Word: ioc
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...Brazil's time," President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva insisted in his pitch before Friday's International Olympic Committee vote. "It is time to light the Olympic torch in a tropical country." The IOC agreed - and that lit up a frenzied carnival in Rio de Janeiro, a city that knows how to party perhaps better than any other. As the decision was announced, the world forgot Rio's problems for a moment, especially its frightening murder rate, and watched tens of thousands of its residents, known as Cariocas, exult on Copacabana Beach, dancing to deafening music in tanga...
...about time that the Olympics go the South American Way. In fact, there's a reason that it's been four decades since a Latin American country, or any Third World country, has hosted the games. That was the Mexico City Olympiad of 1968, when Mexico convinced the IOC that it was a modern republic ready to stand alongside Britain and Japan and Australia - only to have its army massacre hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators 10 days before the opening ceremonies. The bar was set much higher for Latin America after that, meaning that a country would have to persuade...
There are eight existing venues that need to be renovated in time for the Games, including the João Havelange Stadium where the track and field events will take place. Three of the venues are new, built for the Pan Am Games; however, they do not meet the IOC's size or technical standards. The velodrome for track cycling, the aquatics center for diving and water polo and the João Havelange Stadium all need extensive work. The existing sites for archery, sailing, rowing, equestrian, shooting, kayak and rowing, as well as the route of the marathon also...
...that isn't enough to deal with, two very large issues are tourist lodgings and security. Rio lacks hotel rooms, and although it has promised to increase the number available before 2016, some of the promised beds are on private cruise ships, a situation that worried the IOC enough to question the strategy's reliability and accountability. Another issue is street violence. The games committee lauded what they called Rio's "increased public safety and reductions in crime." But the number of homicides in the city is rising again and is up 9.9% so far this year. Officials would likely...
...more for a chance at lucrative TV and sponsor revenues, as well as prestige on the world stage. The losers don't get any return on their investment other than a host of lessons to draw on for a subsequent second attempt. Who's going to stand alone? The IOC's announcement begins...