Rio de Janeiro / South America Take 2016 Olympic/Paralympic Bid

Late Friday in Copenhagen, the IOC came to a decision on the host city for the XXXI Olympiad. Much to the disappointment of US athletes and supporters, Chicago was the first of the four finalists (Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo) to be eliminated. Many US reporters, analysts, and experts thought Chicago was the best bid the USOC had ever put forth, so to head into the weekend with an 'L' in the win column is frustrating to say the least. Although there are many speculations as to why Chicago was not awarded the bid including, but not limited to, recent leadership changes within the USOC, as well as disputes with the IOC over broadcast deals and revenue shares, I thought this would be an appropriate time to explain how the IOC conducts the vote for a host city.

VOTING PROCESS: IOC members vote by secret ballot until one city receives a majority. The city receiving the fewest votes is eliminated after each round. The maximum number of rounds is three.

HOW MANY: The IOC has 106 members. Its president, Jacques Rogge, doesn't vote. Members from a country with a bid city in the race are ineligible to vote as long as that city is still in contention. That means 97 members are eligible to vote in the first round, more in subsequent rounds. In the event of a two-city tie in the early rounds, a runoff is held between the cities. If there is a tie in the final round, Rogge can vote or ask the IOC executive board to break the deadlock.

IOC MEMBERS BY CONTINENT:
Europe: 46
Asia: 23
Africa: 15
North America: 13
South America: 5
Oceania: 4

PRESENTATIONS: Each city makes 45-minute presentations to the IOC members on the day of the vote, with another 15 minutes for questions and answers.

That being said, the final stage of the IOC’s Olympic bid process is a lot more like the CBS reality show, Big Brother than the NCAA’s Bracket-Style Basketball Tournament, the Final Four and to some extent it goes against everything we know to be true in swimming. Most notably, in sports some sort of head-to-head competition is held in which the best team and/or individuals advance. In Basketball this would be advancing from the Final Four to the Finals. In Swimming this would be advancing from the Preliminary Heats or Semi-Finals to the Championship Final. In both cases, those who don’t perform, don’t advance. In Big Brother, as well as many other reality shows, the case is quite different. Players who are considered ‘strong’ are often over thrown and ousted in early rounds through alliances and political play. This often times creates a path of less resistance for the ‘strong’ players that remain by allowing a ‘weak’ player to advance.

Was this the case for the 2016 Olympic Bid? I cannot say, but Rio is only an hour ahead of EST, so that means there is a good chance that Finals will be held at night and we will be able to watch live coverage at home.