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Obama congratulates Rio on 'historic' Games win

Saturday, October 03, 2009 WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Friday congratulated Brazil and the city of Rio de Janeiro for beating out his hometown of Chicago and winning the right to host the "historic" 2016 Olympics. Obama spoke at the White House moments after arriving back from a swift trip to Copenhagen and a failed bid to rally the International Olympics Committee to Chicago's Olympic dream. "I do want to congratulate Rio de Janeiro and the nation of Brazil for winning the 2016 Olympics. I think this is a truly historic event as these will be the first Olympic Games ever to be held in South America," Obama said. "One of the things that I think is most valuable about sports is that you can play a great game and still not win," Obama said. "And so, although I wish that we had come back with better news from Copenhagen, I could not be prouder of my home town of Chicago."
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