The 2016 Olympics are going to Rio de Janeiro, putting the games in South America for the first time.  Rio beat surprise finalist Madrid in the last round of voting.

In a hometown pitch for the world's biggest sporting event, President Barack Obama lobbied Olympic leaders to give the 2016 Summer Games to Chicago, saying the U.S. "is ready and eager to assume that sacred trust."

Three Chicago fashion designers have been tapped to dress members of Chicago's Olympic delegation for outfits debuting at Friday's International Olympic Committee vote on the 2016 Summer Games. That delegation will include gold medalists as well as the Obamas and Oprah.

President John F. Kennedy's sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who carried on the family's public service tradition by founding the Special Olympics and championing the rights of the mentally disabled, died Tuesday morning, her family said in a statement. She was 88.

Britain's Olympic athletes, already hit by cost cuts last year, could face another round if the government changes hands.

With public debt swelling and the British taxpayer having to foot the bill for once-almighty banks such as the Royal Bank of Scotland or Lloyds, the 2012 London Olympic Games are posing a considerable challenge to a city that celebrated wildly in 2005 when it trumped Paris's bid to host the prestigious sports event.