London hands off Olympic flag to 2016 host Rio de Janeiro

LONDON — They used words like “passion” and “embrace” and emphasized the tagline “a city leaps forward.”

But Leonardo Gryner, chief executive of Rio de Janeiro’s organizing committee, perhaps put it best when he offered a hint of what to expect at the 2016 Olympics in the Carnival City.

“In Brazil, as you know, we like to party,” Gryner said at a news conference.

Rio received the Olympic flag at the closing ceremony for the London Games on Sunday night, unveiling 250 dancers and musicians in an eight-minute ceremony that officials said was designed to showcase the city’s “multicultural embrace.”

Thus, the four-year countdown for the city that beat out Chicago’s high-profile bid has begun with hints of both promise and problems.

“Our city is only known by cliches and faint information,” said Daniela Thomas, one of the artistic directors for Sunday’s program. “They’re not wrong and don’t misrepresent us. But we want to show you other levels. We have incredible people, incredible culture, incredible passion. We embrace culture. So I think it’s going to be the cliches reinvented.”

Gryner said construction began on Olympic Park and the Olympic village in June and all sporting venues will be completed by 2015 in time for a full test event. Gryner added that security plans are well underway and new public transport systems needed to reach the four zones where events will be held also will be finished in time.

All of this is part of a roughly $15-billion undertaking for infrastructure and operation costs, organizers said.

However, Brazil, which also is hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup, has raised question marks regarding its older airports and lack of hotel rooms. And one of the main sporting venues is named after Joao Havelange, the former president of FIFA who was found by a Swiss court to have received close to $1 million in bribes in the 1990s.

Gryner said that stadium’s name would remain.

“We are very proud of what Mr. Havelange has done for sports worldwide and for Brazil in particular,” Gryner said. “As far as I have learned from what he did wrong, he was punished by the justice and he paid for that. He’s a great legend in our sport.”

Brazil’s national organizing committee officials have set a goal of placing in the top 10 of the medal count in 2016. That may be a tall task following a desultory showing for the world’s fifth-largest country here, with only three golds and 17 overall medals.

Such a low count contrasts sharply with Britain’s large leap of success here. After landing only one gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games, Britain has jumped to 29 golds and 65 overall medals here, third and fourth, respectively.

If Brazil can’t match Britain’s sporting success, it at least will try to emulate its safety, organization and transportation efficiency.

“The Games in London have been very inspiring for us,” Gryner said. “We have learned from the London team. We hope we can achieve the same results as London did.”

kcjohnson@tribune.com

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