As Rio awoke from a night of celebration after being awarded the 2016 Olympics, Brazil was already looking ahead to years of hard work in what will be a historic time in Latin America's biggest nation.
The world's two biggest sporting events will take place in Brazil a few years from now — the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics — and the country has little time to spare.
"We know the IOC decision has increased our responsibility," Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said. "We know what we need to do. The word from now on is work, work and work."
Critics have questioned whether Brazil's infrastructure can handle such large events, and whether the country is safe enough to welcome the participants and tens of thousands of visitors into the country. Others say the events will help Brazil's emerging status as a world power — with the country predicted as the world's fifth-largest economy by 2016 — and serve as a catalyst for change and improvement to more than 190 million people.
"Brazil needed the Olympics. We needed this challenge," Silva said in Copenhagen just hours after Rio beat Madrid, Tokyo and Chicago. "We only needed one chance to prove that we are a great nation and that we have the capacity to do well just like any other country in the world."
Soccer's governing body FIFA awarded Brazil the World Cup in 2007 for the first time since 1950, and the International Olympic Committee on Friday decided to bring the games to South America for the first time.
It will be the fourth time the same nation hosts the Olympics and World Cup consecutively — Mexico did it in 1968 and 1970, Germany in 1972 and 1974 and the United States in 1994 and 1996.
"That's something I didn't think I would see one day in Brazil," 78-year-old retiree Claudio Correa said Saturday while strolling on Ipanema beach. "Two big events like these right here. It certainly puts Brazil's name right up there."
Silva said that in addition to giving Brazil the status of a "first-class nation," the high-profile competitions also give Brazil a boost in pride and self-esteem.
"No one is happier than Brazil's people," Silva said. "But maybe because we were a colony for such a long time, we always had this sense of inferiority, of not being important. We always thought that we couldn't do what the others could."
With a sound technical project and a lot of passion, the Brazilians and Rio de Janeiro convinced the IOC they were finally ready to host the Olympics, after failed attempts in 1936, 2004 and 2012.
But there is a lot to do before Brazil is ready to stage the two major competitions.
Despite natural beauties and fun-loving people, the nation also has to deal with poverty, violence and other problems inherent to a developing country. Among the problems that will have to be addressed ahead of 2016 are security and transportation.
"We'll have to sleep less and do more," Silva said.
Officials are already getting to work, and members of the new Rio 2016 Organizing Committee met with IOC officials on Saturday in Copenhagen to discuss future actions. Committee President Carlos Arthur Nuzman said several meetings in the next few days will be needed to begin organizing the city's plans.
Back home, media praised Rio's achievement with front-page headlines across the nation.
"Rio deserves it," the O Dia daily said.
The sports daily Lance wrote that the "The dream became reality."
Some analysts, however, pointed to the challenges and possible drawbacks the country will have by organizing two major competitions in a short period of time.
"This decision is great and we have to celebrate," columnist and TV commentator Antero Greco said. "But we know there will be a lot of public money involved in these competitions and we have the responsibility to make sure this money is going to be well used."
There was a lot of criticism because of a budget overrun following the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio, and there are concerns the same may happen with the Olympics, which will cost Brazil $14.4 billion.
A study by Brazil's sports ministry said the games are expected to create 120,000 jobs each year across Brazil until 2016, plus 130,000 jobs per year the following 10 years. Tourism also likely will get a boost, as will the hotel industry.
In addition, funding to crime-fighting programs has already been granted to Rio and more is on the way. The city will likely host the World Cup's main media center and FIFA's headquarters in 2014.
The Cariocas, as Rio citizens are known, celebrated wildly on Copacabana when IOC President Jacques Rogge announced Rio as the winner Friday. The party then moved to the beachside bars for the traditional choppe (draft beer) and caipirinha — a Brazilian cocktail made from sugarcane liquor, fresh fruit, sugar and ice.
"There is a lot of reason for Brazilians to be celebrating," said 25-year-old Ecuadorean Gabriela Baroja. "Brazil will become a better country."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jSXt7bbhIZKMmDyPvAZ-dTP_B2hQD9B3NOV81
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Rio de Janeiro woos Woody Allen movie project
The Brazilian city, host of the 2016 Olympics, is courting film productions to gain jobs and polish its image as a tourist destination.
