Brazil putting on its best Games face

When the strains of samba draw 7,000 dancers onto the grass at Rio’s massive Maracana Stadium today, it will mark more than the opening ceremonies of the 15th Pan American Games. It also will mark the beginning of an enormous gamble by the government and civic leaders of Brazil.

Because while the multi-sport, Olympic-style competition is one of the largest and most prestigious athletic festivals in the world, for Brazil it’s seen as a way to boost the country’s image internationally and to provide a steppingstone toward the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics, both of which the country is hoping to lure to Rio.

If it succeeds, Brazil could realize billions in additional tourist-related revenue. But if it fails it could be decades before the country, which hasn’t played host to a major sporting event in 57 years, is asked to stage another.

More than 5,500 athletes from 42 countries in the Western Hemisphere will participate in 30 sports during the 17-day event, and Brazil has certainly spent lavishly on the preparations. More than $1.5 billion has been invested in the construction of new venues, such as 45,000-seat Joao Havelange Stadium, and for improvements to existing ones, such as hulking Maracana Stadium, which was built for the 1950 World Cup, the last major international sports event contested in Brazil.

The real test for Rio, however, will be making the city safe. It’s no secret that the city is dangerous and crime-ridden, with gangs controlling sizable areas of the teeming hillside slums, some just a short distance from Games venues.

Less than three weeks ago a shootout close to the city’s international airport forced the closing of a runway because bullets were coming dangerously close to aircraft trying to land. And at the end of June more than a dozen suspected criminals were killed in a running battle with more than 1,300 police officers backed by armored vehicles and helicopters.

“The Pan Ams may be a way to improve the image of Rio, to show its beauties and capability of organization -- which, unfortunately, is not big,” said Heitor Augusto, a 22-year-old college student. “These [police] initiatives show that concern. In Rio it is common to see the police walking around with guns, but it’s visible that it has gotten much more impressive with the Pan Ams coming closer.”

Security, in fact, was beefed up around Rio on June 30 with the federal police assigning more than 2,800 officers -- specially trained in methods used at last summer’s World Cup in Germany -- to Pan Am patrols. Another 3,200 agents of the elite National Force and about 15,000 local police also will be on duty. Additional military units are expected to be available as well, though a political squabble between the police and army over who gets to use $200 million in new equipment has strained relations between the two agencies.

And those plans got another scare this week when the civil police, emboldened by their large role in Pan Am preparations, went on a two-day strike for better wages.

The largest delegation in Rio is the one from the United States, with 600 athletes and nearly 300 support personnel. Among that number are 84 Olympic veterans, including five-time Olympian John McNally in rapid-fire pistol, 10-time Olympic medalist Gary Hall Jr. in swimming, gymnasts Nastia Liukin, Shawn Johnson, Samantha Peszek and Ivana Hong and powerful teams in softball, baseball and wrestling.

And while Darryl Seibel, communications director for the U.S. Olympic Committee, said security is a major concern for the U.S. team, he added the delegation is pleased with what it has seen in Rio.

“We haven’t had security concerns that are unusual or beyond what we address at every Games. And I’m not talking just Pan American Games. I’m talking about the Olympic Games and the Olympic Winter Games as well,” he said.

“I wouldn’t say that we’ve had concerns that are in any way beyond or really even different than what we ordinarily think about when we take a large delegation to a Games.”

In addition to addressing safety concerns, the Brazilian organizing committee also had to overcome funding delays, legal disputes and work stoppages that slowed construction and left projects costing as much as 10 times what was budgeted. Seven months ago, work was so far behind that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva decided to step in and personally oversee construction, assuring that everything was done on time.

Not that it wasn’t close. The $200-million Joao Havelange Stadium was completed just weeks ago, nearly a year behind schedule, and still has minor infrastructure problems, and delays forced the cancellation of pre-Pan Am Games events at other venues.

Similar overruns and delays plagued organizers of the last Pan Am Games in the Dominican Republic four years ago as well as the Summer Olympics three years ago in Greece.

“At any event like this, you’re going to have some preparations that are taking place into the eleventh hour,” said Seibel, who has attended five Olympics and two previous Pan Am Games. “It’s one of the things that is really underappreciated when you look at what goes into hosting an event like this. If you look at the World Series, that’s two venues in two different cities. For an event like this, you might be talking about 30 venues in one city plus you’ve got an athletes village, a main media center and any number of other venues or facilities.

“It’s far more sophisticated and complicated than people realize. [But] we’re really happy. The venues are absolutely spectacular. The village in terrific. They’ve done a great job preparing. We’re excited.”

Special correspondent Marcelo Soares contributed to this report.

kevin.baxter@latimes.com