South America first Olympic Games

Rio de Janeiro 2016

The choice of Rio de Janeiro between the finalists for the Olympic Games of 2016 increased the hopes of South America to host the Olympics Games for the first time on the continent. The Brazilian city was announced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as one of candidates this Wednesday in Athens, in addition to Madrid, Tokyo and Chicago.

Rio de Janeiro attempts for the third time be the host of an edition of the Olympic Games. The only time we had a competitor of the South American continent was in 2004.

On that occasion, Rio de Janeiro was competing with Buenos Aires and were left out in the first phase. Argentina ended among the five finalists to host the Games. However, it was defeated by Rome, Cape Town, Stockholm and Athens, which ended up being chosen to be the host.

Latin America also does not have much tradition to hold Olympic Games. The only time a country organized the biggest sporting event in the world was in 1968, when the Olympics took place in Mexico City.

North America can be proud of having hosted five editions of the Olympic Games. Four of them occurred in North American cities (Saint Louis, Los Angeles twice, and Atlanta) and the other was held in the city of Montreal, Canada.