121st IOC Session 121st IOC Session The 121st International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session was held on October 1–9, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark, during which Rio de Janeiro was selected as the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics. The city of Copenhagen was chosen on February 8, 2006 by the 118th IOC Session held in Turin, Italy to stage the 13th Olympic Congress, together with the meetings of the Executive Board and the 121st IOC Session. The other candidates were Athens (Greece), Busan (South Korea), Cairo (Egypt), Riga (Latvia), Singapore (Singapore), Taipei (Chinese Taipei). Convened on the initiative of President Jacques Rogge, the
Jacques Rogge Rogge pronounced in mid-July 2008 that there would be no Internet censorship by Chinese government authorities: "for the first time, foreign media will be able to report freely and publish their work freely in China". However, by 30 July 2008, IOC spokesman Kevan Gosper had to retract this optimistic statement, announcing that the Internet would indeed be censored for journalists. Gosper, who said he had not heard about this, suggested that high IOC officials (probably including the Dutch Hein Verbruggen and IOC Director of the Olympic Games, Gilbert Felli, and most likely with Rogge's knowledge) had made a secret deal