Rio wins bid for 2016 Olympics; Tokyo eliminated in 2nd round

Saturday 03rd October, 03:00 AM JST

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Blue_Tiger at 02:54 PM JST - 3rd October

Interesting, as I really didn't see Chicago as a front runner....of course, living in Japan, ir seemed that Tokyo was not only the front runner, but the ONLY runner! Anyways, thanks for the clearup, Kwaabish....
Blue_Tiger at 02:54 PM JST - 3rd October

I also agree that Tokyo sohuld give it a rest: let Osaka or some other J-City be the candidate city for 2020....
Hotbox08 at 03:00 PM JST - 3rd October

of course, living in Japan, ir seemed that Tokyo was not only the front runner, but the ONLY runner!

I guess you haven't been watching much TV then. It seems like the coverage here in Japan was dissecting every chance that the Japan Olympic committee had of getting the bid. On Mezamashi they had Japan in fourth place with Chicago (which they got wrong) and Rio on top. The whole week was nothing but story after story about these four candidates. Heck, I even saw where they showed Nadia Comaneci and Jackie Joyner Kersey getting ready for their flight to yesterday's ceremony. All last week and previous weeks were stories showing the shanty towns of Rio, and the massive subway created in Madrid.
taiko666 at 03:13 PM JST - 3rd October

Glad to see that the 2 countries with the worst immigration processes (fingerprinting)didnt get it.

And that the country that had the best immigration policy (ie fingerprinting nobody except US citizens in reprisal) did get it!

(Shame the Brazlilain policy didn't extend to Japanese visitors.)
Blue_Tiger at 03:14 PM JST - 3rd October

Actually, Hotbox06, I have. In fact, every time I turned on the TV, and there was a report about Tokyo and the bid for the Games, the media made it look like Tokyo was a sure thing and a shoo-in. In the Spring, they even belittled Rio's chances, stating that the IOC felt Tokyo was better than Rio because the infrastructure was better, and because Rio had poverty issues. Madrid wasn't even mentioned in any of the reports I saw, while Chicago was portrayed as Tokyo's only "real" competition. Of course, I don't stay glued to the television all day, but I saw a great many news reports, and all of them gave next to nothing to the rest of the candidate cities' chances, all the while, Tokyo was viewed asd the front runner, and, again, the only "real" runner for the games.
JpMoonkey at 04:01 PM JST - 3rd October

Ooh, Fleet Admiral Ishihara has lost the battle. The end of another war!
roomtemperature at 04:18 PM JST - 3rd October

Proffesor said this earlier "And the Winner is....CHICAGO! No doubt."

No further comment!
apecNetworks at 04:21 PM JST - 3rd October

Take this for what it is - an interesting observation. The four emerging economies known as BRIC is doing very well in Olympic bids. 2008-Beijing, 2012 - Sochi (Russian Federation), 2016 - Rio (Brazil). India in 2020? IOC probably is looking at other factors, but the BRIC economies' presence on the world stage is becoming significant and given more attention. Congradulations to Rio. All contenders went for the Gold, but there can only be one winner at any one time.
Hotbox08 at 06:42 PM JST - 3rd October

the media made it look like Tokyo was a sure thing and a shoo-in.

Blue Tiger, which news show was that? The ones I saw showed the public support of the Olympics being held in Tokyo as very lukewarm at best (about 50%). In fact, the only one thinking that Tokyo had any shot of hosting the Olympics was the idiot Ishihara and his cronies. The most positive support I've heard about this Olympics was where several talk show hosts saying that it would work in Japan only if it were held in a place like Fukuoka (NOT Tokyo). I would have to agree with that. Having the Olympics in Tokyo would not work and I'm glad it wasn't chosen as such.

If you watched the news program ZERO on Nippon Television (Channel 4 at about 11:00pm every night) last week, you would've seen several lengthy pieces on the infrastructure which has already been in place in Madrid. That's how I found out about the subway they have which many Spaniards love and which would've been convenient to use if Madrid had gotten the bid. They also showed the good and the bad of Rio with its lovely views of the sea, but numerous shanty towns with poverty everywhere. They also showed a piece showing how money was being spent in Chicago's bid. They even interviewed Nadia Comaneci and Jackie Joyner Kersey before they took their flights to the final presentation before the Olympic voting. Nadia even did the "Comaneci" gesture that Beat Takeshi made popular. In all the shows I saw, they kept showing this chart which detailed the ranking of the popularity and possibility of Tokyo's chances to get the Olympic bid. Every one of them had Tokyo fourth.

