Deserved victory for Rio and South America

For a time, the international media focused on lobbying efforts by U.S. President Barack Obama, a Chicagoan, who together with his wife, first lady Michelle Obama, personally lobbied IOC delegates in Copenhagan to choose Chicago. In spite of Obama's massive star power and the accompanying international media onslaught, delegates still had the courage to make the right choice by picking the South American metropolis.

Rio is well-known around the world, both for being a major international city and as home to such international celebrities as football legend Pele, World Cup-famous football team manager Alberto Parreira, author Paulo Coelho and tennis ace Gustavo Kuerten.

The selection of Rio is nothing less than a historic victory for Brazil and all of South America. After all, this will be the first time since the modern Olympic Games started being held in 1896 that the event has been organized on the South American continent.

It will be only the second time in the event's history for the Olympic Games to be held in a Latin American country following the successful 1968 Summer Games in Mexico City. This will also mark only the second time that an Olympiad is being held in the southern hemisphere following Sydney in 2000.

The time was long overdue for the Olympic Games to be held in South America. Three times have proven to be a charm for Rio, which had already made failed bids for the 2004 and 2012 Games.

While the city of Chicago is surely disappointed, the United States has already hosted the Olympics four times, including twice in recent memory in 1984 and 1996. Spain has only hosted the Summer Games once with the 1992 Barcelona Games. But since the Games are only held once every four years, this is still very recent and fresh in the memories of people around the world.

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