Olympic Games: The International Olympic Committee has joined an elite club in being one of the few organisations not to be wowed by the smooth oratory of US president Barack Obama, whose personal appeal for Chicago to be selected as host of the 2016 Games resulted in elimination at the earliest stage.
After all the bluster, that saw the American candidate installed as firm favourite with the bookmakers, the Windy City was counted out after the first vote in Copenhagen this afternoon, and was followed from the shortlist of four by Tokyo and Madrid, leaving Rio de Janeiro as the sole survivor and confirmed host of the XXXI Olympiad.
It will be the first time the Games have ever been held in South America and the decision has been greeted, predictably, in true carnival style on the streets and beaches of Rio.
Like Chicago, Rio had its hugely popular president batting for it in Copenhagen this week, and true to form he delivered.
After decades of underachievement, Latin America's largest country has finally made good in recent years on the immense promise of its abundant natural resources, vibrant democracy and vast consumer market of 190 million people.
Rio's Olympics victory may be the most spectacular sign of Brazil's surging profile under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the country's first working-class leader who nurtured an economic boom that has lifted millions of people out of poverty and made him one of the world's most popular leaders.
Even the global economic crisis was unable to knock Brazil off its stride for long as the economy swiftly emerged from recession and returned to growth this year.
"The financial crisis hit us last and we got out of it first," Lula told the International Olympic Committee meeting in Copenhagen this week. "We do not have that complex of being second-rate citizens any more."
The IOC's members choose the winner in successive rounds of secret balloting until one city receives a majority. The round-by-round system makes predicting a winner perilous, because the outcome depends on how members shift their votes after their favourite candidates are eliminated.
Obama took a huge gamble in flying overnight to the Danish capital to make a personal appeal to the IOC on behalf of Chicago. "I've come here today to urge you to choose Chicago for the same reason I chose Chicago nearly twenty-five years ago, the reason I fell in love with the city I still call home,” he said.
His eloquent speech to the 95 members eligible to vote in the first round, following an emotional address by first lady Michelle Obama, were the cornerstone of the Chicago presentation.
The first lady had been in the Danish capital for two days to lobby IOC members for their votes. She made her own appeal, citing her early Olympic memories of sitting on her late father's knee to watch the exploits of gymnasts Olga Korbut and Nadia Comaneci and athlete Carl Lewis.
Lula raised the emotional stakes in his direct appeal to the IOC to stop favouring Europe, North America and Asia and take the Games to South America for the first time.
"This is a continent that has never held the Games," he said. "It is time to address this imbalance. The opportunity is now to extend the Games to a new continent. It's an opportunity for an Olympics in a tropical country for the first time, to feel the warmth of our people, the exuberance of our culture and the sensation of our joy."
In its presentation, Madrid offered to stage a passionate, cosmopolitan Games in 2016. Madrid boasted a heavyweight line-up including King Juan Carlos, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch.
Japan's newly elected prime minister Yukio Hatoyama also flew in to urge a vote for Tokyo.
Thousands of Cariocas, as Rio residents are known, danced and shouted in delight in front of a big stage and screens that showed the vote live.
Thousands of exuberant Brazilians, many taking the day off work, partied with foreign tourists on the same sands where the beach volleyball competition will be held in 2016.
"Rio has everything and more than everything it has Cariocas who are the most marvelous people," said Norma Vilorinha, a retired teacher drinking beer on the beach.