[1] The IOC shortlisted four of the seven applicant cities—Chicago, United States; Tokyo, Japan; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Madrid, Spain; over Baku, Azerbaijan; Doha, Qatar; and Prague, Czech Republic—on June 4, 2008 during a meeting in Athens, Greece.

[2][3][4] This was followed by an intensive bidding process which finished with the election of Rio de Janeiro at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, Denmark, on October 2, 2009.

[7][8] The Commission attended technical presentations, participated in question-and-answer sessions about the Candidature File and made inspections in all the existing venues across the city.

[9] Rio de Janeiro won the final round by a margin of 34 votes over Madrid in a three-round exhaustive ballot of the IOC.

[20][21] The IOC announced that seven cities—Baku, Chicago, Doha, Madrid, Prague, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo—were submitted by their respective NOCs to bid for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

[24][25] On June 4, 2008, the IOC announced that Chicago, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, and Madrid were selected to the next bidding phase, during a meeting in Athens, Greece.

[26][27] This decision was based on a report by a special IOC Working Group of experts, after a thorough technical analysis of the projects presented on the files submitted by the applicant cities.

[2][28] Each city's potential for staging successful Summer Olympics and Paralympics in 2016 was assessed by the Working Group according to eleven criteria: government support, legal issues and public opinion; general infrastructure; sport venues; Olympic village; environment conditions and impact; accommodation; transport concept; safety and security; experience from past sport events; finance; and overall project and legacy.

The cycling classic Vuelta a España final stages are held in Madrid as Paris serves for the Tour de France.

Madrid was ranked first in seven categories: Government support, legal issues and public opinion; General infrastructure; Environment; Sports venues; Olympic Village; Transport concept; and Overall project and legacy.

[38] The city completed a swimming and tennis venues (Caja Mágica - The Magic Box) and looking to expand and modernize existing sporting facilities.

A new center for sport with the aim of improving facilities for disabled athletes will also be created as part of the push for the Paralympic Games.