Olympics - 2016 Games race enters final stretch
By Karolos Grohmann
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - The race to host the 2016 Olympic Games entered its final stretch on Wednesday with four cities outlining their plans to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) before the October election.
Madrid, Tokyo, Chicago and Rio de Janeiro pitched their bids to some 93 out of 107 IOC members and no front-runner emerged before the vote on Oct. 2 in Copenhagen.
IOC President Jacques Rogge said all four cities were capable of staging "superb Games".
"It is going to be a difficult choice for my colleagues," Rogge told reporters. "I am lucky not to be obliged to vote."
Officials for Chicago, planning to hold much of the Games in the city centre, were upbeat after their 90-minute appearance.
"I think the team did really well," said Chicago bid chief Pat Ryan as a few Chicagoans opposing the Games in the U.S. city gathered outside the Olympic Museum distributing leaflets.
"The Chicago Games will open up a large untapped corporate community... to the Olympic movement," said Ryan.
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