Rio 2016 by Zimbalist Andrew;

Author:Zimbalist, Andrew;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES

The reality could not be hidden any further. But, in a skillful manner, the IOC and Rio decided on a radical change in their tone, in part to prepare for possible chaos. Once again, manipulation of facts was the main focus of its communications strategy. The idea was to show that the challenges Rio was facing had nothing to do with lack of planning or corruption; instead, the country’s economic and political crisis was deemed the culprit. Ignoring that Rio had had seven years to prepare for the Games and that most of this preparation was in fact during Brazil’s boom years, the communications strategy insisted that it was these financial uncertainties, which erupted in 2015, that threatened the entire event and, thus, opened the door to the request for a bailout.

The message conveyed to the world was that the Games were victims of a crisis that could not have been avoided by the IOC or by their Brazilian counterparts. Rio would also show the world that, despite the difficulties imposed by politicians, sports had prevailed in the end, together with the capacity of officials who organized and delivered the event.

In April 2016, in a speech given in Lausanne during a congress attended by businesspeople, investors, and broadcasters, Bach made sure this was the tone to be used. “We well know that the political and economic situation of Brazil will mean that the final preparation will still be a challenge,” said the IOC president. “Despite the challenges that have been faced, I am still firmly convinced that the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro shall be a real inspiring spectacle.… Faced with this unprecedented situation, it is important that we all come together. The Games shall be a signal of hope in a moment of turbulence. This message of hope could be the most important legacy that this event could bring to the city of Rio, to Brazil and to the world.”26 The promised legacy for citizens had been transformed into a semispiritual legacy for the world.

At that point Rio 2016 was not even sure about how it would finance the costs to be incurred. At the same meeting in Lausanne, sports federations brought together by the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) produced a sobering evaluation of the Games. Confidential documents showed that there was indeed a risk of casting into doubt the organizers’ ability to erect some of the venues to be used in the event and also to ensure the athletes’ security.

The list of concerns was in fact quite frightening, even for officials who had kept tabs on the preparation of about a dozen editions of the Games. The document stated, “the finance issue at federal, state and municipal levels dominated the preparation,” in addition to other equally serious issues like “the mediocre quality of the water, affecting several federations, the general capacity of sustaining the Games, the reduction in the number of employees allocated to the Local Organising Committee, and the delay in operational planning.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.