The Brazilian city has formed a new film commission, hired a longtime movie industry pro to head it and set an ambitious first goal: landing the next Woody Allen flick.
Taking a cue from Barcelona, the Spanish city that was the principal setting for Allen's last film, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," Rio is dangling $2 million in subsidies to attract the director's as-yet-untitled next movie.
This month, Rio was named the site for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, and city fathers hope it's on a roll. It will also be one of several Brazilian cities hosting the 2014 World Cup soccer match.
Although nothing is signed, Allen's production company sent two top producers -- Stephen Tenenbaum and the director's sister Letty Aronson -- to Rio this month to scout locations. They made stops at landmarks including Sugar Loaf Mountain, the Botanical Garden and a park near the hilltop Christ the Redeemer statue.
Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes and Rio de Janeiro state governor Sergio Cabral agreed last month to merge the city and state film commissions. The new Rio Film Commission has been given a $45-million three-year budget that includes promotion and incentives.
The political allies see movies as a way of boosting tourism, creating jobs and polishing the city's image, which has been besmirched in recent years by rampant crime.
Steve Solot, the longtime Latin America chief for the Motion Picture Assn., was named to head the new commission. Although Solot said Rio is competing with "all the film commissions of the world" to attract Allen, he expressed confidence that the New York-based director's next movie would happen in Rio.
"It will be a postcard for the city and state and a step toward making Rio a real destination not just for filming but for tourists leading up to the World Cup and Olympics," Solot said.
Despite its exotic scenery and festive spirit, Rio's major film productions have been few and far between. They include Alfred Hitchcock's "Notorious" (1946); a James Bond film, "Moonraker" (1979); "Blame It on Rio" (1984), starring Michael Caine; "Moon Over Parador" (1988), with Richard Dreyfuss; and "The Expendables," a Sylvester Stallone vehicle slated to open next year.
Many businesses, including film production services, have fled Rio in recent years because of the crime rate. Although the city dominates in the production of soap operas, most commercial films and videos are shot in Sao Paulo, the country's business hub, said Bruno Barreto, an Oscar-nominated director and son of Brazilian producer Luiz Carlos Barreto.
Bruno Barreto said his native city had not been a "production-friendly town" and had done little to promote itself in recent years. That may be changing with the new political leadership and the increase in royalties that the city and state are receiving from offshore oil production.
Solot said Rio has adequate film production services to accommodate Allen and other filmmakers. One of the Rio-based production houses negotiating with Allen to help produce his next film is Conspiracy Productions.
In the U.S., most states decided long ago that hosting movie productions was good business. Forty-three states now offer subsidies covering up to 40% of a film's costs, with Michigan, New Mexico and Louisiana among the most generous.
Solot said studies have established that a typical U.S. film production pumps $200,000 a day into a local economy through spending on hotels, restaurants and technical and other services.
Spain gave Allen $2 million, or 10% of his budget, to attract "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." The movie's positive effect on tourism in Barcelona and Oviedo, the two primary cities used as locations, caught the attention of other cities in Europe and Latin America, Solot said.
"My job is to put the city and state of Rio on the map of the world of audiovisual communications," he said. "That includes film but is much, much more, from reality shows and video games to pay-per-view and video on demand. . . . Rio has been on the map for a few important films historically, but it's not on the map of the production community presently."
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-woody-rio13-2009oct13,0,3264136.story
The Brazilian city has formed a new film commission, hired a longtime movie industry pro to head it and set an ambitious first goal: landing the next Woody Allen flick.
Taking a cue from Barcelona, the Spanish city that was the principal setting for Allen's last film, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," Rio is dangling $2 million in subsidies to attract the director's as-yet-untitled next movie.
This month, Rio was named the site for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, and city fathers hope it's on a roll. It will also be one of several Brazilian cities hosting the 2014 World Cup soccer match.
Although nothing is signed, Allen's production company sent two top producers -- Stephen Tenenbaum and the director's sister Letty Aronson -- to Rio this month to scout locations. They made stops at landmarks including Sugar Loaf Mountain, the Botanical Garden and a park near the hilltop Christ the Redeemer statue.
Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes and Rio de Janeiro state governor Sergio Cabral agreed last month to merge the city and state film commissions. The new Rio Film Commission has been given a $45-million three-year budget that includes promotion and incentives.
The political allies see movies as a way of boosting tourism, creating jobs and polishing the city's image, which has been besmirched in recent years by rampant crime.
