They may still be over six years away, but for one city, the excitement (and billions of dollars worth of planning and construction) begins today. At approximately 12:30 p.m. EST, the IOC will announce the host city for the 2016 Olympic Games. According to most, Chicago is the favorite, followed closely by Rio de Janeiro, with Tokyo and Madrid rounding out the final four candidates, all of which have their share of pros and cons.
All four hopefuls already gave their Final Bid Presentations early this morning (Chicago's ended at 4 a.m. EST -- you didn't stay up for it?), which included speeches from Oprah, Michelle Obama, and her husband, President Obama.
Combining hometown pride and political muscle, President Barack Obama lobbied Olympic leaders on Friday to give the 2016 Summer Games to Chicago, saying a nation shaped by the people of the world "wants a chance to inspire it once more."
The president and his wife, fellow Chicagoan Michelle Obama, put their capital behind an enormous campaign to win the Olympics bid. Never before had a U.S. president made such an in-person appeal.
"I urge you to choose Chicago," Obama told members of the International Olympic Committee, many of whom he later mingled with as some snapped photos of him on their cell phones.
"And if you do — if we walk this path together — then I promise you this: The city of Chicago and the United States of America will make the world proud," the president said. […]
"There is nothing I would like more than to step just a few blocks from my family's home and with Michelle and our two girls welcome the world back to our neighborhood," Obama said. "At the beginning of this new century, the nation that has been shaped by people from around the world wants a chance to inspire it once more."
The official 2016 Olympic Announcement will come at 12:30 p.m. EST, and will be streamed live on the official Olympic site.
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