'It's awful -- I thought we had it'
CHICAGOANS REACT | Olympic committee's decision comes as shock for many residents
Moments after he spoke those astonishing words, you half expected the International Olympic Committee president to say, "Just a little IOC humor, of course Chicago hasn't been eliminated in the first round of voting."
But for thousands of Chicagoans gathered in Daley Center Plaza and elsewhere in the city Friday, it was no joke, and the Olympic dream was over long before the widely expected final showdown between Chicago and Rio de Janeiro.
In the plaza, a shellshocked quiet fell over what was to have been celebration central. Jaws dropped. Flag-waving arms froze. People gasped.
"It's awful," said Mona Higgins, 37, a Chicago pharmacist who wore an orange Olympics T-shirt to the plaza. "I thought we had it. I wanted to bring the world to our city and show them. This would have been so fun. Now, this will be like last year with the Cubs."
Cook County Commissioner Peter Silvestri, who was also in the crowd, said: "This is so anti-climactic. It's really a tragedy. It would have been so great for the city."
"I'm stunned. I thought this was going to be a contest between Chicago and Rio de Janeiro," said Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th), who was also at the Daley Center Plaza rally.
But the disappointment wasn't universal.
"I don't have a strong feeling either way," said Richard Ploucher, 67, of Chicago, munching a hoagie and walking through the plaza after a doctor's appointment. "I thought if we got it, it would be nice, but somebody had to lose. I am surprised we got knocked out in the first round."
All the same, Ploucher said he would have been willing to pay higher taxes if Chicago had landed the Olympics.
Meanwhile, in Washington Park -- where an 80,000-seat Olympic stadium had been planned -- dejection was widespread.
Luther and Romana Rogers came to the park from Crete. They brought two nephews and a niece, hoping for a family celebration of Chicago's victory.
"With Oprah and the president, we should have had it," Romana Rogers said.
Luther Rogers, who's a contractor, said he thought the Olympics would have been great for business.
"I think it's terrible," Rogers said. "It would have brought out the diversity of the city for everyone to see. It would have helped black contractors like myself."
As the news sank in, a small group of college students roamed an emptying Daley Center Plaza, still holding their "It's Gonna Happen" banners. They had scrawled the word "Not" on their signs.
And there were still hundreds of people waiting in line for free "I BACK THE BID" T-shirts.
Contributing: Stefano Esposito