Rio Overcomes Odds to Host 2016 Olympics

Rio de Janeiro's selection as the host of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games came as a big surprise to many, given the Brazilian city's underdog status to win the selection committee's approval.

Rio edged out favorite Chicago and other developed world opponents Madrid and Tokyo to claim the dream double for Brazil - the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

Look at 2012
While things are only getting started in preparation for the 2016 Olympics, UK bookmaker Ladbrokes is already offering odds on medal table betting for the 2012 London Olympics, which is less than three years away.

British punters are obviously a confident bunch given the odds, with Great Britain a 4/6 favorite to be the European nation with the most gold medals in 2012, a feat Britain hasn't achieved since exactly 100 years earlier, when London hosted the games on the first of two previous occasions.

In head-to-head betting, Great Britain is 1/3 to edge out its sporting arch-rival Australia, (9/4) in the medal tally in 2012. Britain won 19 gold medals to Australia's 14 at the 2008 Beijing Olympics to edge out the old enemy at an Olympics for the first time in 20 years.

Ladbrokes is pitting other arch-rivals against each other in the betting specials. In the battle of the world's top two Olympic nations, the United States, 1/2, is still considered stronger than China, 6/4, although China's odds may well be shorter by the time the Games come around.

France, 5/6, and Italy, 5/6, are inseparable in a head-to-head battle between rival European nations.