Five Rings Unbroken
Five Rings Unbroken
October 2, 2009 – The first round of voting was finished. Countless cities and countries had spent millions in lobbying, ad campaigns, and organizing; when it was narrowed down to four candidates, millions more were spent; earlier that day, world leaders, entertainers, athletes, and more had flown to Denmark to speak in favor of the four venues; and now it was up to the members of the IOC. And after today, there would be a selection, and the location of the 2016 Olympics would be known to the world.
But first the four had to become three -- and the votes for that were now in.
Madrid -- 28 votes
Rio de Janeiro -- 26 votes
Chicago -- 21 votes
Tokyo -- 20 votes
And by the narrowest of margins, Tokyo was out of the running. In the next round 11 of the 20 Tokyo votes went to Chicago's biggest competitor, Rio leaving little enough, that Chicago once again narrowly averted elimination, gaining neither of the additional votes permitted for the second round.
Rio de Janeiro -- 38 votes
Chicago -- 30 votes
Madrid -- 29 votes
The world watched -- Obama fans in America rooting for Chicago, Brazilians in mass gatherings cheering on their city. The next round put 30 votes at play -- those who had voted for Madrid in the second, plus two more eligible votes. And the vote came in:
Chicago -- 51 votes
Rio de Janeiro -- 46 votes
Abstentions – 2
And after two narrowly averted eliminations, the Windy City was to be the venue for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. This announcement would mean many things, but at this precise moment, the American media only really had one thing to say about it -- that 2009 really was turning out to be a good year for their new President, Barack Obama.
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OOC: Yes, this is me trying to start a timeline, so long after my last one -- I figured I give one a go for my 5,000th post, and a PoD this late might give me a better chance of "completing" it this time; but we'll see. Oh, and thanks to Codae for the title
