October 2, 2009: 2016 dream comes to an endFriday I took a trip downtown to meet a friend for lunch and check out the 2016 Olympic Rally in Daley Plaza.
Like many Chicagoans I figured we would at least make it past the first round and had a pretty good chance of getting the bid so I did not kill myself getting downtown. Just before 10:30 am, as I was sitting in traffic on the Kennedy, the first round of voting in Copenhagen started. I listened as the radio reporters painted a picture of the stunned crowd and Chicago was eliminated. The once overflowing Daley Plaza crowd thinned out and the seven year party was off.
Since the winning city was still to be announced just before noon I took a walk to check out what was left of the rally. There were still a fair amount of people hanging out still stunned from the announcement, waiting in line to get free t-shirts and waiting to see who would get the bid.
I ran into a bunch of old friends from the Chicago media waiting patiently with a small group of Rio supporters. By this time the media far outnumbered the subjects. I have been stuck in these photo gang bangs before and was pretty happy I did not have to fight to get to the front of this pack.
One of my pet peeves has always been having to battle for a shooting position with a people using cell phones or someone working on their portfolio so I stepped back, shot a few over the top and stayed out of the way.
To top this situation off about 5 minutes before the bid city was named a television crew stepped in front of everyone and planned to interview the fans when the announcement was made. Luckily they were told to step aside by the Rio supporters.
Here are three from Daley Plaza.
-A man in a patriotic hat stands alone and watches from the back of Daley Plaza.
-After Chicago was eliminated, a man with a group of paralympic supporters talks on his cell phone.
-Surrounded by a pack of media, Rio supporters celebrate as the announcement is made.
-john
All photos © John Konstantaras 2009
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