Brazilian President: Rio is no second rate citizen

 

By Gerard Meagher, Sportsbeat, in Copenhagen

BRAZILIAN President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva insists Rio is no longer a geopolitical second rate citizen and called on the IOC to stop awarding the Olympics to the rich.

FORWARD THINKING: Brazilian President Lula says it's time to stop thinking of Rio as second rate

Lula, speaking in Copenhagen ahead of the 121st IOC Session which will decide the host city for the 2016 Summer Games, was the first of the four heads of state who have travelled to the Danish capital to air his views.

Rio, traditionally overshadowed in Brazil by economic and cultural hub Sao Paulo, is currently undergoing somewhat of a revival at present - for which Lula's leftist government is largely responsible.

The discovery of one of the world's largest offshore oil reserves has prompted economic prosperity and security, leaving Rio largely immune to the global financial crisis.

It is still very much a work in progress however. A 2007 report by financial experts PriceWaterhouseCoopers ranked Rio 30th in terms of global GDP at approximately $141bn dollars in 2005.

Tokyo topped that list, Chicago was fourth while Madrid was also in the top 25 - prompting Lula to conclude that the true benefits of hosting the 2016 Olympics could only be felt by Rio.

"We see the Olympic Games are never held in third world countries," he said. "Other than in China or in Mexico, the Games always seem to go to Europe or to North America.

"But we are no longer a second rate citizen. Before I was President some people said to me that we are not educated enough - that the working class was not good enough.

"But we went to these people and convinced them we were capable. And it is a similar situation with staging the Olympics.

"Brazil is in the top richest ten countries of the world that has never staged the Olympics and it has never been to South America.

"We want to have the child and we want to be the child itself.

"We know we can compete with the big cities. We want to say ‘yes we can'.

"It's beautiful when it comes from the American mouths. For us previously, our attitude has been ‘no we can't' - but that has now changed."

Rio has been catapulted to eighth in the world in terms of crude oil reserves, courtesy of a huge discovery off the south-east coast which has facilitated considerable regeneration.

The key stumbling block with the bid, despite admissions from the IOC that significant improvements have been made, has been security fears - highlighted by the proximity of the favelas or shantytowns that surround the city.

But Lula is adamant that times are changing.

"Everyone can see that the recovery in our country is unquestionable," he added. "There is a lot more to be done but a lot of things are being done at the moment.

"Thanks to the deep sea oil, Brazil was the country that dealt best with the financial crisis. We were well regulated by the Central Bank and we were the first to get out of trouble.

"We have created one million jobs while a number of rich countries across the world continue to struggle with unemployment and we are due to experience extraordinary growth until 2017 and the Olympic Games would strengthen that even further."