Last night at about 2:00AM (Japan Standard Time (JST)), it was announced that the 2016 Summer Olympics will be hosted by Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
The four cities that were candidates to host the games in 2016 were Rio De Janeiro (Brazil), Chicago (USA), Madrid (Spain), and Tokyo (Japan).
Chicago was the first city to get eliminated in the IOC (International Olympic Committee)’s voting process yesterday, then Tokyo was eliminated…which left Madrid and Rio in the running.
At that point, they said that they would announce the winning city in 90 minutes. Was the intermission meant to add to the anticipation?
Anyways, if you click here, you can read the comments that wrote on a post I wrote last month about the four candidate cities. I wrote the comments while I was watching the IOC’s vote.
In 2016, when Brazil hosts the Olympics, it will be the first time that the Olympic Games were held in South America.
So, it’s actually good that Rio won their bid to host the games (even though I would have liked to have the Olympics here in Tokyo!).
Similarly, in 1964, when Tokyo hosted the Olympics, it was the first time that the Olympic Games were held in Asia.
(The logo of the 1964 Olympic Games hosted by Tokyo, Japan.)
Tokyo Five 
I read that the IOC would not award the Olympic to both Hiroshima and Nagasaki as it is against the Olympic Committee Bylaws which state the Olympics can be awarded to only one city. Stupid bylaw.
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I think there’s a loophole where technically one city hosts the games…but the other is “supporting” the host city.
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I like the idea of the Hiroshima/Nagasaki Olympics. In 2020, it will be the 75 year anniversary of the bombings.
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Yes, that’s right. In 2020, it will be the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
If those cities are chosen to host the Olympics, I’ll definitely be going there! Just like I went to Nagano when that city hosted the Olympics in 1998.
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Tokyo plans to submit a bid to host the 2020 Olympics since they lost their bid to host the 2016 games.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki want to host the 2020 games, as well.
I wrote a post about it:
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I joked on this blog all along that Chicago would get it…but in actuality just don’t personally think Chicago is/was a good fit.
I think the area is too confined, transportation is an issue and (obviously) organized crime/patronage are big issues here.
I don’t blame Obama for Chicago losing the games. IMO the decision was all but made long ago…the voting ceremony is just a “show” to drum up publicity for the games.
I most likely would not have attended any events even though they were close by. (Most events were going to be $75 + transportation + parking.) So it’s not like I would have enjoyed them in person.
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If Tokyo hosted the 2016 games, I probably wouldn’t have bought a ticket to any of the events either…but I was considering volunteering as a guide.
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It’s kind of funny when someone says that the Olympic Games will be held in “South America”. Of course that will happen that way, but there’s no such thing as a “South American” self-identity or an uniform culture or behavior. So that sounds strange for a Brazilian, as me. For me, that will happen in Brazil, and that’s it. If that would be in Buenos Aires, or Santiago, it would be the same as being in Chicago or even Tokyo.
The point is that South America is cultural diverse, and Brazil as a nation is very different from its partners in the rest of the continent. Our language is different, our way of living is different, and so on. Not better or worse, just different.
If there’s some kind of “macro-identification” in the region, that would be among latin-americans from south, central, and north america, represented by Mexico), and even that way, a brazilian feels brazilian, not south-american, or even latino – mostly because we speak portuguese, not spanish, and we have truly unique features in our culture.
And one thing world media (even national one) doesn’t show much: Brazilians love rock’n roll. I was trying to get a ticket for AC/DC gig in São Paulo, that will happen in a stadium for 70 thousand people. All tickets ended in the same day, so I couldn’t get it! So ok, we are the land of samba and many other rythyms, but hey, there’s much more than that and world will start to see beyond national clichés and see how great our nation is, not only a tropical joke with bananas, monkeys and hot women.
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>there’s no such thing as a “South American” self-identity or an uniform culture or behavior.
Nor “Asian”, “European”, or “African”.
>Brazil as a nation is very different from its partners in the rest of the continent.
Similarly, English people don’t consider themselves “European” and Japanese don’t consider themselves “Asian”.
Every country’s culture is unique.
So, I understand what you’re saying but there are continents…and the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo were the first in Asia, and the 2016 will be the first in South America.
>Brazilians love rock’n roll.
Yes, I know.
I saw the documentary “Global Metal” which showed the heavy metal scene in numerous countries including Japan and Brazil.
And even before I saw that documentary, I knew that many bands such as KISS and Iron Maiden have had they’re biggest concert attendance ever in Brazil.
By the way, did you see my post about the Japanese immigration to Brazil?
Click here to read it.
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Very good reply to gabriel’s points in his comments.
I agree – every nation is different (as very individual is different), but physical location allows us to group nations in regions.
One thing for sure, Brazilians do love to party so this will probably be the most festive Olympics ever … samba, samba, samba! Go Brazil.
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Thanks.
I’m sure Brazil will host a unique Olympics and it’ll be fun to watch.
But I was hoping Tokyo would get the 2016 games!
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Chicago was the 1st eliminated. That not good publicity for Obama. Not good at all. He made a mistake going there.
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I don’t it’s his fault that America didn’t get the Olympics.
If he didn’t go, and America was eliminated, more people would blame him, I’m sure.
The Japanese Prime Minister and Tokyo Governor both went there.
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All the heads of state in the final group showed up, it would have been a bigger mistake not to go.
And the US not being selected had probably very little to do with him, the US has hosted the olympics many times, it’s good to see a new country get a shot at it.
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I agree. As I wrote above, if U.S. President Obama didn’t go there he would’ve been blamed for not supporting America’s bid and that being the reason Chicago lost out.
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