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The 63-year-old bearded fireplug of a man erupted in tears, pulled a white handkerchief from his back pocket, carefully unfolded it and pressed it into his eyes, pulled it away, pressed it again to his eyes, this time with more force, pulled it away again just long enough to take a sip of water, then rubbed them again. “I’ve never won a gift before,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told reporters.
The battle to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games appears to be heating up between Chicago, Illinois, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, two sources close to the process said Thursday. The revelation came after a day of furious behind-the-scenes lobbying of International Olympic Committee members by American first lady Michelle Obama and famed talk show host Oprah Winfrey, who both hail from Chicago
Some Olympic experts believe Barack Obama’s trip to Denmark to lobby for Chicago to host the 2016 Games could swing the decision in the U.S. city’s favor.