Rate it!

256 votes

As the IOC gets ready to announce the 2016 Olympics host, we look back on five cities that have tried harder than most to earn the right to stage the Games - without success.

Detroit, USA

No city has bid for the Olympics more times and failed than Detroit, which bid for every Games between 1952 and 1972 (and also the 1944 Games that were cancelled during the war).

They finished second in 1964 and 1968, with the latter considered by many to be their best chance to host the Games. The decision for the 1968 Games was made in 1963 with President John F Kennedy announcing his support in Detroit's official bid video.

However, the IOC decided to hand the Games to Mexico City instead, the first time they had gone a developing nation. A month later, JFK was assassinated and in 1966 Detroit's bid for the '72 Games finish a distant third as Munich won ahead of Madrid.

The Detroit riots in 1967 focused the Motor City's attention away from the Olympics and they have not made a bid since.

Manchester, Great Britain

Manchester made bids for 1996 and 2000 after Birmingham had failed for the 1992 Games. The 1996 bid lost out in the second round of voting but there were strong hopes for 2000, especially after the then IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch said their chances were "very, very high" following a trip to the city which included a tour of Old Trafford conducted by then Manchester United captain Steve Bruce.

However, Manchester picked up only 11 first-round votes and were again voted off in the second round in what became a two-way tussle between Sydney and Beijing. The Australians were eventually won by just two votes and were later accused of bribery. An investigation found them guilty of "breaking the rules" but not of bribery, and they went on to host one of the most successful Games.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenos Aires has bid on five occasions, with the most recent being for the 2004 Games, which were eventually awarded to Athens.

The closest Bueons Aires came was in 1956 when they lost in the final round to Melbourne - by just one vote. Either option would have allowed the IOC to stage the Games in the southern hemisphere for the first time.

The decision was made in 1946. At that stage Juan Peron had been in power in Argentina for three years and the bid featured as part of his promise to create a "New Argentina" for the masses.

Despite the defeat, Argentina said the close result felt almost as good as victory. They immediately announced their intention to bid again in the near future and also offered to step-in if Melbourne was unable to host the 1956 Games, which looked a possibility at one stage. However, all hopes for the Argentine capital ended in 1955 when Peron was overthrown in a military coup.

Lausanne, Switzerland

The IOC has called Lausanne its home since 1915 and the city has bid for the Games on four occasions. The last time was in 1960 and was seen as their best chance.

Pierre de Coubertin, the Frenchman considered the father of the modern Olympics, had cherry picked Lausanne for the IOC's home and stated his wish to see the city one day host the Games.

When the decision to award the 1960 Olympics was being made in 1955, then IOC president Sigfrid Edstrom expressed his admiration for Lausanne and reminded those voting of Coubertin's wish.

However, Lausanne lost out to Rome despite being only one vote behind the Italian city after the first round of voting. Rome's bid was considered exemplary at the time and got the transfers needed to win by nine votes in the end.

Budapest, Hungary

Hungary lies seventh in the all-time Olympic medal table but are the only country in the top 10 of that chart never to have hosted the Games.

This is not through a lack of trying though, as Budapest has bid on five occasions. Budapest was actually awarded the Games once too - the 1920 edition - but had them taken away after the Austro-Hungarian Empire's defeat in World War I.

The IOC moved them to Antwerp "as a compensation and to honour the Belgians who fought, suffered and died during the war," while also banning Hungarian athletes from competing in Belgium,

Budapest's bid for the 1960 Games was the first by an Eastern Bloc country but the IOC would wait until 1980 and Moscow before finally awarding them to a communist country.

Now Hungary is a member of the European Union and NATO, and the dream of bringing the Olympics to Budapest lives on with the city having already announced its intention to bid for the 2020 Olympics.

Seán Fay / Eurosport