Second City Winds up Fourth in Olympics Bid

So much for Da Games.

Chicago 2016 supporters wait in Daley Square for the announcement from the 121st International Olympic Committee on the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Chicago, Friday, Oct. 2, 2009. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

(AP)

Chicago residents felt blindsided Friday as the International Olympic Committee quickly eliminated their hometown from the race to host the 2016 Summer Games. Stunned disbelief stretched from the South Side to Wrigleyville as the Second City learned it wasn't even second fiddle, but fourth out of the four finalists.

Nobody saw this coming.

"I was shocked. I was disappointed. I couldn't believe it," said Mayor Richard M. Daley, who didn't even have time to get to the voting ceremony in Copenhagen before the IOC bounced Chicago en route to picking Rio de Janeiro.

The 67-year-old mayor who spent three years touting the games as a boon for Chicago — many said landing the games would secure his legacy — said another bid was unlikely.

"At this time it is (unlikely)," Daley said. "If it's in our hemisphere it has to move somewhere else."

Daley had said the Olympics would lead to new construction and jobs, while drawing in federal money to help fix a mass transit system in need of an estimated $10 billion overhaul.

"I was hoping this would pick up Chicago's economy, and now I feel pushed even farther from finding a job," said Vince Monaco, an unemployed 35-year-old in the city. "Since we went out in the first round, I think someone in the IOC has a chip on their shoulder against the U.S."

Thousands of people stood in bewilderment in downtown Chicago after watching the IOC vote on huge television screens set up in Daley Plaza, named for the mayor's father. The choice of Chicago as the host city seemed so likely to many still basking in the glow of hometown Sen. Barack Obama's election as president a year ago.

There was an audible gasp as IOC President Jacques Rogge announced: "The city of Chicago, having obtained the least number of votes, will not participate in the next round."

Katie Suitor, a 28-year-old social worker, had already signed up to be an Olympics volunteer.