Who Will Host the 2016 Summer Olympics?

London got the nod to host the 2012 Olympics. Now, from the seven original cities that bid, only four cities remain. Here are the four finalists.

4. Tokyo, Japan

City Population: 12,790,000

Website: http://www.tokyo2016.or.jp/en/ 

Brief History: Japan first hosted the Olympics in 1964. In 1998, Japan once again hosted the Winter Olympics. Japan had bid to host the 2008 Olympics, but Beijing beat them out.

Opinion: Another Asian Olympics would be good for Asia as a whole. Other than China, Japan and Korea are the only place I could see the Olympics go in Asia.

3. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

City Population: 6,100,369

Website: http://www.rio2016.org.br/pt/Default.aspx

Brief History: No city in South America has ever hosted the Olympics. Rio bid for the 1936, 2004, and the 2012 Olympics. Each time they were beat out.

Opinion: Hmmm...a South American Olympics sounds fun. I'd definitely be interested if Rio gets to host it. However, you gotta think of the massive population there. Unlike Tokyo, Rio's population is very concentrated.

2. Madrid, Spain

City Population: 3,128,600

Website: http://www.madrid2016.es/es/paginas/home.aspx

Brief History: The last Olympics Spain hosted was the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Madrid, itself, has bid for the 1972 and 2012 Olympics.

Opinion: Europe's already hosting the 2012 Olympics; I'd like to see another continent hosting the Summer Games. Sorry Madridians, it's nothing against you.

1. Chicago, Illinois, USA

City Population: 2,800,000

Website: http://www.chicago2016.org/news/pages/splash.html

Brief History: Chicago was originally going to host the 1904 Games, but gave St. Louis the rights to host it instead because the World fair was also being held in St. Louis that year. The last Summer Olympics the USA hosted was the Atlanta Games in 1996.

Opinion: Chicago gets my pick for the 2016 Summer Games. I even went to the website and put my opinion there. It would be a great chance for America to show that we can host a great Summer Olympics again. We already showed we can throw a great Winter Olympics. If it were in Chicago, then I could go see it myself.

Doha, Qatar; Baku, Azerbaijan; and Prague, Czech Republic, also placed bids for the 2016 Summer Olympics. However, these cities were eliminated by the IOC. The host city will be decided by the IOC on Oct. 2, 2009, in Denmark.