Steve Solot, the longtime Latin America chief for the Motion Picture Assn., was named to head the new commission. Although Solot said Rio is competing with "all the film commissions of the world" to attract Allen, he expressed confidence that the New York-based director's next movie would happen in Rio.
"It will be a postcard for the city and state and a step toward making Rio a real destination not just for filming but for tourists leading up to the World Cup and Olympics," Solot said.
Despite its exotic scenery and festive spirit, Rio's major film productions have been few and far between. They include Alfred Hitchcock's "Notorious" (1946); a James Bond film, "Moonraker" (1979); "Blame It on Rio" (1984), starring Michael Caine; "Moon Over Parador" (1988), with Richard Dreyfuss; and "The Expendables," a Sylvester Stallone vehicle slated to open next year.
Many businesses, including film production services, have fled Rio in recent years because of the crime rate. Although the city dominates in the production of soap operas, most commercial films and videos are shot in Sao Paulo, the country's business hub, said Bruno Barreto, an Oscar-nominated director and son of Brazilian producer Luiz Carlos Barreto.
Bruno Barreto said his native city had not been a "production-friendly town" and had done little to promote itself in recent years. That may be changing with the new political leadership and the increase in royalties that the city and state are receiving from offshore oil production.
Solot said Rio has adequate film production services to accommodate Allen and other filmmakers. One of the Rio-based production houses negotiating with Allen to help produce his next film is Conspiracy Productions.
In the U.S., most states decided long ago that hosting movie productions was good business. Forty-three states now offer subsidies covering up to 40% of a film's costs, with Michigan, New Mexico and Louisiana among the most generous.
Solot said studies have established that a typical U.S. film production pumps $200,000 a day into a local economy through spending on hotels, restaurants and technical and other services.
Spain gave Allen $2 million, or 10% of his budget, to attract "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." The movie's positive effect on tourism in Barcelona and Oviedo, the two primary cities used as locations, caught the attention of other cities in Europe and Latin America, Solot said.
"My job is to put the city and state of Rio on the map of the world of audiovisual communications," he said. "That includes film but is much, much more, from reality shows and video games to pay-per-view and video on demand. . . . Rio has been on the map for a few important films historically, but it's not on the map of the production community presently."
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-woody-rio13-2009oct13,0,3264136.story
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Rio's new Olympic rings are expensive
Played by heads of state, marketing jocks and heavyweight lobbyists, the game of winning the Olympic Games has become just as fierce as any contest on the track or in the pool.
To win the 2016 games for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil spent some $50 million. It fielded the likes of Pele, Paulo Coelho, a best-selling author and the entire Brazilian diplomatic corps. Whereas U.S. President Barack Obama, on behalf of Chicago, breezed into the meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen minutes before the decision was made on Oct. 2, Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, spent two days there, having earlier written personal letters to the 106 voting members and had each hand-delivered by an ambassador. Why did Rio win? "We wanted it more," said Carlos Roberto Osorio, of Brazil's Olympic committee.
That was the easy bit. Holding the games will require effort and expense on a scale that Rio, a problem-studded metropolis of 12 million (half of whom live in the city itself), has never seen. Apart from new stadiums and other sports facilities of all kinds, the plans call for new bridges and roads, and a doubling in the number of hotel rooms. To revamp a chaotic transportation system, engineers will blast through granite mountains to extend the metro from Ipanema to Barra da Tijuca, 13.5 kilometres away. Tens of thousands of athletes must be escorted to scattered events through some of the worst traffic in the Americas.
The police, already overstretched, must keep the Olympians safe from some of Latin America's most brazen criminals -- they committed over 2,000 murders in the city itself last year. Where padding public works contracts and sticky-fingered politicians are the norm, who will make sure the $14.4 billion budgeted for the games will be put to good use -- to say nothing of up to $50 billion in indirect investment?
There are plenty of skeptics, not least in Sao Paulo, Brazil's financial and industrial centre, where Rio is often dismissed as a party town. (With Brazil scheduled to host the soccer World Cup in 2014, Paulistas joke that Cariocas, as Rio's residents are called, are planning to take 2015 off.) The Pan American Games held in Rio in 2007 reportedly cost 10 times the official budget, and left behind underused arenas.
