Four cities bidding to host the 2016 Olympics will present their vision for the Games to the International Olympic Committee by Thursday as they enter the final stretch of their two-year campaign.
Madrid, Chicago, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro, shortlisted last year, will be submitting their bid book to the IOC by February 12, hoping all its questions have been answered convincingly.
What started out 18 months ago as another mega cities race for a large-scale Games has now become an exercise of balance with the bidders juggling finances, size and legacy amid one of the worst financial environments for the Games in decades.
Following the file submission, the IOC will kick off a round of visits to all cities before the evaluation commission reports back to the Olympic leaders who vote on the 2016 host during the IOC session on October 2 in Copenhagen.
Such votes have in the past proved to be very unpredictable but this time round even picking out a clear favorite is difficult.
Chicago seems to be among the frontrunners in this race, largely because the United States, a major financial contributor to the Games through its sponsors, has not hosted the Olympics since the Atlanta 1996 Games.
OBAMA EFFECT
The U.S. have also gained an unexpected advantage with President Barack Obama, having spent most of his political life in that city and having backed the bid before his presidential election.
When the IOC gathers in Copenhagen to select the 2016 Games host the potential presence of Obama at the event could be the deciding factor.
"It would definitely be a massive boost," said an IOC member recently of Chicago's chances, when asked if Obama's political weight could swing the Games for the U.S. city and if the president showed up in Denmark to shake hands with IOC members.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Russian President Vladimir Putin did it for London 2012 and Sochi 2014 respectively, when they traveled to the IOC sessions on a charm offensive and actively campaigned for their bids.
Rio, vying to become the first South American city to host the Olympics, is also expected to have Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva in Copenhagen just like Madrid can count on Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
Rio's bid leader, Carlos Nuzman, is also an IOC member himself for the past nine years, a fact not lost among his peers. The Brazilian city's bid comes hot on the heels of a successful Pan-American Games in Rio in 2007.
Tokyo is banking on Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso to flag his Olympic credentials as well, given he took part in the Montreal 1976 Games as a shooter.
"Not many countries have an Olympian head of state," Tokyo communications manager Masanori Takaya said recently. Tokyo's waterfront bid, aimed at giving the city a facelift, topped an IOC technical evaluation last year.
But there have been questions about whether the IOC would be prepared to send the Games back to Asia so soon after the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Though there is no official rotation policy, Madrid also has similar concerns with the 2012 Olympics hosted by London, another European capital.
FINANCIAL GUARANTEES
Politics may play a major role in the decision but this time round finances will most likely have the upper hand.
With Vancouver, hosts of the 2010 Winter Olympics and London, preparing for the 2012 Summer Games, already faced with a series of financial problems, triggered by the credit crunch, the IOC will be eager to see numbers add up for 2016.
"We are very comfortable with the guarantees we request," the IOC's Olympic Games Executive Director Gilbert Felli told Reuters last week.
"We have worked two or three such guarantees into the 2016 candidacy file," he said referring to assurances the IOC seeks in case of unexpected financial situations.
London has seen private funding for the Olympic village and the media and broadcasting center dry up due to the economic downturn, forcing the government to release millions of dollars in contingency funds to keep the projects going.
Vancouver must also depend on state funds to complete its village as a property boom has given way to a real estate slump.
The 2016 Games is still seven years away and could be held in a different economic climate but the IOC will be making certain their prime product is financially secured, even by today's economic standards, before picking the host.
(Source: Reuters)
