Hamburg - Michelle Obama follows in the footsteps of Tony Blair and Vladimir Putin on the big Olympic bidding stage when the United States First Lady will lobby for her hometown of Chicago. The White House announced on Friday that President Barak Obama won't come to the final presentation and election of the 2016 host city on October 2 in Copenhagen by the International Olympic Committee, but that his wife will make the trip to Denmark.
Chicago is bidding to get the Games against Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo.
Brazil president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will be in Copenhagen, the Madrid delegation is headed by Spanish King Juan Carlos, and Tokyo has invited Japanese Crown Prince Naruhtio and incoming Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
The presence of top-ranked politicians at the election of Olympic hosts is important these days, now that IOC members are no longer allowed to visit the candidate cities in the wake of the Salt Lake City bribes-for-votes scandal.
Blair was instrumental in helping London getting the 2012 Games when the then Prime Minister travelled to Singapore for the vote in 2005. Two years ago in Guatemala, the then Russian president Putin did the same for Sochi to land the 2014 Winter Games.
IOC president Jacques Rogge recently told the German Press Agency
