COPENHAGEN -- The 2016 Olympics are going to Rio de Janeiro, putting the games in South America for the first time.

Rio beat surprise finalist Madrid in the last round of voting.

Chicago was knocked out in the first round -- in one of the most shocking defeats ever handed down by the International Olympic Committee -- and Tokyo was eliminated in the second round.

Rio had played heavily on the fact that South America has never previously hosted the Games, while Europe, Asia and North America have done so repeatedly. Now, only Africa and Antarctica remain as continents that have not been awarded an Olympics.

Madrid's surprising success in reaching the final round came after former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch made an unusual appeal for the Spanish capital, reminding the IOC members as he asked for their vote that, at age 89, "I am very near the end of my time."

Rio is only the second country in the Southern Hemisphere to host. Australia, which has hosted two, is the other.

Chicago had long been seen as a front-runner and got the highest possible level of support -- from President Barack Obama himself. But he also only spent a few hours in the Danish capital where the vote was held and left before the result was announced. Former IOC member Kai Holm said that the brevity of his appearance may have counted against him.

The short stopover was "too business-like," Holm said. "It can be that some IOC members see it as a lack of respect."

White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Obama's appearance before the IOC was not enough to overcome "politics inside that room" and other factors he believed weighed against Chicago's bid.

"Obviously it was disappointing," Axelrod, a former Chicago journalist, told CNN. "It didn't work out but it was worth the effort."

"I don't view this as a repudiation of the president or the first lady," he added.

The European-dominated IOC's last two experiences in the United States were marred by controversy: the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics were sullied by a bribery scandal and logistical problems and a bombing hit the 1996 Games in Atlanta.

Obama had held out the enticing prospect of a Chicago Games helping to reconnect the United States with the world after the presidency of George W. Bush. He told the IOC earlier Friday that the "full force of the White House" would be applied so "visitors from all around the world feel welcome and will come away with a sense of the incredible diversity of the American people."

Madrid would have been the second Spanish city to host the Olympics, after Barcelona in 1992. Europe is also hosting the 2012 Summer Games in London.



Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.