Young atheletes perform at a March fundraiser produced by Proactive for Chicago's Olympics bid .

The U.S. Olympic Committee gave the nod to Chicago over Los Angeles Saturday as the American candidate to host the Summer Olympic Games in 2016. The International Olympic Committee will announce the winner--from a field that will likely include Madrid, Rome, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Prague--in October 2009.

The competition between Chicago and L.A. showed two entirely different approaches. Chicago, which has never hosted the games, is proposing to build extensive facilities. L.A., which hosted the games in 1932 and 1984, has virtually all venues already in place.

GETTING FRESH

Insiders praised the freshness of Chicago's proposal. The city pursued its bid with vigor, including a March fundraising gala engineered by Proactive Inc. that brought in $9.4 million. (For more on this event, see the May issue of Special Events Magazine.) The Summer Games take place next in Beijing in 2008, followed by London in 2012.

Photo courtesy Edward Fox Photography