'We get to the home stretch as a very competitive bid,' Rio 2016 executive secretary Carlos Roberto Osorio told German Press Agency dpa.
In the interview, Osorio stressed as crucial the success of the strategy of presenting to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) a high-quality technical project and strong political arguments to back the Brazilian city's bid.
Some experts predict that Rio will get to the key meeting October 2 in Copenhagen as the favourite to host the Games, ahead of Madrid, Chicago and Tokyo.
Osorio did not explicitly acknowledge such predictions, but he did admit that the 'carioca' bid was the one that made the most of the chance to present its project to IOC voters in June in Lausanne.
Rio 2016 is convinced that they made a strong impact when they put forward a map with all the cities that had hosted Olympic Games - in summer or winter - to this day. The blank in South America appeared to impress the 93 IOC members who attended the presentation, over 90 per cent of the total number of voters.
'Rio was the city that made the most of the technical briefing in Lausanne. For Rio that was a strategic and fundamental opportunity, because of all four countries Brazil is the only one that never held Olympic Games, and that is why it generated greater curiosity and interest for IOC members,' Osorio said.
Through the map, the bid official hopes to have convinced several voters that 'it is time' for the Games to reach South America, a region with 180 million people under the age of 18.
'We do not ask for this as a favour, but because we have what it takes to host those Games, both in technical and in financial terms. Brazil still has solid finances despite the crisis, it is still growing,' he said.
'In 2016, Brazil will stand on the international stage at a singular and historic moment, similar to Spain's in Barcelona 1992 and Japan's in 1964, when it presented itself to the world as a nation that had recovered from the war. The time for the historic transformation of Spain, the United States and Japan has already been left behind,' Osorio told dpa.
Besides, he noted that the complete support given to the bid by the three levels of government - federal, state and city - are an 'integral, absolute and unrestricted' financial guarantee that all commitments in the ambitious bid portfolio will be fulfilled.
According to some analysts, the fact that Brazil has been picked by FIFA to host the 2014 football World Cup could be the 'carioca' bid's main problem. Those experts argue that the IOC would not like to 'fight' with FIFA to attract sponsors as late as two years before the Olympics.
Osorio, however, rejects that argument.
'The 2014 World Cup is not a problem, but one of the Rio bid's great strengths. And the president of the IOC (Jacques Rogge) and the members of the evaluating commission have already said that.'
Osorio argues that the World Cup gives the IOC an added guarantee that 'key infrastructures - technology, telecommunications, accommodation, airports - will be ready, complete and tested two years earlier.'
This week, the race for IOC votes is moving to Germany, where according to Osorio the athletics world championships in Berlin will be the last major battleground for support.
Besides the top officials of the Rio 2016 bid, led by Carlos Nuzman, Berlin will host Rio de Janeiro state Governor Sergio Cabral, Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes and the High Performance Sports secretary at the Brazilian Sports Ministry, Ricardo Leyser.
'Athletics is regarded by many as the basic sport in the Olympic Games, and many of the IOC voters will be there. That will be the last major battle before the October 2 election,' Osorio said.
For all his optimism, however, he refused to name favourites in the race.
'The four cities are working very hard. This is a very competitive race, and we will all be fighting 24 hours a day until the date of the election.'
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/sport/olympics2008/features/article_1494971.php/Rio-optimistic-about-chance-to-host-historic-2016-Olympics-Feature
