Brazil Sports Minister Makes Pan Am Debut

(ATR) Making only his second trip outside the country as sports minister of Brazil, George Hilton is taking in the experience of the 2015 Pan American Games.

"During our stay over the next couple of days we will be able to learn a lot. We'd like to take this opportunity to extract the most we can from this experience," Hilton said at a 90 minute press conference Saturday at the main press center for Toronto 2015.

"We're interacting with several levels of government, the host committee. l think we will be able to learn a lot, be able to implement some actions that we will direct towards the Games next year in Rio de Janeiro," he said.

Hilton noted Rio de Janeiro’s experience as a host of the 2007 Pan American Games, which he attended.

"Since the 2007 Pan Am Games, we have evolved a lot. Some people said that the World Cup would be the event with a lot of problems, but it was a big success. I think the experiences we've had since then have made us very prepared to fix mistakes," said the minister.

Hilton appeared with Rio 2016 President and IOC member Carlos Nuzman, Municipal Olympic CEO Joaquim Monteiro, Marcelo Pedroso, interim president of APO, the federal government watchdog for the Olympics and Marcos Antonio Cabral, state secretary for sport for Rio De Janeiro. Cabral was appointed to the post by his father, Sergio Cabral, who chose not to seek reelection last year as governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro after a series of controversies and protests against his leadership.

The younger Cabral revealed that boats had been acquired to begin cleaning trash from Guanabera Bay, the venue for sailing. Debris in the water has been a criticism of sailors participating in test events, but government leaders like Cabral insist that the Bay is four times cleaner than it was in 2007.

"We are making a lot of effort to clean Guanabara Bay. The lagoa [venue for rowing] is already being worked on. For August, we do have the works in progress and they will be ready," Cabral promises for the test events in sailing and rowing scheduled next month.

Hilton told reporters that the federal government is doing all it can to make sure Rio de Janeiro and Brazil are ready for next year.

"There's work going on to transfer the resources needed from the federal government to make sure everything is done on time. Whatever is the responsibility of the federal government, resources have been supplied within the timeline," said Hilton.

Hilton, known for his work as a host for religious TV and radio programs, was named minister in December by President Dilma Rousseff. He is not from Rio De Janeiro nor does he have a background in sport, which led to some early criticism of his appointment. His previous portfolio was fisheries. On the other hand, his predecessor as sports minister, Aldo Rebello also lacked much experience in sport and came to the post because Rousseff needed to include a seat in her government for a member of the Communist Party.

Hilton has since met members of the IOC commission for Rio 2016 and has become active in the national effort to develop sport across the country.

"We also want through the Olympic and Paralympic Games, we want to bring the Olympic sports to all 27 states of the country," he said.

Hilton’s appearance in Toronto was the first time he has appeared before a group of journalists at an Olympic-related sports event outside of Brazil. Earlier this year he did travel to the United Nations in New York where he promoted the inaugural edition of the Indigenous Games, and event set for October in Palmas, Brazil.

Reported and written in Toronto by Ed Hula.

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.