Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro will host the 31st Olympic Games in 2016 as last week it has knocked out the competitor cities Madrid, Tokyo, and Chicago. Chicago, Obama’s favorite, also lost the opportunity. For the first time an American President has ever staked his prestige in this matter. In a disappointment to the US and its sports-fan President, the International Olympic Committee on Friday rejected Chicago in the first round of voting, and then eliminated Tokyo and Madrid in successive rounds, before declaring Brazil the winner. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva draws praise from Havana to Wall Street for the economic boom that has brought millions of people out of poverty. He has also attended socialist rallies with Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. He is the Pele of politics, and knighted the “most popular politician on Earth” by another contender for the title, US president Barack Obama.

Earlier Obama personally ran the campaign for the Chicago and before the voting began, Chicago was considered a favorite to win the bid. But the pitch, and Obama’s personal popularity, didn’t work out. Instead it was Rio, renowned for its carnival celebrations, soccer, samba music, and famed beaches which won the bid, despite its own reputation for crime and violence. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s message was clear to IOC members, “Rio is ready. Give us this chance and you will not regret it.” Now this is Brazil’s time and we will love to see the passion, the energy and the creativity of the Brazilian people in the coming years.