Barely one hour after Air Force One had touched down at Copenhagen airport US President Barack Obama was standing before the International Olympic Committee explaining why the 2016 Games should be held in his hometown of Chicago.

Obama took to the floor at the Bella Center at the end of Chicago's presentation after his wife, Michelle, had delivered an intensely personal and emotional speech describing how proud her father, a multiple sclerosis sufferer, would have been to have the Games coming to Chicago.