Portal:Chicago/Selected article/88

The Chicago 2016 Olympic bid is the attempt by the city of Chicago and the United States—with the support of municipalities in the Tri-state region of Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin—to be selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics. On April 14, 2007, Chicago was selected as the United States Bid city, and on June 4, 2008, the IOC named Chicago as one of four finalists to host the 2016 Olympic games. The final selection will be made on October 2, 2009, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Currently, Chicago's rival cities for the hosting of the Games are Madrid, Spain; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Tokyo, Japan. If Chicago is chosen, the games would be held from July 22 to August 7, with the Paralympics held between August 12 and August 28. The bid plan emphasizes use of Chicago Park District parks to host the games, but other existing facilities such as Soldier Field and McCormick Place will host events. The bid includes a plan for North side, downtown Loop and South Side celebration locations that will have JumboTrons for unticketed visitors. The bid notes that there is a very high concentration of event locations and training facilities in very close proximity to each other and that the majority of event sites are clustered together. Thus, the vast majority of athletes will be close to their competitions.