IOC vacation continues in Rio

The vacation continued for the International Olympics Committee as it visited Rio de Janeiro, another bid city, from Apr. 24 – May 2, a longer stay than the other bid city visits. Did Rio leave a sunnier impression on the IOC than Chicago or Tokyo?

The visit took place during the weekend celebration of May Day, a national holiday in Brazil. Without work, traffic was lightened and celebration mode made it an easy chance to show public support. The tour of the city took place on May 1, a day when residents were requested to dress in Brazil’s National colors to show support for the bid. “We know people will want to enjoy the beach and to make the most of the public holiday, and what we are asking is that they do so dressed in green and yellow and that they put the national flag up on the windows of their homes. The idea is to organize something spontaneous, not a crowded event,” said Rio 2016 spokesman Saint-Clair Milesi.

With meetings discussing the 17 themes of the bid covering 300 technical questions, 300 professionals from Rio 2016 and three levels of government were directly involved in this visit. The evaluation team visited the sports venues on Friday. Many sites used during the 2007 Pan-American Games at Rio would be used again.

“We are happy and proud of the results of the first presentations. Speakers and members of the evaluation commission seemed to be on the same wavelength, and the question and answer sessions went smoothly,” explained Leonardo Gryner, Rio 2016’s director of marketing and communications.

Since the Games have never been held in South America, this appears to be a strong competition for the other bid cities whose countries have hosted the Olympics before. The bid also highlights Rio’s natural beauty as providing “an unrivaled stage for the event.” The city has pledged $14.1 billion for the Games should they come to the city. The IOC ended their visit with a conference where they once again said they were “highly impressed” by Rio’s bid. “Everything we saw here so far is positive,” said the evaluation committee’s chairwoman Nawal El Moutawakel.

But like Chicago’s bid has financial problems and Tokyo only has 56% of public support for their bid, Rio has its issues too. Safety is a primary concern in a city where violence and theft is more common than most. El Moutawakel said the IOC “was assured that all that can be done will be done to make Rio a safe city for the Games.”

Carlos Arthur Nuzman, President of Rio 2016 described the visit as “the only opportunity permitted by the IOC for their members to visit Rio de Janeiro to learn about our plans. We are confident. In partnership with representatives of the three levels of government, Rio 2016 will go through the plans presented in our candidature file and show that Rio is prepared to receive the greatest sports event on the planet.”

But does Brazil agree that the Olympics are the greatest sporting event? Brazil will host the World Cup Soccer Game in 2014. Many are concerned that this will overshadow the Olympic glow if held in the same country because soccer is such a popular sport in the Latin world. However, if Brazil can run the World Cup successfully, they are most likely to succeed in hosting the Olympics if given the Games, proving that they are responsible for handling large international sporting events.

In regards to the improving stage of the Paralympics, Rio succeeded in correlating the two events into one. Paralympic swimmer Daniel Dias said, “It was an honor to participate in this meeting on behalf of my peers, since I really believe in Rio 2016. The Olympic and Paralympic Games have been designed as a single event. Many, many people share my dream of seeing such a special event in my country.”

The evaluation committee was once again very careful to not expose any decisions or favorites. They continue on to Spain next week to review Madrid 2016’s bid. Reports on the cities’ bids will be released Sept. 2, a month before the final decision will be announced in Copenhagen.