|
 During a presentation for Olympic Family members and international sports figures at Sport Accord in Denver, Colorado, the Rio 2016 Bid Committee outlined its vision for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games they want to hold in Brazil.
Rio's official presentation panel included Sérgio Cabral, Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, Mayor of Rio, Carlos Nuzman, President of the Brazilian Olympic Committee and President of the Bid Committee, Carlos Roberto Osorio, Secretary General of the Bid Committee and Adriana Behar, Rio 2016 Ambassador and six-time World Champion and twice Olympic Silver Medallist.
Brazil is committed to bringing the Olympic and Paralympic Games to Brazil and South America for the first time ever. BOC President Nuzman pointed out his long-standing experience in the Olympic Movement beginning in 1964 as an athlete and continuing as he seeks to deliver a lasting legacy for Brazilian, South American and international athletes through Rio's plans for 2016.
Nuzman outlined what Rio's bid could offer the Olympic Movement: "We can offer a new country and a new continent experiencing the Games. A nation with 65 million people under the age of 18 and a continent of 180 million young people.
"We can offer a very favourable time zone for broadcasters, new markets for sponsors and a stage like no other to host the Games. We can build a bridge from London 2012 to Rio 2016, passing the baton to pursue the mission of inspiring young people all around the world."
Governor Cabral confirmed the extensive government guarantees for the bid and also shared a number of facts about Brazil: "We are the world's sixth largest market for advertising, recently we discovered the world's largest oil field in 20 years and we are the largest exporter of food. All of this in an economy that grew by more than 5% last year and - even given the current climate - continues to grow."
Mayor Paes reiterated the benefits of Brazil hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup for the 2016 Bid and the potential for the ongoing transformation of Rio. "The whole basis of my election campaign and my plans for the city government is the Olympic project and the transformation that goes with it.
"They go together hand in hand and the process is already under way. We in Rio are driven by our belief in sustainable legacy. Rio 2016 will deliver weeks of wonderful sport and many years of inspiration, social change and sports development that will make a difference for generations to come," he said.
Carlos Roberto Osorio provided details of Rio's 2016 Games Plan and outlined the four key Programs the Bid Committee is proposing to improve Games experience and boost every Olympic sport.
"We will enhance the spectator experience by funding a US$ 15 million four-year program to improve sports presentation in partnership with the international federations; we will guarantee full stadiums for athletes and broadcasters by designing a program to fill empty seats with passionate young fans; we will fund a program of 15 live sites to complement our domestic program and celebrate the Games as never before and finally, we will strengthen the connection with young people by building our Olympic X-Park," he said.
Adriana Behar confirmed the Bid Committee's extensive consultation with athletes for the development of the Olympic Village, venue locations and ensuring every athlete from every nation experiences the uniqueness of Rio during the Games.
"I feel so proud to have competed in two Olympic Games and I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything - except to be able to do it all again in Rio. Rio is such a special place to compete. The people, the passion, the beaches, the mountains, the venues - a truly memorable city to host a truly magical Games," she said.
The Rio 2016 team also launched two new films showing the venue plan for the Games and the support given by athletes and officials to Rio's hosting of the 2007 Pan American Games.
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Brazil received a huge boost in its international image with its selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics, but it was really just the cherry on top of the overall recognition of the country's ascension to the ranks of one of the world's most important countries. Now, as it finally takes its place on the world scene, there has been a great deal of concern about what kind of image Brazil hopes to project, now that the world is really paying attention. 
The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose.