Lula: Rio Is Ready To
Host 2016 Olympics
RIO DE JANEIRO -
Brazil's President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva
said on Monday that Rio
is ready to host the
2016 Olympic Games, and
stressed that more
efforts from the
government is still
necessary to beat other
candidate cities.
In his weekly radio show
"Breakfast with the
President", Lula said he
had attended the Beijing
Olympic Game's opening
ceremony and took the
chance to promote Rio's
bid to host the
Olympics.
"Rio de Janeiro has all
conditions to win. That
is why we went to China,
to meet with the
International Olympic
Committee heads and
other nations' leaders,
to have a more exact
notion of what hosting
the Olympic Games
entails," he said, "we
have learned from the
Chinese about the events
organization."
Rio's bid was much
criticized due to the
huge spending in hosting
the Olympic Games. On
that subject, President
Lula said he has met
with IOC President
Jacques Rogge, who knows
about Brazil's
possibilities.
He added that the
Olympic Games were not
created to be held only
in rich countries, and
the candidate cities
Madrid, Tokyo and
Chicago are all located
in developed countries.
Lula pointed out that
Brazil had hosted the
Pan-American Games,
which was an
extraordinary success.
"We will host the
Military World Games in
2011, with over 6,000
athletes, and we will
host the 2014 FIFA World
Cup. All those events
will be a preparation
for hosting 2016 Olympic
Games," he said.
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