Close race nears finish for hosting 2016 Games

LONDON (AP) — Close your eyes and imagine the possible scenarios in 2016.

Olympic athletes strolling to competition venues along Chicago’s lakefront. Volleyball players diving on the sand of Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana beach. Cyclists whizzing past Tokyo’s Imperial Palace. Soccer players curling free kicks in Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium.

After a two-year global campaign featuring four world-class cities, one of the closest bid races in Olympic history will be decided next Friday in a vote of the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen.

Although IOC votes — by secret ballot over several rounds — can be highly unpredictable, Rio and Chicago look to be the main contenders.

At stake is international prestige, billions of dollars in potential investment and economic spinoffs, and the honor of staging the world’s biggest sports extravaganza.

The decision may come down to two key issues: Will President Barack Obama go to Copenhagen to pitch Chicago’s case in person? Is the IOC ready to take a bit of a gamble on Rio and send the Olympics to South America for the first time?

“I expect a vote difference of a couple of votes only,” IOC president Jacques Rogge told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “There is no favorite. There is no bid that is lagging behind. All the scenarios are possible.”

Technical issues, emotion, sentiment, geography, politics, self-interest and other intangibles all play a role in IOC votes.

In this race, Rio — besides its iconic beaches and stunning backdrop — has the strongest emotional pull of the four candidates: The Olympics have never been held in South America and the time has come to try something new.