While bicycling along the Lake Michigan shoreline, I took in the panorama, swinging my head to the right to admire Chicago's magnificent skyscrapers and to the left to watch sailboats tacking in the breeze.

On this gorgeous day, people were out jogging, picnicking, flying kites, walking dogs and waving from the decks of yachts. The sun bounced off the glass towers and the blue water and it struck me that, yes, Chicago would be the perfect place for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

But then I recalled a visit to Rio de Janeiro, and the sight of Corcovado and Copacabana, the sound of Portuguese, the world's most musical language. Yes, Rio would be the perfect place for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

It's a tough call. International Olympic Committee members will have to pick one city Friday when they vote for the next host of the Games.

Madrid and Tokyo are on the ballot, but because the 2008 Olympics were in Asia (Beijing) and the 2012 Olympics will be in Europe (London), it's likely the IOC will pick the New World for 2016.

Strange things can happen at IOC meetings. Voters picked Sochi for the 2014 Winter Games. That's right, Sochi. Three guesses as to where it is. Give up? Look on a map of Russia, by the Black Sea. You still might not find it, but the IOC was assured it's there.

The IOC doesn't just pick cities, it anoints them. And it has to keep finding new ones -- 2072 Olympics on Mars! -- rather than recycling wonderful former ones, such as Lillehammer, Norway, or Sydney, Australia.

And now it faces perhaps its closest vote. Rio, the sexy, historical choice. Or Chicago, the City That Works. Is the time right for South America, which has never hosted an Olympics? Or is it time to return to the U.S., which has hosted a total of eight? Will swing voters be swayed by Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the former shoeshine boy who has become a leading voice for developing nations? Or by U.S. president Barack Obama, who could use a victory -- for himself and for his adopted hometown.

I was in Chicago recently to interview the American athletes who will be skiing, skating and sledding across your TV screen in February at the 2010 Vancouver Games. It was hard to think about snow in September. And everywhere I walked downtown, I encountered posters and banners promoting Chicago's bid for 2016. I was also in a Chicago frame of mind, immersed in reading The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson's bestseller about the architect who created the 1893 World's Fair and the serial killer who used the spectacle to lure his victims to their ghastly death (you will have to read the book to find out just how ghastly).

The architect was Daniel Burnham, and this year the city is celebrating the 100th anniversary of his visionary Chicago Plan.

Chicago's concept for the 2016 Games is not unlike Burnham's design for the World's Fair. Both are ambitious, compact and set in parklands near Lake Michigan.

I rented a bike at Millennium Park and rode south for an up-close-and-personal view.

SCENIC VIEWS

I rode past marinas, museums, Soldier Field, beaches, playgrounds and was struck by the energy and beauty of Chicago -- and the same thought that hits me in any waterfront city -- what if Miami's leaders had insisted, many years ago, on a public pathway running for miles along our greatest asset?

I stopped at Barack and Michelle Obama's house in Hyde Park. It's the one blocked off by concrete barriers and guarded round-the-clock by police cars. It's within walking distance of the proposed Olympic Stadium.

I rode through the University of Chicago campus, past Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House and on to the green esplanade known as the Midway Plaisance. Here, 116 years ago, millions of tourists marveled at exhibitions from 46 countries, Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, incandescent light bulbs and the 250-foot tall spinning wheel invented by George W.G. Ferris, who wanted a signature for the fair to outdo the Eiffel Tower of Paris.

Here strolled H.H. Holmes and the women he killed in his 63rd Street house of horrors. Here, in 2016, marathon runners would kick toward the finish.

Jackson Park, once home to the White City, still has the remnants of Frederick Law Olmsted's landscape design. In 2016, Washington Park would be the site of the Olympic Stadium and the aquatic venues.

``The fair's greatest impact lay in how it changed the way Americans perceived their cities and their architects,'' Larson writes.

BUILDING BLOCKS

How marvelous it would be to see Olympic venues rise where Burnham's fantastic buildings once stood.

Ah, but Rio beckons with its natural architecture. The World Cup will be there in 2014. Maybe it is South America's turn.

As I rode back downtown, I came up with a compromise: Rio in 2016, Chicago in 2020. The best of both worlds.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@