This post was compiled by Sergio Peçanha, Tanzina Vega and Ken Belson.  Lalo de Almeida for The New York Times Brazilians at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro celebrated the I.O.C. announcment on Friday.  The announcement that Rio de Janeiro had been awarded the 2016 Olympic Summer Games was met with an explosion of emotion from Copenhagen, where the I.O.C. vote took place, to the thousands who gathered on the sands of Copacabana beach in Brazil.  The Brazilian online media, who for months had been giving extensive coverage to Rio de Janeiro’s bid, showed images of President Luís Inácio Lula da Silva, soccer superstar Pelé, the Olympic gold medalist Cesar Cielo and tennis player Gustavo Kuerten hugging and jumping for joy in Copehagen.  At Copacabana beach, a huge flag proclaimed “Rio Loves You,” and the crowd that started gathering hours before the vote celebrated with Brazilian TV and music stars.  According to the Web site Globoesporte.com, reporting from Copenhagen, “between screams and hugs, it was hard to find a Brazilian in the audience that wasn’t crying”. The news site noted that the victory on Friday was rooted in Rio’s unsuccessful bids to host the 2004 and 2012 Games.  Another Brazilian Web site, estadao.com.br, based in São Paulo, said that Brazil is about to join a select group of countries to host both the World Cup and the Olympics in an two year interval. The others were Mexico, Germany and the United States.  In a post on its sports blog, Estadão questioned whether Rio 2016 was bound for success, concluding that yes, it was, in part because of Brazil’s positive financial situation and because some of the infrastructure built for the Pan American Games in 2007 would only need minor retouching.  Mr. Lula, who was understandably enthused, was reflective when asked if the victory was a triumph over President Obama, who was also in Copenhagen to lend his support to the Chicago bid. “I didn’t beat Obama,” the Brazilian president said. “It was Rio that beat Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo.”  “What made the difference is that we went in with our hearts and souls. Brazil was the only bidder who really wanted it,” added Mr. Lula.  “It’s a sacred day, If I died now, it would already have have been worth living.”  Mr. Lula also tried to dispel the notion that Brazil’s persistent economic and social problems mean the country can’t host the Games. “They say that Brazil is a Third World country,” said Mr. Lula. “Many say that. That we need to improve health, education… Yes, we have a lot of work to do in front of us. But we are a huge country and receiving the Olympic Games will only help us. It’s good to receive respect, and today we got it.”  In Madrid, the Web site for El Pais captured the Spanish sentiment: Rio de Janeiro Wins and Madrid Says Goodbye to an Olympic Dream. Madrid was the last city left in the voting before Rio won the final ballot.  That sentiment was echoed in other headlines. Some news sites said Rio snatched the Games from Madrid.  Denis Doyle for The New York Times The I.O.C. announcement was met with tears of disappointment in the Plaza Oriente in Madrid.  One website, Marca.com, offered : a timelineof the events leading up to the decisive vote.  Madrid was the underdog going into the competition but Spanish newscasters showed some perk after Madrid was selected as one of the finalists for the 2016 games. This was Madrid’s second attempt at being a host city. One commentator, when reflecting on Chicago’s surprise loss, noted that not even President Obama, the first lady, Michelle Obama, or Oprah Winfrey were able to secure a win for the American city.  After the vote, Queen Sophia of Spain congratulated Brazil on its victory, but also said that she was proud of what the Spaniards had accomplished and called the loss a “disappointment.”  Despite the general sense of disappointment, some commentators took an optimistic approach, saying Madrid’s chances were looking good for the 2020 Games.  Japanese language news Web sites were covering the news as it broke, too, even though it was well after midnight in Tokyo when the city was eliminated as a candidate.  Ko Sasaki for The New York Times Despite the late hour in Japan, residents of Tokyo gathered at the Zest Cantina restaurant for the ultimately disappointing announcement.  The Asahi Shimbun’s site noted dryly that Tokyo had managed to beat out Chicago, which was eliminated in the first round of voting. But Tokyo had failed to win its second Olympic Games (the first was in 1964) by not convincing the voters of its environmental record and stable infrastructure.  The Asahi and the rival Yomiuri also noted that Seoul beat out Nagoya for the right to host the 1988 Olympics and that Beijing was chosen over Osaka to host the Olympics in 2008.  Pictures accompanying the stories showed Japanese supporters in Copenhagen and Tokyo clustered around televisions looking glum. One photo showed Naoko Takahashi, an Olympic marathoner known affectionately as Q-Chan, holding back tears.
Rio de Janeiro, which was awarded the 2016 Summer Games, put a tremendous amount of the city's collective enthusiasm behind the Olympic bid.