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Brazil hankers after Olympics

Catherine Deshayes

Brazil, one of the fastest growing economies in the world, now has its sights firmly set on hosting the 2016 Olympic Games.

Now that the 2008 Olympic Games are over, countries are beginning their campaigns to host the 2016 Games.

Brazil is one country keen to host, and the country's President, Lula da Silva, has said that the South American nation would be a suitable host.

Having already secured the FIFA World Cup in 2014, Brazil has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure improvements, making Brazil a major attraction to foreign property investors.

The Brazilian President recently traveled to China on a fact finding mission and met representatives of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and looked at how the Beijing games were managed.

President Lula said, "Rio de Janeiro has all the right conditions to win this bid even if it is in competition with cities such as Tokyo, Chicago and Madrid.

"We have learned from the Chinese about the event's organization," he added.

President Lula told the IOC President Jacques Rogge to "think about Brazil between now and 2016, with an economy growing strongly, with the poor gaining access to the middle class, with improved infrastructure and more security."

"I told him the Olympic Games were not created to take place only in rich countries and that Brazil is much better prepared than numerous other countries to host the Games.

"The Pan-American Games of July 2007 had been a real success and the country's hosting of the World Cup in 2014 would act as an ideal preparation for the Olympic Games two years later," President Lula went on to say.

The cities shortlisted for the 2016 Games must submit a detailed dossier to the IOC in February next year and the final decision will be made at an IOC meeting in Copenhagen on the 2^nd of October, 2009.

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