Obama makes Olympics pitch
The International Olympic Committee will choose the host of the 2016 Games on Friday, after hearing a deeply personal appeal from U.S. President Barack Obama to select his adoptive hometown, Chicago, over Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid.
"We're visionaries who make no small plans," Obama told the IOC's members in Copenhagen on Friday. "I urge you to choose Chicago."
After years of hard work, lobbying, planning and hopes for the four cities, they were finally crossing the finishing line. Each city got a last chance to sway undecided members with a 45-minute presentation followed by questions.
Chicago went first, with a presentation of videos and speeches — capped by Obama's plea.
The president and his wife, fellow Chicagoan Michelle Obama, put their personal capital behind an enormous campaign to win the Olympics bid. It is the first time a U.S. president made such an in-person appeal.
The 106 committee members, who had already been warned not to show bias during the presentations, sat silently as the Obamas walked into the Bella Center with the rest of the 12-member Chicago delegation.
Obama explained how his family moved around a lot when he was a kid and "I never really had roots." But in Chicago "I finally found a home," he said.
'Make the world proud'
Obama called hosting the Olympics a sacred trust.
"If we walk this path together — then I promise you this: The city of Chicago and the United States of America will make the world proud," the president said.
An uncomfortable moment came in the question session, when an IOC member from Pakistan, Syed Shahid Ali, noted that going through U.S. customs can be a harrowing experience for foreigners.
Obama insisted on answering that himself, and said he wanted a Chicago Games to offer "a reminder that America at its best is open to the world."
The president, who described himself as a "proud Chicagoan," said the city is a "rich tapestry" of diversity and warmth.
"Chicago is a place where we strive to celebrate what makes us different just as we celebrate what we have in common," he said. "It's a place where our unity is on colourful display.… It's a city that works, from its first World's Fair more than a century ago to the World Cup we hosted in the '90s, we know how to put on big events."
Secret ballot
The IOC's members start voting electronically in a secret ballot at 5:10 p.m. local time (11:10 a.m. ET). The vote will take up to 30 minutes.
Cities will be eliminated one-by-one until one secures a majority. The loser's name in each round is announced before the members vote again.
IOC president Jacques Rogge doesn't vote, and, as long as their cities haven't been eliminated, neither will members from Brazil, the United States, Spain and Japan.
Two IOC members — hockey player Saku Koivu of Finland and Guinea member Alpha Ibrahim Diallo — were unable to make the session.
That left 95 voters in the first round, with more in subsequent rounds. In the event of a two-city tie in the early rounds, a run-off 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.
Rogge will then announce the name of the winner about an hour later, breaking open a sealed envelope before declaring which city has been awarded the games of the 31st Olympiad.
Ahead of the vote, only Tokyo seemed to have fallen out of the running. But otherwise, it was still too close to call between the beaches and bossa nova of Rio, the hustle and bustle and Lake Michigan waterfront of Chicago or the European elegance of Madrid.