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Rio is ready to host 2016 Olympic
Xinhua
Updated: 2008-08-12 15:08
RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Monday that Rio is ready to host the 2016 Olympic Games, and stressed that more efforts from the government is still necessary to beat other candidate cities.
In his weekly radio show "Breakfast with the President", Lula said he had attended the Beijing Olympic Game's opening ceremony and took the chance to promote Rio's bid to host the Olympics.
"Rio de Janeiro has all conditions to win. That is why we went to China, to meet with the International Olympic Committee heads and other nations' leaders, to have a more exact notion of what hosting the Olympic Games entails," he said, "we have learned from the Chinese about the events organization."
Rio's bid was much criticized due to the huge spending in hosting the Olympic Games. On that subject, President Lula said he has met with IOC President Jacques Rogge, who knows about Brazil's possibilities.
He added that the Olympic Games were not created to be held only in rich countries, and the candidate cities Madrid, Tokyo and Chicago are all located in developed countries.
Lula pointed out that Brazil had hosted the Pan-American Games, which was an extraordinary success. "We will host the Military World Games in 2011, with over 6,000 athletes, and we will host the 2014 FIFA World Cup. All those events will be a preparation for hosting 2016 Olympic Games," he said.
