Rio de Janeiro’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games got a boost because of last week’s upgrade of Brazil’s credit rating to investment grade, said bid organizers.
Carlos Arthur Nuzman, president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB), told Reuters, “this is important because it gives the Olympic movement the certainty that Brazil has the financial security to deliver the Games at the level required. It consolidates a strong and safe candidature”.
Standard & Poors upgraded Brazil’s credit rating one notch to “BBB-”, praising its debt reduction efforts, prudent spending and growth prospects. According to The Guardian the move improved Brazil’s ability to raise funds on the world’s international capital market.
Bid organizers said the country’s new status would help dispel the stereotyped, but long outdated image of an economy ravaged by inflation, where a suitcase of bank notes was needed to buy a light bulb.
Nuzman said the organizing committee was working hard to show that there was more to Rio than sun, sand, carnival and soccer. He highlighted the country’s economic strength.
He added that staging the Pan American Games last year proved that Rio could stage a manor event successfully despite failing in its bids to host the 2004 and 2012 Olympic Games. “It was practical, public proof of our capacity to organize mega-events and this was fundamental. We realized we couldn’t organize the Olympics without first staging the Pan American Games, this was the message”.
Since the Pan American Games facilities were built to Olympic standards at a cost of about $2 billion with the 2016 candidacy in mind Nuzman said, “naturally this will reduce the budget for the Olympics. The more expensive facilities are ready and we only have the lower-cost ones to worry about”.
He said the transport plan for the 2012 bid, which involved building an extensive metro system, was too ambitious and this time Rio has gone for a simpler system of dedicated bus lanes.
Nuzman feels it was South America’s turn to stage the Games for the first time. He said, “South America’s moment has arrived, this is one of our arguments. We are talking about a population of 400 million people. When they talk in the United Nations about helping the youth of the world, we can’t forget about the youth in South America”.