But there are reasons for hoping that Rio might just succeed, where other places have failed, in imitating the achievement of Barcelona, which used 1992's games to reinvent a city. Rio has been declining for half a century, since it lost its status as the national capital to Brasilia. For most of this time, the city and surrounding state have been poorly governed and brutally and badly policed. Manufacturing and banks moved to Sao Paulo; favelas, or slums, multiplied and the only growth industries seemed to be drug trafficking and gang warfare. One in six Cariocas is poor.
Some things are improving, partly as a result of Brazil's stronger economy. Offshore oil is injecting revenue to the state. Poverty is falling and property is booming. Often at odds in the past, the city, state and federal governments united for the Olympic bid. The new transportation lines promised for the World Cup and the Olympics are sorely needed. The white elephants of the Pan American Games will find a new use.
But will the games regenerate Rio, or distort its priorities? The prospectus talks of redeveloping the decaying port area, and of at last cleansing Guanabara Bay of sewage and industrial pollution. But whereas Barcelona built its Olympic village in a derelict part of its port, in Rio it will be sited, along with many events, in Barra da Tijuca, a nouveau-riche neighbourhood at the wealthiest end of the city.
During the Pan American Games, police and army troops flooded the streets, smothering crime. More useful would be to use the next seven years to coax the violent young men of the favelas to take up sport, or to get construction jobs. "Why don't we make eliminating poverty in Rio and pacifying all the violent slums our goal for 2016?" says Andre Urani of the Institute for Studies on Labour and Society, a think-tank in the city. But there are no policies in place to achieve this.
For Brazil, the award of the games, hard on the heels of the World Cup, is yet another symbol of its growing status in the world. As Lula put it in Copenhagen, Brazil is no longer a "second-class country." That may bring intangible benefits. It is now the job of Brazil's politicians to ensure that they outweigh the costs.
By: The Economist
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/rios-new-olympic-rings-are-expensive-63954812.html
To win the 2016 games for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil spent some $50 million. It fielded the likes of Pele, Paulo Coelho, a best-selling author and the entire Brazilian diplomatic corps. Whereas U.S. President Barack Obama, on behalf of Chicago, breezed into the meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen minutes before the decision was made on Oct. 2, Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, spent two days there, having earlier written personal letters to the 106 voting members and had each hand-delivered by an ambassador. Why did Rio win? "We wanted it more," said Carlos Roberto Osorio, of Brazil's Olympic committee.
That was the easy bit. Holding the games will require effort and expense on a scale that Rio, a problem-studded metropolis of 12 million (half of whom live in the city itself), has never seen. Apart from new stadiums and other sports facilities of all kinds, the plans call for new bridges and roads, and a doubling in the number of hotel rooms. To revamp a chaotic transportation system, engineers will blast through granite mountains to extend the metro from Ipanema to Barra da Tijuca, 13.5 kilometres away. Tens of thousands of athletes must be escorted to scattered events through some of the worst traffic in the Americas.
The police, already overstretched, must keep the Olympians safe from some of Latin America's most brazen criminals -- they committed over 2,000 murders in the city itself last year. Where padding public works contracts and sticky-fingered politicians are the norm, who will make sure the $14.4 billion budgeted for the games will be put to good use -- to say nothing of up to $50 billion in indirect investment?
There are plenty of skeptics, not least in Sao Paulo, Brazil's financial and industrial centre, where Rio is often dismissed as a party town. (With Brazil scheduled to host the soccer World Cup in 2014, Paulistas joke that Cariocas, as Rio's residents are called, are planning to take 2015 off.) The Pan American Games held in Rio in 2007 reportedly cost 10 times the official budget, and left behind underused arenas.
But there are reasons for hoping that Rio might just succeed, where other places have failed, in imitating the achievement of Barcelona, which used 1992's games to reinvent a city. Rio has been declining for half a century, since it lost its status as the national capital to Brasilia. For most of this time, the city and surrounding state have been poorly governed and brutally and badly policed. Manufacturing and banks moved to Sao Paulo; favelas, or slums, multiplied and the only growth industries seemed to be drug trafficking and gang warfare. One in six Cariocas is poor.
Some things are improving, partly as a result of Brazil's stronger economy. Offshore oil is injecting revenue to the state. Poverty is falling and property is booming. Often at odds in the past, the city, state and federal governments united for the Olympic bid. The new transportation lines promised for the World Cup and the Olympics are sorely needed. The white elephants of the Pan American Games will find a new use.
