Copenhagen - The selection of Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Olympics was not only good news for South America, but for various future bidders as well. Rio was still celebrating when the Munich committee for the 2018 Winter Olympics announced that "the fight for Munich is starting in earnest."
The IOC member and world football supremo Joseph Blatter said that a good hosting of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa could open the door for Africa as well on the Olympic stage after Rio's choice.
Universality and geopolitics are the key words in this respect in the Bella Center in Copenhagen.
Several Olympians said that Rio's victory over Madrid, Tokyo and the Barack Obama-backed Chicago was a step into the Olympic future, and possibly away from gigantism which allowed only rich nations to stage the Games.
"The demands placed on a city in order to host Olympic Games today is on the edge of being unrealistic," said Swedish IOC member Gunilla Lindberg.
"The Olympic Movement is promoting universality and we should find a system that makes the Olympic dream real for more cities around the world."
With Rio now picked, Africa remains the only unchartered Olympic territory. Cape Town came third in the bid for the 2004 Games which went to Athens. Cairo missed the cut for 2008 staged in Beijing.
Blatter told German Press Agency
