GamesBids.com: Rio 2016 Hires Former Prime Minister

Rio 2016 Hires Former Prime Minister
================================================================================
GB Staff on Monday, February 1, 2010  11:17am EST
 
Tony Blair has been hired by the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games organizing
committee as a paid consultant, reports the Daily Mail.
Britain's former Prime Minister will act as a paid consultant, it was revealed
Sunday. He will advise the organizers on the 2016 Olympics and will give at
least one speech.
His fee for assisting in the Rio 2016 Games has not yet been fixed, reports the
Daily Mail.
Sergio Cabral, governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, said Blair agreed to
accept the role during a meeting in London Saturday. Cabral said, "Tony Blair is
largely responsible for London winning and hosting the Olympics in 2012. If
London has reach 2010 with everything in place, it is because of the planning
and preparation during the period when he was Prime Minister. So hiring him
provides a great bridge between London and Rio".
Cabral said Blair's fee would be paid by private sponsorship and not form
public funds, adding that Blair will give a speech in Rio in May.