Opinions Differ On Rio Hosting 2016 Games

Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) head MarioVazquez Rana, said Saturday that despite its success in hosting the Pan American Games there is still much work to be done before Rio de Janeiro qualifies as an Olympic host city.

Xinhua quotes Rana saying at a press conference “this Pan American Games are successful, but there remains much work to be done if Brazil wants to host the Olympic Games”.

Rana, a member of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) executive board, said that the local organizing committee is to release a report Sunday on the Rio Games but he said a excellent report doesn’t ensure that Rio would win the IOC’s favour. He said, “the Pan Ams opened the door to Rio but there is a long way to go”.

When asked what needed to be improved Rana said that poor infrastructure at the softball and baseball venue had caused the most problems. Strong winds destroyed part of the softball venue and organizers had to postpone the start of the competition, while baseball events were delayed three times last week because of similar problems.

Meanwhile Brazil’s Sport Minister Orlando Silva Junior said Saturday the Pan American Games would leave an important sporting legacy to Brazil and qualify Rio as an Olympic host. “The country’s presence in the international scenario can already be felt by the scheduling of important competitions such as the judo world championships, synchronized swimming and the military world games,” reports Xinhua.

Silva told a press conference he believes that the Brazilian organizers have lived up to expectations. “What Brazil showed with Rio 2007 was its capability to host a large multi-sporting event. We have more than 4,000 athletes from 42 countries (and regions), about 10,000 visitors and no serious incident occurred. We even had a reduction of common crimes in Rio, which shows that the security has worked”.

He added with the Pan Am Games coming to a close Brazil’s mind is now on the Olympic Games. “Now we need to prepare a good Olympic project to make the dream of bringing the Olympic Games to Brazil come true”.

The Pan Am Games are regarded as a test for Brazil to prove its capability of hosting major international sporting events. Write or read comments about this article

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