Rio de Janeiro Bid For The 2016 Summer Olympics - Bid Process

Bid Process

Rio de Janeiro's bidding process began on July 28, 2006, when the Executive Council of the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB in the Portuguese acronym) met to consider the possibility of nominating a Brazilian city to host the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. This meeting was prompted by the fact that several cities in the world demonstrated interest around the election, some having already announced their bidding intention. Then a technical analysis was commissioned by COB to evaluate the conditions of the city, unveiled on August 25, 2006. A week later, on September 1, 2006, the COB's Annual Assembly decided by acclamation that Rio de Janeiro would be the Brazilian representative seeking to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2016. The Assembly felt it was the only city in Brazil and South America which would possess Olympic-level facilities ready for an Olympic and Paralympic bid, a legacy of its upcoming hosting of the XV Pan American Games in 2007, later considered to be the best in history. Another positive aspect was that Rio de Janeiro could host all Olympic sports within the city limits, although the Olympic football tournament is hosted by multiple cities. The Brazilian government immediately expressed its support to the bid. Carlos Arthur Nuzman, president of COB, and César Maia, then Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, approved the decision, thus making the bid official.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially launched the bid process for the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics on May 16, 2007. All then 203 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) were invited to submit the name of a city within their jurisdiction until September 13, 2007. On September 14, the IOC recognized seven cities—Baku, Chicago, Doha, Madrid, Prague, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo—which had been put forward by their respective NOCs to bid. On October 1, 2007, the Rio de Janeiro bid committee paid the required fee of USD 150,000 to the IOC and signed the Candidature Acceptance Procedure. Soon after, from October 15 to 19, Rio officials attended the 2016 Applicant cities' Seminar organized by the IOC at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, where they learnt more about technical areas that would be analyzed throughout the application process. On January 14, 2008, the seven Applicant cities returned documents, known as the Application Files, containing the answers and guarantees requested by the 2016 Candidature Acceptance Procedure, which provided to the IOC an overview of each city's project. The responses were studied by the IOC Working Group for months and served as the basis to the shortlist of Chicago, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid on June 4, 2008, becoming Candidate cities during a meeting of the IOC Executive Board at the 2008 SportAccord Convention in Athens, Greece.

Rio de Janeiro bid to host the 1936, 2004 and the 2012 Games, but failed on every occasion; missing the shortlist in the two latest attempts, while the bidding process for 1936 did not follow the current standards. For the first time in the Candidature phase, the official bid flag was raised during a ceremony held at the Palácio da Cidade (English: City's Palace) on June 23, 2008, celebrating the Olympic Day. On July 3, 2008, the Rio de Janeiro bid committee paid a fee of USD 500,000 to the IOC and signed the Candidature Procedure, reconfirming its acceptance of the rules. Then, Rio officials participated in the Olympic Games Observers Program from August 8 to 24, during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China; and attended the IOC Official Debriefing of the Beijing Games from November 24 to 27, in London, United Kingdom. On February 11, 2009, the Rio de Janeiro bid committee delivered its Candidature File to the IOC in Lausanne and, eight days later, to the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in Bonn, Germany; containing the responses to the 2016 Candidature Procedure and Questionnaire, as well as guarantees and undertakings. The Candidature File had three volumes containing 568 pages of detailed answers to 300 technical questions, divided into 17 themes. Finally, on June 17, 2009, the IOC organized the 2016 Candidate Cities Briefing to 93 of its members at the Olympic Museum, being the first such meeting in its history and the most important before the election. Rio officials came out stronger after a presentation of 45 minutes, considered to be exceptional, followed by a session of 16 questions.

Throughout the campaign, the Rio de Janeiro bid committee introduced its plans to the General Assemblies of all Associations of National Olympic Committees (ANOC), making the bid's first official presentation on October 11, 2008, to the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO), in Acapulco, Mexico. On October 21, the vision was presented to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) in Bali, Indonesia, followed by the European Olympic Committees (EOC) on November 21, in Istanbul, Turkey. On March 26, 2009, Rio officials made a praised presentation during the 2009 SportAccord Convention in Denver, United States. For the first time, a world map of the past Olympic host cities was displayed, subsequently becoming an icon of Rio's campaign due to the void in South America. On March 31, 2009, the Rio de Janeiro bid committee made its plea to the Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC) in Queenstown, New Zealand; and on July 7, to the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) in Abuja, Nigeria. The bid committee also attended many sporting events, such as the Australian and European Youth Olympic Festivals, the Commonwealth Youth Games, the Asian Youth Games and the Mediterranean Games, as well as the Aquatics, Athletics, Rowing and Judo World Championships. The three-year campaign culminated with the beginning of the 13th Olympic Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark, which was officially opened in a ceremony held at the city's Opera House, and after a lunch offered by Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark, to the heads of state of the four Candidate cities at the Amalienborg Palace.