Those cities were Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo; the decisions were made during a meeting in Athens, Greece.

[11] Chicago began the presentations at Bella Center; followed by Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid; which were attended by several celebrities such as the King of Spain, Oprah Winfrey and Pelé.

[12] Chicago fell in the first round, followed by Tokyo, after the eligible IOC members have been asked to vote, in a three-round exhaustive ballot process.

[14][15] Rio de Janeiro defeated Madrid in the final round by 66 votes over 32, winning the rights to host the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

[16][17] Brazil would become the first lusophone country and Rio de Janeiro the first city in South America to host the Summer Olympics.

[19] The lengthy and intensive bidding process, considered to be one of the tightest in history, was marked by several controversies such as espionage, racism and opposition movements.

During the first phase, which begins immediately after the bid submission deadline, the "applicant cities" are required to answer a questionnaire covering themes of importance to a successful Games organization.

Following a detailed study of the submitted questionnaires and ensuing reports, the IOC Executive Board selects the cities that are qualified to proceed to the next phase.

[23] The members of the Evaluation Commission then make four-day inspection visits to each of the candidate cities, where they check the proposed venues and are briefed about details of the themes covered in the candidature file.

[22] The IOC Session in which a host city is elected takes place in a country that did not submit an application to stage the Olympics.

[27] Through analysis of the questionnaires, the IOC gave a weighted-average score to each city based on the scores obtained in each of the questionnaire's eleven themes: political and social support, general infrastructure, sports venues, Olympic Village, environment, accommodation, transport, security, past experience, finance, and legacy.

The International Olympic Committee went against precedent when it selected Rio de Janeiro over Doha—a city which scored higher yet was eliminated from the field.

The Working Group divided the Evaluation Report on eleven detailed themes and weightings: Government support, legal issues and public opinion (2);[31] General infrastructure (5);[32] Sports venues (4);[33] Olympic Village(s) (3);[34] Environmental conditions and impact (2);[35] Accommodation (5);[36] Transport concept (3);[37] Safety and security (3);[38] Experience from past sports events (2);[39] Finance (3);[40] and, Overall project and legacy (3).

[48] Rio de Janeiro planned to perform all the competitions inside the city, bringing dynamics to the games and facilitating the athlete's interaction.

[49] There will be seven competition centers in four Olympic regions—Barra, Copacabana, Deodoro, and Maracanã—[50] where football matches will be held in the cities of Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Salvador and São Paulo.

[49] Rio de Janeiro failed in the previous applications mainly by lack of infrastructure, security and experience in organization of international sporting events.

[52] The event was considered the best in history by the president of the Pan American Sports Organisation (PASO), Mario Vazquez Raña, during his speech at the closing ceremony.

[49] The compact footprint, complemented by Rio's topography, involves seven competition clusters in four Olympic zones—Barra, Copacabana, Deodoro, and Maracanã—, all held within the city.

At the heart of the concept is the Barra zone, located in one of the newer and fastest growing regions of the city, framed by mountains, beaches and lagoons.

[55] The logo was revealed on December 17, 2007, during the Brazil's Olympic Award ceremony at the Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro, and was selected by a jury from among four finalists.

Similar to other past winning cities, Tokyo pledged to refurbish a run-down industrial area, and to reclaim land from the bay.

Tokyo was the second city eliminated, leaving Rio de Janeiro in the run-off against Madrid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

[59] Chicago is one of few cities in the United States to host professional men and women's hockey, baseball, basketball, soccer, and American football teams.

Sports Minister Azad Ragimov was aided by the Caspian American Group to prepare the bid book with the assistance of the government.

[83] Baku's elimination was not unexpected, as one insider cited that practically no sports facilities meet global standards, the underdeveloped tourist sector, and regional conflicts.

[82] Baku's logo depicts petroglyph images from the Gobustan Rock Plateau, which features the remains of settlements and burials reflecting ancient human culture.

Doha is the only city in the Arab World other than Cairo to mount a serious bid, with pundits speculating the IOC may reward it by promoting it to the final shortlist.

As Doha and Qatar in general (500,000 and 1,400,000 inhabitants, respectively) is among the smallest cities to bid to host the modern games, the Qataris would have to be innovative in bringing in spectators from neighboring countries to raise ticket sales.

A side consideration is that like Azerbaijan, Qatar also has a short Olympic legacy,[59] and has been criticised for its practice of giving "passports of convenience" to foreign athletes to pad their record.

[59] Prague struggled with broader support in the Czech Republic; even president Václav Klaus publicly worried about budget estimates and white elephants.