But will the games regenerate Rio, or distort its priorities? The prospectus talks of redeveloping the decaying port area, and of at last cleansing Guanabara Bay of sewage and industrial pollution. But whereas Barcelona built its Olympic village in a derelict part of its port, in Rio it will be sited, along with many events, in Barra da Tijuca, a nouveau-riche neighbourhood at the wealthiest end of the city.
During the Pan American Games, police and army troops flooded the streets, smothering crime. More useful would be to use the next seven years to coax the violent young men of the favelas to take up sport, or to get construction jobs. "Why don't we make eliminating poverty in Rio and pacifying all the violent slums our goal for 2016?" says Andre Urani of the Institute for Studies on Labour and Society, a think-tank in the city. But there are no policies in place to achieve this.
For Brazil, the award of the games, hard on the heels of the World Cup, is yet another symbol of its growing status in the world. As Lula put it in Copenhagen, Brazil is no longer a "second-class country." That may bring intangible benefits. It is now the job of Brazil's politicians to ensure that they outweigh the costs.
By: The Economist
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/westview/rios-new-olympic-rings-are-expensive-63954812.html
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Brazil looks to transform sporting greatness into gold on world stage
Samba nation ready to build on success in winning right to host 2016 Olympics by becoming a leading economic power.
In Lapa, the fashionable centre of Rio de Janeiro nightlife, the partying was long and memorable. On Copacabana beach, the sand was packed with revellers. Pelé cried, and his compatriots celebrated the latest evidence that for one of the world's most glamorous, charismatic countries the good times are starting to roll. So often described as belonging to a "country of the future", Brazilians found themselves living in the present this weekend.
Minutes after Rio de Janeiro was announced on Friday as the venue for the 2016 Olympics, the South American city's sprightly 39-year-old mayor, Eduardo Paes, logged on to his Twitter account and summed up the feelings of all of Rio's six million residents. "Our city deserves this present," he trumpeted. "Viva Rio".
Across Brazil, even in the remote towns of the Amazon rainforest, the same sentiment was being expressed. For Brazilians this was a victory that both Rio and Brazil richly merited – not simply because South America has never hosted the Games before, nor because Rio's residents, weary of violent crime and the city's crumbling infrastructure, were in need of a distraction from their often difficult day-to-day lives.
Above all, they say, this victory was deserved because, for Brazilians, winning the race to host the 2016 Olympics was confirmation that their country was at last acquiring a swagger and an influence beyond the football pitch, which Pele and so many others have graced with distinction. "It is difficult to believe that a third world country has reached this point," declared Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, after the decision was announced, with his tongue firmly in his cheek.
"We have left behind being a second-rate country to become a first-rate one. Respect is good and we are happy to receive it," he added.
Brazil, as President Lula has frequently commented of late, is living through a "special moment". Rising exports, a commodities price boom and the government's investment in social policies have helped millions of impoverished Brazilians rise from poverty since the leftwing leader came to power in 2003. The IMF says that Brazil, and other countries in the region, have weathered the global financial crisis "rather well".
In the second quarter of this year, the Brazilian economy grew by 1.9% and is forecast to expand by 5.3% in 2010 – numbers that Britain's chancellor, Alistair Darling, would kill for. The games will bring hard cash as well as prestige to the Latin American nation, which has the biggest economy in the region and the ninth largest in the world. A government-commissioned study by the Fundação Instituto de Administração estimates there will be a $24.5bn boost between now and 2027, thanks to increased spending by tourists, growth in employment and construction, and higher tax revenues.
Many believe that Rio, too, is on the rise. After years of neglect and urban violence, investments are gradually returning to Brazil's former capital, bolstering an economic and cultural boom that has already seen dilapidated areas of the city centre redeveloped with many others expected to follow suit. For the ambassadors of Brazil's cultural capital, the International Olympic Committee's decision was a boon beyond measure.
"From the business point of view this is one of the best pieces of news imaginable," said Isnard Manso, a cultural impresario and dancer from the Centro Cultural Carioca, one of Rio's top samba clubs. Manso said the "double-whammy" of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics could help transform Rio's historic centre, fuelling a cultural "turnaround" that has been under way since the beginning of the decade.
