Rio de Janeiro is to host the first Olympic Games in South America.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge made the announcement in Copenhagen today, to the bitter humiliation of Barack Obama.

The U.S. president was embarrassed on the world stage after the IOC rejected his very personal bid for the 2016 Olympic Games to be hosted in his home town of Chicago.

Despite the president’s unprecedented appeal,  from late afternoon on, the momentum had all been with Rio. Tokyo was also eliminated in the first round, leaving just the Brazilian capital and the Spanish city of Madrid in the running.

And after an inspirational speech from Brazilian president Lula Inacio de Silva today, some commentators were left in no doubt.

South America is the only continent that has never hosted the Games – which means that it was the only option of the four currently on the table that gives IOC chiefs the chance to make history.

‘I honestly think it is Brazil’s turn,’ Mr de Silva told the IOC Committee earlier today.

‘It is South America’s bid. This is a continent that has never held the Games.

Mr Obama was also passionate in his bid to IOC chiefs, saying the U.S. ‘is ready and eager to assume that sacred trust’.

Critics had already slammed the U.S. President and his wife, fellow Chicagoan Michelle Obama, and talkshow superstar Oprah Winfrey, for putting their political capital behind an enormous campaign to win the Olympics bid.

‘I urge you to choose Chicago,’ Mr Obama told the IOC this morning.

‘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.

Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo have been making their cases to the IOC for more than a year, but many IOC members were believed to be undecided about which city they would vote for later this afternoon.

Some said they might not decide until after the cities made their final presentations in Copenhagen.
The President claimed the IOC should choose Chicago for the same reason he picked it 25 years ago – because it’s a great and diverse city.
And he said there is nothing he would like more than to have the games just a few blocks from his own family’s home in Chicago.
Air Force One landed earlier today in the Danish capital, where he will spend less than five hours.

(Source: Daily Mail UK)