Summer 2016 Olympic Games Prep

In a year’s time, on August 5, 2016, the Summer Olympic Games will start in Rio de Janeiro and run till August 21, for more than two weeks of thrilling competition, fulfilled dreams, broken records and heartbreaking defeats. Just last year, Brazil hosted the FIFA World Cup, so Rio and Globo, Brazil’s leading broadcaster, know something about organizing and covering a mammoth sports event, housing athletes and welcoming fans and tourists from around the world.

But as Globo CEO Carlos Henrique Schroder told me, while covering soccer is second nature in Brazil—a country whose teams have elevated the sport to the beautiful game, and where every person on the street, or beach in Rio’s case, is an expert—covering the 42 disciplines of the Summer Olympics is an entirely different undertaking. Nevertheless, both Globo and the city of Rio are deep into preparations.

Because Brazilian viewers are not as familiar with many of the sports that will be on display during the Olympics as they are with soccer, Globo has come up with a three-pronged coverage strategy. “There are sports that Brazilians don’t know,” says Schroder. “So during Olympic coverage, we have to concentrate on the more traditional sports, follow Brazilian athletes who have medal potential and, at the same time, follow the big international stars, the record holders, etc. So we are following everything, but highlighting first the Brazilians who are able to get medals, then sports that people know and then international athletes who have more prominence. We will be looking at everything all the time, but there is only one city, Rio de Janeiro, and 10,500 athletes.”

So the next question, naturally, is will Rio be ready? I was among a lucky group of people who visited Rio as part of the International Academy Day, hosted by Globo and organized jointly with the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. This group was given the opportunity to tour the Olympic Park and hear a presentation delivered by the Mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes.

Perfectly fluent in English, Paes detailed the three commandments, as he called them, that the city of Rio has been following in preparation for next summer’s games. They are Legacy, Saving Public Resources and On Time.

Rio is following in Barcelona’s footsteps when it comes to Legacy; the Catalan city hosted the games in 1992. Paes started his presentation by quoting then-Mayor of Barcelona Pasqual Maragall, who said, “There are two types of [Olympic] games: a city that serves the games and the games that serve a city.”

The idea being that the games last only around two weeks but they should leave behind infrastructure and investment that will benefit the host city. Barcelona is considered a prime example of creating long-lasting value after the Olympic Games, and Rio is now using that as a model as it prepares for next year.

“In Rio de Janeiro, the Olympics will be a fantastic driving force to transform old problems into opportunities, and getting infrastructure, transportation, environmental and quality-of-life projects off the drawing board,” said Paes.

A major legacy project has been improvement in the city’s mass transportation system. In 2009, only 16 percent of Rio’s population used it; by next year, 63 percent will have access to bus and rail rapid transit and metro lines, much of which is already operational.

Touring the Olympic Park we saw several stadiums under construction that are being built with “nomadic architecture.” Think giant Lego blocks, explained Joaquim Monteiro, the president of the Municipal Olympic Committee, which will be used to build the stadiums needed for the games. Those stadiums that will not be needed after the games will be dismantled and the “Lego blocks” (actually blocks of concrete) will be used to build structures that the city of Rio needs.

“Since Rio hosted the Pan American Games, the Military World Games, the FIFA Confederations Cup and FIFA World Cup, we have a lot of structures and stadiums already built,” explained Monteiro. “So it doesn’t make sense, for example, to have a third aquatic stadium. After the games, we will dismantle the aquatic center that is being built for the Olympics and transform it into two aquatic centers for the city,” he explains. “Another example is the handball arena. It, too, is a temporary building. After the games, we will dismantle it and use the same materials to build four public schools. It’s the first time in the history of the games that Olympic structures will be transformed into public schools.”

The International Broadcast Centre that will be open 24/7 during the games and accommodate 10,000 journalists is also under construction. The Olympic Village that will house the athletes is complete, and those apartments are already going for sale, as the complex will be used for residential housing after the games.

Also part of the Legacy commandment, the city of Rio is updating its sewage facilities and flood control system, as Rio is subject to massive floods each year, and the port area is being refurbished to become a residential, cultural, business and tourism hub. In addition, Mayor Paes has implemented tax incentives to attract several international hotel chains to the city in order to accommodate the tourists that will be visiting during the Olympics. In 2010, there were some 20,000 hotel rooms in Rio. The city is projecting there will be 37,000 by next year.

So who is paying for all of this? This takes us to the second commandment, Saving Public Resources. Mayor Paes explained that 57 percent of the total R$38.2-billion budget for the Olympics comes from the private sector and not taxpayers’ wallets. Indeed, when it comes to the sports venues, Paes explains that 65 percent of them are financed through PPPs [Public-Private Partnership] concessions. “We are not spending a lot of money on stadiums; we are not building big stadiums. We are not worrying too much about architecture and design. We want to provide good fields of play for the athletes and comfort for the spectators, but our main goal is legacy, legacy, legacy. We are going to deliver great games. And we will be done on time.”

That is the third commandment, On Time. With 55 percent of the work already complete, Paes assures us everything will be ready in time for the games.

While the games will take place in Rio, people around the world will be watching, and this is where Globo comes in. “Globo is completely Carioca,” says Paes. “They are Brazilians based in Rio so they are very connected to the city. Since day one they completely took on the Olympics as a big project for them, too. Globo is completely in love with sports, so they have been helping a lot. Only when they say bad things about the mayor are they wrong,” quipped Paes.