Rio's fledgling renaissance mirrors a national boom that the Brazilian government hopes will transform the country into one of the world's leading political, economic and oil powers. In 2007 its fortunes received a potentially vast boost with the discovery of huge offshore oil reserves that could help turn the country into an even bigger hitter on the international stage.
"We are certain that there is an immense quantity of oil that could turn Brazil into one of the world's great oil powers," Dilma Rousseff, President Lula's chief of staff, said last week. "While the entire world is facing immense difficulties… we are discussing abundance," she added, boasting: "We went into the [economic] crisis last and are coming out of it first and on top of this we have one of the greatest patrimonies to administrate."
Diplomatically, too, Brazil, a member of the G20, which has eclipsed the power of the G8, is starting to flex its increasingly toned muscles. During a recent meeting with foreign correspondents in Rio, the foreign minister, Celso Amorim, said: "Obviously, Brazil was always one of the world's biggest countries in terms of size and population. Today Brazil is one of the biggest and most stable economies. Our currency is one of the most stable on earth. Our democracy is totally consolidated… Today, I think, we have an international attitude which corresponds to our true greatness."
Much of this new "attitude" is down to President Lula, who has led the way for a number of increasingly prominent South American presidents who are helping to put the so-called "forgotten continent" back on the map.
Recent years have seen Lula, a one-time shoeshine boy and firebrand union leader, transformed into a respected international statesman who is now considered a future contender for the presidency of the World Bank and was recently referred to as "my man" by US President Barack Obama as a result of his continued domestic popularity.
"At this moment… what is happening again in the world is that there is no longer one single owner of the truth," Lula told his weekly radio show Breakfast with the President, after last month's G20 meeting.
John Hawksworth, head of macro-economics at PricewaterhouseCoopers, says that the so-called E7 – or Emerging Seven – nations of Brazil, China, India, Russia, Turkey, Indonesia and Mexico could overtake the G7 in the next two decades.
The rise of climate change on the international agenda has also turned Brazil, home to the Amazon, the world's largest tropical rainforest, into a key diplomatic player.
"A Copenhagen agreement without Brazil would be like Kyoto without the United States," Ed Miliband, Britain's secretary for energy and climate change, said during a recent visit to Brazil, referring to December's summit on climate change in the Danish capital.
Brazil still has its vast armies of the poor. Despite Lula's efforts to alleviate the suffering of the poor, Brazil's favelas still exist alongside wealthy enclaves. The country has one of the highest levels of inequality on the planet, with the richest 10% in possession of half the nation's income while less than 1% trickles down to the poorest 10% of households. But such questions were pushed into the background yesterday as Rio continued to celebrate its "deserved" victory.
"From an artistic point of view, as a dancer and a cultural producer, this will… give us a unique chance to show the entire world that samba is not just about the bottoms of half-naked ladies parading through the sambadrome," said Manso, one of Rio's leading samba businessmen and dance instructors. "It is great news."
He will not be the only Brazilian dancing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/04/brazil-2016-olympics-economy
In Lapa, the fashionable centre of Rio de Janeiro nightlife, the partying was long and memorable. On Copacabana beach, the sand was packed with revellers. Pelé cried, and his compatriots celebrated the latest evidence that for one of the world's most glamorous, charismatic countries the good times are starting to roll. So often described as belonging to a "country of the future", Brazilians found themselves living in the present this weekend.
Minutes after Rio de Janeiro was announced on Friday as the venue for the 2016 Olympics, the South American city's sprightly 39-year-old mayor, Eduardo Paes, logged on to his Twitter account and summed up the feelings of all of Rio's six million residents. "Our city deserves this present," he trumpeted. "Viva Rio".
Across Brazil, even in the remote towns of the Amazon rainforest, the same sentiment was being expressed. For Brazilians this was a victory that both Rio and Brazil richly merited – not simply because South America has never hosted the Games before, nor because Rio's residents, weary of violent crime and the city's crumbling infrastructure, were in need of a distraction from their often difficult day-to-day lives.
Above all, they say, this victory was deserved because, for Brazilians, winning the race to host the 2016 Olympics was confirmation that their country was at last acquiring a swagger and an influence beyond the football pitch, which Pele and so many others have graced with distinction. "It is difficult to believe that a third world country has reached this point," declared Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, after the decision was announced, with his tongue firmly in his cheek.
"We have left behind being a second-rate country to become a first-rate one. Respect is good and we are happy to receive it," he added.