In any case, congrats to Rio. They deserved it since it has never been held in South America. Many Japanese stations were also saying that Rio deserved to host it since out of all of the candidates it was their turn. After all, Japan just hosted the Winter games in Nagano (1998), the U.S. just had the summer games in 1996 and winter games in 2002, and Spain just had the summer games in 1992. It was about time for a change, in not only country, but continent.
Hotbox08 at 06:48 PM JST - 3rd October

Oh, and by the way, if anything, it was the U.S. news outlets that were touting Chicago as a shoe in for the Olympic bid. In fact, on Yahoo News, they are claiming that this was (and I quote), "one of the biggest upsets in International Olympic voting history" because Chicago was eliminated in the first round.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news;_ylt=Akr8qHWtWjPny8EktNEmWos5nYcB?slug=ap-2016bids-chicago&prov=ap&type=lgns
Blue_Tiger at 09:38 PM JST - 3rd October

Didn't watch much ZERO, but I did watch NHK a lot over the last few months, and the way they were reporting things, Tokyo appeared to be THE Choice for the Olympics. Didn't even see very much on the citizenry of Tokyo being down on support. They did mention that the Tsukiji Market was being moved, and that public opinion abut that was against such a move, but as far as support or the lack thereof for Tokyo's bid, there was very little reported. NHK 7 o'clockl and 9 o'clock news respectively did a lot of puff pieces on the selection, and they made it look and sound like Tokyo was going to win, even making some pretty bogus claims about Rio de Janeiro, and how the IOC was more impressed with Toyko than Rio, as well. Channel 10 (not sure which outlet or company that is) did the same. Could be the Tokyo-based channels were simply producing biased reporting to make Tokyo look better to the citizens.

As far as Chicago and Chicago-US Television and Media, I don't know: I've seen very little US TV coverage about the Olympic Bid, so you, Hotbox08, know more about that than I do. Personally, I'm delighted that Rio won the Bid. Havng been there some years ago, I sincerely believe that hosting the Olympic Games will be an awesome, good thing for Rio and for Brazil. Congrats to Rio and Brazil!
pointofview at 09:56 PM JST - 3rd October

Good on Rio. The Brazilian people will open their arms to the rest of the world. Great news.
Hotbox08 at 11:57 AM JST - 4th October

Thanks for your opinions BlueTiger. Here is a news article backing the figures I mentioned about the low support by Japanese people for the Olympics in Tokyo:

http://cn.reuters.com/article/olympicsNews/idCNT25653420090502

It states that only 56% had supported it. Of course, the Yomiuri claimed that the figure was 70% (which in my opinion was fabricated to help Ishihara's bid). In any case, it proves that only Ishihara and his government cronies (as well as government-run NHK) supported this bid. It is no surprise that Ishihara took this poll only in Tokyo, and probably only by those close to him. Anyone outside of Tokyo could care less. It is also no surprise that only government-run NHK had Tokyo's chances ranked higher than Rio, while the other networks like Nippon TV, Fuji, and TBS were having Tokyo ranked at the bottom, with Rio, Madrid, and Chicago above it.
LostinNagoya at 10:17 AM JST - 7th October

it´s a sign of the new times, that are arriving: S. America and Africa are here too, to stay.

Chicago lost it because of the Atlanta fiasco, and the IOC is a little anti-American for a little while.

Tokyo lost it because all TVs around the world reminded us that 8 km inside Tokyo would be compact hell, not compact Olympics. Add to this recipe the clear notion that foreigners have that they are not well wished in Japan.

Madrid lost it becasue it would´nt make sense to have two Games in Europe, in a row.

And Rio got it, because their video was very emotive, S.America never had it and IOC doesn´t want to lose space to FIFA, who goes to Africa and other continents without problems.

Congrats Rio!!
1trickster at 12:51 AM JST - 8th October

Congratulations to Rio and Brazil and for the 1 medal they might win in the 2016 games.