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A
commuter walks by a large television screen in downtown Chicago on Tuesday,
Sept. 29, 2009. Credit: AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato
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President Barack Obama
has suggested that decisions on who hosts the Olympics are corrupt, in a
wide-ranging interview that touched on Chicago's failed 2016 bid.
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US
President Barack Obama speaks to his wife Michelle after presenting Chicago's
bid for the 2016 Olympics in Copenhagen on October 2, 2009 ©Charles Dharapak (AFP)
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In
an interview published late Sunday, Obama recalled his 2009 travel to
Copenhagen in a failed effort to get his adopted home city across the finishing
line.
"Everybody
thought that if I flew out there we had a good chance of getting it, and it
might be worth essentially just taking a one-day trip," Obama told New
York magazine.
"Subsequently,
I think we've learned that IOC's decisions are similar to FIFA's decisions: a
little bit cooked," he said comparing the International Olympic Committee
to football's scandalized governing body.
The
loss for Chicago was seen as a political blow for Obama.
Rio eventually emerged from
a crowded field to win the right to host the games.
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