Rio 2016 President Carlos Nuzman (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix)Rio Leaders Open Emotional Appeal, Say It’s Rio’s Turn
While the IOC Evaluation Commission is supposed to base its review on the technical aspects of a city's bid, Rio 2016 president Carlos Nuzman and company played the passion card at a press conference following the first day of the visit by the IOC Evaluation Commission.
"There are no people who will celebrate more," Nuzman told a press conference at the Copacabana Palace after a day spent briefing the commission. "The world needs parties, they need festivities. The world needs joy, the world needs smiles, the world needs sunshine, colors, and to open its doors to celebrate. It doesn't matter if you win the gold medal or you lost the race. What matters is the Games will open up a new world, and no one else can do that. Only Rio can do that."
He compared holding the Games in Rio to the IOC's decision to award the Olympics to London in 1948, three years after the end of World War II, and to the The Big Three for Rio 2016 government support: Mayor Eduardo Paes, Federal Sports Minister Orlando Silva and Rio De Janeiro Governor Sergio Cabral. (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix)decisions to hold the 1964 Games in Tokyo, the 1988 Games in Seoul and the 2008 Games in Beijing.
"Now we arrive on the same door, to open the door for this continent," Nuzman said.
He said the Games in Rio would open the Olympics to other regions of the world, including the Middle East, Africa and India.
"I am very sure of this: Nobody will bring a contribution to the Olympic Movement greater than Rio being voted the host city of the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games."
Nuzman was joined by some of the country's top political leaders: Sergio Cabral, the governor of the state; Eduardo Paes, mayor of Rio, and Orlando Silva, the country's minister of sport, who also hammered home the theme that it's Rio's turn and Rio's time.
Silva said that Brazil is the only country in the world's top 10 economies that has never hosted the Olympic Games. "The important difference is the Sailor Isabel Swan, a bronze medalist in Beijing is said to have brought a tear to the eyes of commission members when she spoke to the panel Wednesday. (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix)chance for transformation that Rio has," Silva said."I believe the IOC will have in their hands a unique opportunity to leave their mark on the Olympic Movement."
Cabral said that among Rio's three competitors -- Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid -- the benefits to hosting the Games "won't be as large as the benefits left behind for Rio. And if we are ready, why not do it?"
And Paes built on Cabral's comment that Rio has a lot to earn with the Olympic Games. "I think the Olympic Movement would have a lot to earn with the Olympics in Rio," he said. "To have a country like Brazil and a continent like South America, that would impact a lot in the Olympic Games."
Although the bid leaders didn't go into detail with the media about what they said in the briefings for the IOC, Nuzman said, "When we finished the day, we can say, 'Yes, we did it.' We can add something: 'Yes, we are ready. I think this represents what we said, Rio is ready and we are ready."
Tugging on Heartstrings
Speeches by Isabel Swan, the first Brazilian to win a sailing gold medal, and Marilene Ramos, environment secretary of the state, "filled eyes with tears," said Cabral. "Women make the Evaluation Commission emotional, for ourselves on this side of the panel, and also for those on the other side."
He said the room even clapped loudlySailor Isabel Swan, a bronze medalist in Beijing is said to have brought a tear to the eyes of commission members when she spoke to the panel Wednesday. (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix)for Ramos.
The other emotional weapon was a 2-minute, 13-second film showing people singing and dancing while pursuing sports or their livelihoods.
Carlos Roberto Osorio, secretary general of Rio 2016, said the city itself gave a sales pitch during Wednesday's coffee breaks. The Copacabana Palace ballroom where the briefings are held opens out onto the hotel's famous veranda.
"It was a beautiful, spectacular day," Osorio said, "and watching Copacabana beach and the people walking and jogging. I think Rio made the day today."
Money in Hand
Nuzman emphasized that despite the global economic crisis, Rio has the funds to start work on the Olympics on Oct. 3, one day after the IOC vote in Copenhagen.
"We don't need to go to the banks for loans, we don't need to go to the market to sell something, we don't need to open a shop. We have the resources to start to work. This is the most important guarantee for the International Olympic Committee."
The bid leaders also stressed their venues, many of them built for the 2007 Pan American Games using $2 billion in government funding.
Traveling Times
At an earlier press conference, bid leaders presented plans for sports and venues and the Olympic Village.
A short film that was shown to the Evaluation Commission depicted the four venue zones from a flyover perspective. The film fast-forwarded between some of the venues, including the two major stadiums for athletics and football.
Bid leaders defended the compactness of their plan, insisting that no venue was more than 50 minutes away from the Olympic Village.
The bid book says it will take only 25 minutes in 2016 to go from the village to the athletics stadium, a distance of 22 kilometers that takes about 40 minutes now.
"From the village to the track and field, there are no red lights," said Leonardo Gryner, marketing and communications chief told ATR. "There are no red lights, just highway."
Adriana Behar, a beach volleyball Olympic double silver medalist for Brazil, said that in Sydney it took an hour and a half to travel to Bondi Beach, which was about 20 kilometers away.
"We have a plan that's going to take us so quickly to the venues," she said.
Lula for Day Two at Sugarloaf
Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva will be the host for the official dinner Thursday night for the IOC commission. The event is the only formal hospitality event permitted to be organized by the bid.
Lula will welcome the IOC delegates at Zozo, a restaurant at the foot of Sugarloaf known for its Brazilian cuisine.
The dinner will come at the end of Day Two of the IOC commission visit to Rio De Janeiro. Thursday’s briefings for the commission will include political and economic climate, transport and the Paralympics.
Friday the commission will make a venue tour; the visit ends on May 2.
Written by Ed Hula and Karen Rosen in Rio De Janeiro.
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