Residents of Rio de Janeiro go wild at the prospect of hosting the Olympic Games in 2016.(Image credit: AFP)
President of the Brazilian Central Bank, Henrique Meirelles presents Rio's bid for the 2016 Olympics(Image credit: AFP)
The city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil was selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to host the 2016 Olympic Games on Friday in Copenhagen, Denmark. It beat out Madrid, Spain, in the final round of voting that followed initial voting and a morning of presentations by the candidate cities.
"Like in every competition, there can only be one winner," said IOC President Jacques Rogge before opening the envelope and announcing the final selection.
Rio will be the first South American city to host the Olympic Games. The city had previously bid, unsuccessfully, to host the 2004 and 2012 Olympic Games.
Chicago, in the United States, was the first city eliminated in the voting process. Next out was Tokyo, Japan, the only city among finalists that had previously hosted the Olympic Games.
The 2016 summer Olympic Games will feature cycling competitions in the following disciplines: road, mountain, track and BMX.
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Sue George is an editor at Cyclingnews. She coordinates all of the site's mountain bike race coverage and assists with the road, 'cross and track coverage.
