The Brazilian Olympic Committee has announced that Rio de Janeiro, a city of about 10 million people, has been chosen as the candidate city for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.
Rio had previously bid for the 2004 Summer Games which was awarded to Athens. No South American city has ever held the Olympics.
Brazil’s Olympic committee selected Rio despite outbreaks of violence that have brought international media attention reports the Associated Press. Rio has come under siege recently from drug gangs, which control the city’s shantytowns and have begun attacking police posts, shopping malls and tourist hotels.
In March the government sent troops and tanks into the streets to keep order during Rio’s famous Carnival holiday.
Rio’s bid committee said the Games would require investments of $1.6 billion, plus $1.3 billion more for infrastructure.
City officials said that Rio would have a head start on the 2012 Games because it will spend $300 million to stage the 2007 Pan American Games, lowering the needed investments to $1.3 billion.
