Who will host the 2016 Olympics? That’s the question on everyone’s mind today and people ask what the International Olympic Committee is thinking. The 2016 Summer Olympics, (officially “the Games of the XXXI Olympiad,”) are still just in the planning phase. Not much has been built yet. No homes have been prepared for the athletes, no new stadiums are going up, but still, many cities had lined up around the world to bid for the Olympic glory. Twenty-Six cities to be exact, had shown some interest in trying to host the games, from Bangkok to Delhi from Doha to Dubai, but now it is down to just four contenders. Four cities on four continents who are hoping to have Olympic glory grace their shores. And only one will succeed. Here is a breakdown of the cities and their bids:
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Chicago’s says that it has 15 different sports venues already built within the city and that it would build one new venue plus an Olympic Village in order to host the games. The city has also said it would build nine more temporary structures to help house the Olympic games – places that would be scrapped and replaced by something else once the games are over.
The city has also guaranteed at least $750 Million toward the costs of the games and is hoping to raise $2 Billion in sponsorships for the games. That is a huge burden for the city, especially considering the recession that is gripping much of the Western world, thus again leaving open the question of who will host the 2016 Olympics?
Madrid, Spain
Madrid certainly has the backing of its’ citizenry, but they have problems with infrastructure. Many of the venues that would be needed for the Games are not yet built and they would need to complete everything in record time, making for a serious concern about the viability of their bid.
One thing in their favor though is that unlike Chicago, the plans they have drawn up do show them using the buildings of the Olympic Village for other purposes once the games are concluded. While the prime concern is hosting successful games, having an impact on a city’s landscape and not causing massive amounts of waste is equally important.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rio Rio has one thing going for it: They have never hosted the Olympic games and there has in fact never been an Olympic games anywhere in South America in the history of the games. This is a powerful emotional bid for them. That fact itself however may not be enough. They lack public transportation to get around the city and frankly, the 2014 World Cup will be held here so it’s not like international competitions never come.
Tokyo, Japan
Just 55 percent of the residents of this bustling metropolis support bringing the Olympics to their town.
In addition to that issue, while the money is there for the bids and no one is concerned about that, the public transportation situation in Tokyo leaves much to be desired.
So who will host the 2016 Olympics? At this point, it’s anyone’s guess.