Brazil, as President Lula has frequently commented of late, is living through a "special moment". Rising exports, a commodities price boom and the government's investment in social policies have helped millions of impoverished Brazilians rise from poverty since the leftwing leader came to power in 2003. The IMF says that Brazil, and other countries in the region, have weathered the global financial crisis "rather well".
In the second quarter of this year, the Brazilian economy grew by 1.9% and is forecast to expand by 5.3% in 2010 – numbers that Britain's chancellor, Alistair Darling, would kill for. The games will bring hard cash as well as prestige to the Latin American nation, which has the biggest economy in the region and the ninth largest in the world. A government-commissioned study by the Fundação Instituto de Administração estimates there will be a $24.5bn boost between now and 2027, thanks to increased spending by tourists, growth in employment and construction, and higher tax revenues.
Many believe that Rio, too, is on the rise. After years of neglect and urban violence, investments are gradually returning to Brazil's former capital, bolstering an economic and cultural boom that has already seen dilapidated areas of the city centre redeveloped with many others expected to follow suit. For the ambassadors of Brazil's cultural capital, the International Olympic Committee's decision was a boon beyond measure.
"From the business point of view this is one of the best pieces of news imaginable," said Isnard Manso, a cultural impresario and dancer from the Centro Cultural Carioca, one of Rio's top samba clubs. Manso said the "double-whammy" of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics could help transform Rio's historic centre, fuelling a cultural "turnaround" that has been under way since the beginning of the decade.
Rio's fledgling renaissance mirrors a national boom that the Brazilian government hopes will transform the country into one of the world's leading political, economic and oil powers. In 2007 its fortunes received a potentially vast boost with the discovery of huge offshore oil reserves that could help turn the country into an even bigger hitter on the international stage.
"We are certain that there is an immense quantity of oil that could turn Brazil into one of the world's great oil powers," Dilma Rousseff, President Lula's chief of staff, said last week. "While the entire world is facing immense difficulties… we are discussing abundance," she added, boasting: "We went into the [economic] crisis last and are coming out of it first and on top of this we have one of the greatest patrimonies to administrate."
Diplomatically, too, Brazil, a member of the G20, which has eclipsed the power of the G8, is starting to flex its increasingly toned muscles. During a recent meeting with foreign correspondents in Rio, the foreign minister, Celso Amorim, said: "Obviously, Brazil was always one of the world's biggest countries in terms of size and population. Today Brazil is one of the biggest and most stable economies. Our currency is one of the most stable on earth. Our democracy is totally consolidated… Today, I think, we have an international attitude which corresponds to our true greatness."
Much of this new "attitude" is down to President Lula, who has led the way for a number of increasingly prominent South American presidents who are helping to put the so-called "forgotten continent" back on the map.
Recent years have seen Lula, a one-time shoeshine boy and firebrand union leader, transformed into a respected international statesman who is now considered a future contender for the presidency of the World Bank and was recently referred to as "my man" by US President Barack Obama as a result of his continued domestic popularity.
"At this moment… what is happening again in the world is that there is no longer one single owner of the truth," Lula told his weekly radio show Breakfast with the President, after last month's G20 meeting.
John Hawksworth, head of macro-economics at PricewaterhouseCoopers, says that the so-called E7 – or Emerging Seven – nations of Brazil, China, India, Russia, Turkey, Indonesia and Mexico could overtake the G7 in the next two decades.
The rise of climate change on the international agenda has also turned Brazil, home to the Amazon, the world's largest tropical rainforest, into a key diplomatic player.
"A Copenhagen agreement without Brazil would be like Kyoto without the United States," Ed Miliband, Britain's secretary for energy and climate change, said during a recent visit to Brazil, referring to December's summit on climate change in the Danish capital.
Brazil still has its vast armies of the poor. Despite Lula's efforts to alleviate the suffering of the poor, Brazil's favelas still exist alongside wealthy enclaves. The country has one of the highest levels of inequality on the planet, with the richest 10% in possession of half the nation's income while less than 1% trickles down to the poorest 10% of households. But such questions were pushed into the background yesterday as Rio continued to celebrate its "deserved" victory.
"From an artistic point of view, as a dancer and a cultural producer, this will… give us a unique chance to show the entire world that samba is not just about the bottoms of half-naked ladies parading through the sambadrome," said Manso, one of Rio's leading samba businessmen and dance instructors. "It is great news."
