Chicagoing.net

Olympics.org – The International Olympic Committee announced today that Chicago (USA), Tokyo (Japan), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and Madrid (Spain) have made it on to the shortlist of cities bidding to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Candidate Cities were accepted unanimously from seven Applicant Cities, which also included Prague (Czech Republic), Baku (Azerbaijan) and Doha (Qatar).

“All the bids were of a very high standard,” said IOC President Jacques Rogge.”It is a tribute to the health of the Olympic Movement that the field was so strong. I congratulate the Candidate Cities and I hope that those cities which were unsuccessful this time have benefited from the process.”

The candidate cities now advance to a 16-month campaign that will end on Oct. 2, 2009, with a secret ballot by International Olympic Committee.

For more information, visit the International Olympic Website or the Chicago 2016 website.

Olympic Candidate City

Today in Athens, Greece, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) selected Chicago as a finalist city in its bid to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Chicago is now officially a Candidate City and enters the international phase of the bid process. A special event is planned on Friday, June 6, at 11:30 AM in Daley Plaza.

This is a significant milestone for Chicago 2016 on a road that began in 2006. The United States Olympic Committee selected Chicago as the U.S. bid city in April 2007, and the bid submitted its Applicant File—an overview of its plan for the Games—in January of this year. The IOC will select a Host City on October 2, 2009, in Copenhagen.