This was the moment...

...that Madrid didn’t win the 2016 Olympic Games. I suspect my counterpart in Brazil got a better shot. [Note: my photo was lost anyway when Picasa was upgraded.]

Congratulations, then, to Rio de Janeiro. Rio’s victory ruined what would have been a great photo for me, but I was also genuinely disappointed because I felt that Madrid was the most deserving city. The disappointment in the crowd with me at Plaza de Oriente was palpable, and I wondered how many had gone through similar heartbreak in 2005. Of course, votes for Madrid needn’t (and shouldn’t) have been out of sympathy for its 2005 defeat. Votes for any candidate city should have been on the basis that the city had the best bid. I’m not sure that sentiment is what led to Rio’s election.

Rio de Janeiro may be developing at an admirable rate, but it remains notorious for inequality, poverty and violence. Journalists commented in the run up to the announcement that only a minority will feel the benefit of the Olympic carnival. One community leader stated that the Olympics are not what Rio should be spending its money on, given the state of its schools and hospitals. But then someone could be found in any candidate city to express such cynicism, while arguably the Olympics could be the perfect remedy to some of Rio’s social problems. Why, then, didn’t the media or the IOC tout this? Rio’s problems were barely discussed, and Friday’s coverage of the decision focussed on how a South American country deserved a first Olympics (or worse, that Europe didn’t deserve another).

But a vote for a city because it is not in Europe or because it has never hosted the Olympics is not necessarily a vote for the city with the best bid.