stayed behind. Either way, those pundits were going to mock & chide President Obama's attempts at getting his city (rather his country) the 2016 Games. Had Obama not traveled to Germany, those same people would have blamed his lack of action for Chicago not getting the Games. Many said that Chicago and the USOC had put together a fairly weak presentation and were in need of "power players" to drive the point home to the IOC at the very last minute. The President and First Lady (Michelle) tried their best and no one should say otherwise or put them down for it. I don't know exactly what caused the IOC to drop Chicago so early in the voting. For sure I cannot say that my previous comment about Chicago's crime is what put them out of the running, but I can say that it is about time that Rio (South America) won an Olympic bid. I wish one day to see my favorite city win a bid - San Antonio, but I won't hold my breath. Until then, way to go Rio. As a proud Hispanic American Woman, I will say that at least the 2016 Games went to a Latino country. Viva Rio!