Rio presented on Tuesday its bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games.

 

According to the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) President Carlos Arthur Nuzman, the presentation was "an outline" of the project to be developed in the city for the Games if it succeeds in the campaign to become the Olympic venue, which will be announced on October 2, 2009.

 

"The Olympics are 39 world championships in a 15-day period, in the same city, and it can be done only with great effort and a lot of work," stressed Nuzman in his speech.

 

One of the highlights of the project is the construction of an Olympic training center in the spot where the Nelson Piquet auto race track is currently located, in the Jacarepagua district, Rio's western zone.

 

The auto race track would then be transferred to another district, leaving room for the new facility. The place neighbors the area that hosts the Maria Lenk Aquactic Park, the Multipurpose Arena and the Velodrome, which were built especially for the XV Pan American Games, held in Rio in July 2007.

 

Nuzman revealed that "Latin American, African and Asian athletes" have been requesting to come and practice in Rio's sports facilities following the construction of the complex.

 

Along with the so-called National Tennis Center, to be built on the same spot, the new training center will have four pavilions and will host events of 20 Olympic sports.

 

The project also included improvements in Rio's transportation infrastructure. The government will take advantage of existing highways to implement a system of articulated public buses to connect the city's regions.

 

Rio's City Mayor Cesar Maia, who also attended the ceremony to present the project, said that the Olympics represent "20 times as much as" the Pan Am Games, which helped providing the city with "international density" and allowed it to host other events, in a clear reference to the approval of the Brazilian bid to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup, announced in Nov. Rio's Maracana Stadium was defined as stage to Cup's opening ceremony.

 

Additionally, Nuzman said that the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) also agrees that the World Cup will help Rio in its Olympic goal, responding to criticism over the fact that the multi-sport event would be held only two years after the football championship.

 

"If any adversary wants to use it, that is natural, part of the game," the COB President added, in a reference to the presentation of Tokyo's Olympic bid. On the occasion, a Japanese official suggested that the proximity between the two events should disfavor Rio.

 

Apart from Rio and Tokyo, five other cities have stated their wish to host the 2016 Olympic Games: Chicago (US), Prague (Czech Republic), Baku (Azerbaijan), Doha (Qatar) and Madrid (Spain).

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 9, 2008)