COPENHAGEN (AP) – Rio de Janeiro or Chicago? Risk vs. reliable.

For the International Olympic Committee, the biggest decision in choosing the city to host the 2016 Games is what statement it wants to send to the world.

Does it make the bold, transformational choice of Rio, giving the Olympics to South America for the first time? Or does it play it safe and head for the familiar shores of the United States and, perhaps, a more lucrative games?

“Policy wise, the IOC has to decide if we're ready to go to a new continent,” long-time IOC member Dick Pound said recently.

“That's the biggest paradigm shift. Is the time right?”

Rio certainly thinks so.

The city didn't even make the finals when it bid for the Olympics in 2004 and 2012. Now, however, Brazil has one of the world's largest economies and its international stature is growing. South America is also home to 400 million people, bid committee leader Carlos Arthur Nuzman said, a population that could ensure the Olympic movement's legacy for generations to come.

And, Rio leaders say, given any chance they get, it is time.

When Rio traveled to Switzerland in June to present its bid to IOC members, the highlight of its passionate appeal was a large map showing where all the Olympics have been held. Dots blanketed Europe, Asia and North America.

The entire South American continent was bare.

“The Olympic movement is a global movement, so it has to be global. It has to go to all the continents, all the countries, all the areas of the world,” Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes said on Tuesday.

“We're pretty emotional here at this moment because we know it's a very important moment for a city that has a lot to give. It's going to change forever the Olympic movement.”

IOC members acknowledge there is large appeal in going somewhere new. That Rio's plan is technically strong only strengthens its case, making it a slight favorite over Chicago ahead of Friday's vote.

Madrid and Tokyo both seem to have faded, done in largely by geography. Though the IOC doesn't have an official continental rotation, European cities are hosting the 2012 and '14 games, while last year's Beijing Olympics are still fresh in members' minds.