He will not be the only Brazilian dancing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/04/brazil-2016-olympics-economy
Friday, October 2, 2009
Rio De Janeiro Olympics 2016: A Big Astonishing Development
Many People Assumed Chicago Would Win the 2016 Olympic Games Bid, but it was Rio De Janeiro that Won!
The Rio de Janeiro Olympics 2016 games are sure to be a great time for everyone involved. When the Rio de Janeiro Olympics 2016 games were announced, there was celebration all over the streets of this Brazilian city.
The Rio de Janeiro Olympics 2016 games come as a surprise to many that assumed that President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Oprah would be able to sway the IOC (International Olympic Committee) to select Chicago as the 2016 Olympic Games venue.
I, for one, am glad that the 2016 Olympics will take place in Rio de Janeiro. Not that I have anything against Chicago - I have been there several times. However, just last week honors student Derrion Albert was beaten to death with wooden planks. Crime in Chicago is just too prevalent for the city to receive a blessing such as the Olympics.
The Rio de Janeiro Olympics 2016 games will take place 7 years from now. However time will fly by and in the meantime, Rio de Janeiro has a lot of work to do to prepare for the events. This Brazilian City is the first South American country to host an Olympic event, according to ABC news.
ABC News reports how the President felt when the Rio de Janeiro Olympics 2016 games were announced: "The president was watching television when the news came across, and I think obviously the president is disappointed, as you might imagine," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters on Air Force One.
"I think he continues to believe -- and we heard this from a number of people -- that Chicago had a very strong if not the best bid. ... I think he feels obviously proud of his wife for the presentation that she made and he doesn't shy away from promoting America in this event or in any other venue as a way to showcase this country."
While many people are surprised that Chicago and Tokyo did not get the Olympics in 2016, many people are pleasantly surprised that Rio de Janeiro did.
For instance, imagine you have the opportunity to travel and attend the Olympics in 2016. Where do you want to go? Rio de Janeiro has a lot to offer tourists already. There will be plenty of sightseeing and shopping to partake in. Chicago boasts great shopping opportunities - but not much else.
Although many people think that the Rio de Janeiro Olympics 2016 games are a disappointment. I think people need to be happy for the South American town as they host their first Olympic games in 2016.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2242597/rio_de_janeiro_olympics_2016_a_big.html?cat=9
The Rio de Janeiro Olympics 2016 games are sure to be a great time for everyone involved. When the Rio de Janeiro Olympics 2016 games were announced, there was celebration all over the streets of this Brazilian city.
The Rio de Janeiro Olympics 2016 games come as a surprise to many that assumed that President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Oprah would be able to sway the IOC (International Olympic Committee) to select Chicago as the 2016 Olympic Games venue.
I, for one, am glad that the 2016 Olympics will take place in Rio de Janeiro. Not that I have anything against Chicago - I have been there several times. However, just last week honors student Derrion Albert was beaten to death with wooden planks. Crime in Chicago is just too prevalent for the city to receive a blessing such as the Olympics.
The Rio de Janeiro Olympics 2016 games will take place 7 years from now. However time will fly by and in the meantime, Rio de Janeiro has a lot of work to do to prepare for the events. This Brazilian City is the first South American country to host an Olympic event, according to ABC news.
ABC News reports how the President felt when the Rio de Janeiro Olympics 2016 games were announced: "The president was watching television when the news came across, and I think obviously the president is disappointed, as you might imagine," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters on Air Force One.
"I think he continues to believe -- and we heard this from a number of people -- that Chicago had a very strong if not the best bid. ... I think he feels obviously proud of his wife for the presentation that she made and he doesn't shy away from promoting America in this event or in any other venue as a way to showcase this country."
While many people are surprised that Chicago and Tokyo did not get the Olympics in 2016, many people are pleasantly surprised that Rio de Janeiro did.
For instance, imagine you have the opportunity to travel and attend the Olympics in 2016. Where do you want to go? Rio de Janeiro has a lot to offer tourists already. There will be plenty of sightseeing and shopping to partake in. Chicago boasts great shopping opportunities - but not much else.
Although many people think that the Rio de Janeiro Olympics 2016 games are a disappointment. I think people need to be happy for the South American town as they host their first Olympic games in 2016.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2242597/rio_de_janeiro_olympics_2016_a_big.html?cat=9
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
