Rio de Janeiro won the bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games because Sochi, host of the 2014 Winter Olympics, paved the way.
Bloomberg reports Dmitry Chernyshenko, Chief Executive Officer of Sochi 2014, told a sports industry meeting in London Monday, “Sochi opened a gateway to the Olympic future for Rio and other emerging countries. There is a significant shift” at work in the Olympic movement in favour of emerging countries such as Russia and Brazil.
Meanwhile Mike Lee, lead adviser to Rio’s bid, said the International Olympic Committee (IOC) didn’t choose Rio over Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo because no South American country had ever hosted an Olympic Games before. He said, “the idea of new territories, that card alone was not going to get Rio the bid”.
Rio was successful mainly because it was able to communicate successfully that “Rio was ready. That message was the absolute cornerstone of our message”, said Lee.
He said the creation of the G-20 shortly before the IOC vote on the 2016 Games also added to the victory. Brazil will reportedly be the fifth largest economy by 2016, from 10th now, according to the World Bank.
“That showed President Lula and Brazil are now at the top table in every walk of life. I couldn’t have scripted it better myself”, said Lee.
