Chicago v. Rio

SAO PAULO, Brazil – As someone born and raised in Indiana, Chicago was the city I was initially rooting for.

It was where I saw a van Gogh painting for the first time; it was where the best concert I have ever attended took place (the Decemberists playing with the Grant Park Orchestra in the summer 2007); it was where I completed the tedious process of obtaining my student visa before coming to Brazil.

Obviously, my connection to Chicago might not be as strong as that of a native Chicagoan, but all of the above experiences, among others, have made me feel a certain affinity for the Windy City – which is why the Oct. 2 announcement of Rio de Janeiro as the host of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games was upsetting, to a certain extent.

Not only do I feel a personal connection with Chicago, but also the idea of being able to drive merely three hours from my hometown (which, to be fair, I will most likely be living far away from in 2016) to attend the Olympic Games was appealing.

The likelihood of me being able to travel to Rio to see the 2016 Games seemed even more remote than the likelihood of me being able to cough up the dough for a ticket to the games in the first place.

And then there’s the question of morale. I was excited at the prospect of what a winning bid might mean for my fellow Midwesterners – though I knew some Chicagoans were critical of the bid, my impression was that a majority were supportive of it.

But I was conflicted. While a part of me wanted Chicago to win the bid, I was also sympathetic to the desires of the Brazilians surrounding me.

For yes, the city of Rio de Janeiro was making the bid, but just as citizens of the United States united around Chicago’s bid as a national project, Brazilians everywhere were extremely emotionally involved in the outcome of Rio de Janeiro’s bid.

Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, for example, was so overjoyed at Rio winning the 2016 bid that he cried. President da Silva traveled to Copenhagen to help make the case for Rio’s bid, as President Obama did for Chicago.

Furthermore, I was understanding of the fact that the Olympics have never been on the South American continent, and the rectification of this inequality was well past due.

And then I learned that Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic bid also most likely made the most economic sense out of the four finalists, according to a New York Times article.

I’ve come to feel that the International Olympic Committee made the right choice Oct. 2.