The race to host 2016

Host City gathers opinions from the bid committees of Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro to evaluate their prospects of hosting the Summer Olympic Games

With just over a year until the International Olympic Committee announces the 2016 Olympic host city, the four cities in the race to stage the Games are ramping up their international promotional activities. Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro launched their international campaigns in the summer after being shortlisted by the IOC Executive Board meeting at the SportAccord conference in Athens on 4 June 2008.

The opening ceremony of the Pan American Games in Rio
de Janiero’s 92,000 capacity Maracană Stadium – due
to host the 2014 World Cup final and central to the 2016 bid

Their sights are set on 2 October 2009, when the full IOC membership will decide the 2016 host in a secret ballot at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen.

The candidate cities were selected from seven applicant cities. Baku, Prague and, controversially, Doha missed the cut. “All the bids were of a very high standard,” commented IOC President Jacques Rogge in a statement. “It is a tribute to the health of the Olympic Movement that the field was so strong.”

Knockout blow
Rogge’s words did little to placate Doha officials, who were left shocked and stunned after their bid was eliminated. The first Middle Eastern city to make a serious pitch for the Olympics even achieved some higher ratings than Chicago and/or Rio de Janeiro in eight of the 11 categories in the IOC's evaluation report on the applicant cities. The Qatari capital, which held a largely successful 2006 Asian Games, planned to hold the Olympics in mid-October to avoid the searing summer heat. But the IOC decided not to grant an exception to its window for the Summer Games – a July 15 to August 31 time frame – as Doha's dates conflicted with the international sporting calendar.

“It's a pity they have closed the door on the Middle East,” said Hassan Ali Bin Ali, chair of Doha 2016, after hearing of the IOC decision. “If it's going to Asia, Europe and the Americas, I don't know why they want us in the Olympic Movement if they are going to talk about the weather.”

Chicago confronts transport shortcomings
The IOC short list was based on a technical assessment of the applicant cities’ files submitted earlier this year, which covered elements such as venues, transport, accommodation and security.

To many, Chicago's heavyweight backing – in the form of Chicago native and US presidential hopeful Barack Obama – combined with good infrastructure and money makes it a strong contender to stage the 2016 Olympics. After all, America has not hosted a Summer Olympics since Atlanta in 1996. Chicago has a compact venues plan based around the shores of Lake Michigan – the Olympic Village would be near 19 sports venues, and 91 per cent of the athletes would be within 15 minutes of their competition venues.

But the IOC's evaluation report tells a different story. Madrid and Tokyo emerged as the frontrunners, achieving higher ratings than Chicago and Rio de Janeiro in a number of categories including sports venues, general infrastructure, environmental conditions and impact, transportation, and overall project and legacy.

However, if previous bid races are anything to go by, no one expects the IOC voting in Copenhagen to echo the rankings in this report. It should be remembered that London was the underdog before defeating Paris by just four votes at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore on 6 July 2005.

Chicago's bid was marked down due to its aging mass transit system and lack of detail concerning inter-cluster transport along with spectator, volunteer and workforce transport operations. The IOC also considered the construction budgets appear low and might warrant review.

In comments to media about the IOC's feedback, Patrick Ryan, CEO of Chicago 2016, said: “It will prove invaluable to us as we refine and strengthen our plan in the coming months.”

Spanish confidence
Despite a glowing appraisal of their plans, Madrid and Tokyo see the ratings as merely pointers to the technical areas on which they need to improve. This was summed up by Spanish sports minister Jaime Lissavetzky at Madrid 2016's press conference following the IOC announcement: “We are first in line on the starting grid in a long race.” The four finalists must deliver their candidature files to the IOC by a 12 February 2009 deadline.

Madrid's Olympic concept builds on the initiatives and planned infrastructure set out in its unsuccessful 2012 Games bid. Competition venues are planned for two zones: the Core Zone includes 15 Olympic competition venues such as the Olympic Stadium, Athletes' Village and the International Broadcast Centre/Main Press Centre; the River Zone includes various Olympic venues along the river including the BMX venue and new rowing course, which form part of a wider regeneration project. Other competition venues are planned for six sub-host cities. Madrid's modern airport is a major plus point.

The IOC identifies security and accommodation as weaker points of the bid. Mercedes Coghen, CEO of Madrid 2016, stresses the improvements made to Madrid's bid since the city lost out in the 2012 Olympic race. “What this much proves is how seriously we want the Games,” she says. Coghen says the IOC rating for accommodation was better than for its 2012 campaign and the bid has improved with the addition of a media village. She admits Madrid will have to work hard on its security plans, but points to the city's strong track record of staging safe sporting events.

Tokyo talks big
Tokyo's bid campaign makes much of its plans to leave a major urban, sporting and environmental legacy. Its modern transport infrastructure and proposals to transform a number of key venues built for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics are strong selling points. All of the competition venues, with the exception of shooting and football, are located within an 8km radius of the Olympic Stadium located on the waterfront of Tokyo Bay. Venues are organised into two groupings – the Heritage Zone and the Tokyo Bay Zone. These zones contain five themed clusters of venues and six stand-alone venues. For instance, the Yoyogi Cluster in the Heritage Zone consists of three facilities used for Tokyo 1964 and a new 15,000-seat arena for volleyball.

Bid chair Ichiro Kono insists his team will “work tirelessly” on its candidature file. “We aim to have the most impressive yet achievable plans and the most exciting content and concept for the Olympic Movement,” he says.

Tsunekazu Takeda, vice-president of the bid and president of the Japanese Olympic Committee, denies that Japan's sporting experience is a weak point – it did not score highly in the IOC report. He emphasises that the country has plenty of experience in staging international sports events, including the 2002 World Cup and world championships. Tokyo 2016 will embrace the know-how of the country's national sports federations to enhance this aspect of its bid, he adds.

Brazilian challenge
Rio de Janeiro's international campaign highlights the successes of its 2007 Pan American Games as it bids to bring the Olympics to South America for the first time. One factor that may work in its favour is that investment in upgrading infrastructure for the city's staging of the FIFA 2014 World Cup would benefit an Olympics. According to the bid plan, more than half of the Olympic Games installations already exist and another 20 per cent will be built regardless of the candidacy. There will be seven competition centres in four Olympic zones, including the Maracană stadium complex, proposed venue for the opening and closing ceremonies.

The Brazilian bid team have their work cut out to make a persuasive case for the 2016 Olympics, not least because of low marks for security and transportation revealed in the IOC's recent assessment. IOC members may also feel that awarding the Games to Rio de Janeiro just two years after the World Cup represents too great an organisational challenge.

Bid officials highlight the city's improved security and transport infrastructure since it failed to make the short list for the 2012 Olympics. They say the Pan Am Games has acted as a catalyst in the city's regeneration. More work is also required to address Rio's accommodation challenges. “The stamp put on the city is that Rio is a city that can organise an Olympic Games,” says Carlos Nuzman, president of Rio 2016, in comments made shortly after the IOC shortlisted the Brazilian city. “Now we have to see adjustments so we can go on in the future.”

Judgement day for the candidates
The four cities in the race for 2016 had the chance to lobby IOC members and raise awareness of their bids during the Beijing Olympics. It was also an important listening and learning experience as the bid teams begin to flesh out their 2016 plans for inclusion in their candidature files. Chicago alone has budgeted nearly USD 50m for the 2016 candidature phase.

An IOC evaluation commission will analyse the bid dossiers and visit candidate cities next spring. In the first briefing of its kind during a bidding process, the bid cities will then have the opportunity to press their cases during a meeting with IOC members in Lausanne on 17 and 18 June. The IOC evaluation commission will issue its report one month before the host city is elected on 2 October.