On the Scene - Rio Ready to Show its Passion

A city that welcomes more than half a million foreign visitors annually for the four days of Carnivale needs to impress only 13 people during the four-day visit of the IOC Evaluation Commission. How well Rio de Janeiro delivers its message could influence the next seven years for the 2016 bid city.

As commission members began arriving Monday, with their first briefings scheduled for Wednesday, they were greeted by a message board above the highway that flashed "Rio Welcomes the Evaluation Commission" in both Portuguese and English.

Slogans such as "Live Your Passion" and "Eu Quero" (I Want) adorned billboards and colorful signs are placed at strategic intervals throughout the city, including overpasses, as commission members make their way to their hotel, the Copacabana Palace.

To begin their visit, they will be guests of the bid committee at a private cocktail reception on the hotel's terrace overlooking Copacabana beach. Built in 1923, the renowned hotel was used for a scene in the movie "Flying Down to Rio" with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will meet with the members of the IOC commission and host the Official Dinner on the City Night at one of Rio's landmarks. The bid committee remains coy about the location, saying only that it will be disclosed later this week. The dinner will feature performances by Brazilian artists.

The evaluation commission will also meet Olympic athletes and national sports heroes at functions and venue visits, including Brazilian football legend Pelé.

Rio is the third stop on the tour of the four 2016 candidate cities. The commission has very little turnaround time, with the Madrid visit coming close on its heels. Some members are expected to leave immediately after the final press conferences Saturday.

Government Strongly Behind Bid

Rio is expected to stress its governmental guarantees and that it already has a check from the government guaranteeing one fourth of the budget. Speakers during the briefings include Sergio Cabral, governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro; Orlando Silva, minister of Sport and Eduardo Paes, mayor of Rio. Rio has a total budget of $14.4 billion, which includes venue construction and security, the highest figure among the four candidate cities.

"We are looking forward to welcoming the IOC Evaluation Commission members to Rio this week and are committed to being open and forthcoming in all of our discussions and in every step along this wonderful journey to 2016," Carlos Arthur Nuzman, president of Rio 2016, said in a statement to Around the Rings.

"We are a transparent bid committee and we are laying the groundwork for a transparent organizing committee to host spectacular Games of celebration and transformation. Over the course of the week, the Commission members will witness the tremendous promise of our city and its people and will have the opportunity to discover our vision firsthand through venue visits and technical presentations. We are confident that this will be a successful week and speak for our entire team when I say that we are ready."

Rio, which hopes to become the first South American city to host the Olympics, will use venues from the 2007 Pan American Games and stadiums and facilities that will be part of the 2014 World Cup. The bid committee must also convince the inspectors that an Olympics coming just two years after the World Cup is an advantage, and not an anti-climax to the world's other big event.

Bid leaders will seek to assure the Evaluation Commission that security and safety are not an issue. In the working group report, Rio received the lowest marks among the four finalist cities with a minimum of 4.6 and a maximum of 7.0. By contrast, the minimum score for Chicago was 7.1, for Tokyo 7.9 and Madrid 7.1.

Pickpockets and petty theft are traditionally a big problem in the city.

"Crime in parts of Rio de Janeiro was considered to be an issue for the safety of people attending the Olympic Games," the report said.

Crime may not be the only problem on the horizon for Rio 2016. Although the bid committee has had dress rehearsals to prepare a carefully-planned visit, some things are out of their control. As the evaluation commission members were arriving Monday, a hospital in Sao Paulo was investigating two suspected cases of swine flu in Brazilian patients who had arrived recently from Mexico.

Compact or Not?

During the venue tour on Friday, commission members will evaluate Rio's claim of a compact Games.

They'll first visit the Copacabana Zone, which features the eight open air competitions of the 2016 Games including cycling, beach volleyball, open water swimming, rowing, canoeing, triathlon, racewalking and sailing.

They'll then go to the Barra Zone, which will host 14 competition locations for 19 sports - about 50 percent of the overall competition. This is the newer part of the city and will also be the site of the IBC and the MPC.

The Maracana Zone includes Maracana Stadium and Joao Havelange Stadium. The next will be the Deodoro Zone, which has seven facilities for nine sports.

Nuzman has emphasized that 56 percent of the facilities are already constructed which puts Rio ahead of the other candidates.

The Olympic and Paralympic Village will offer athletes a private beach while bringing the atmosphere of Rio to them.

The weather forecast calls for mostly sunny days, with temperatures of about 80 degrees during the day and 67 at night. There's a chance of showers Thursday, but Friday, the day of the venue tour, is supposed to be sunny again.

Media on the Scene

About 120 members of the media have been accredited.

International media arriving in Rio are met by a bid representative as soon as they exit the ramp from the airplane and are ushered through passport control and customs. The media are staying at the Windsor Plaza Copacabana, which is about a 10-minute walk from the Copacabana Plaza. The main press room seats only 35 people at tables and news organizations are allowed only two people in the room. There is a separate room for photojournalists. The media briefing room can hold 85-100 people and has simultaneous translation.

Members of the international media have been invited to an official Rio 2016 Welcome Lunch and Briefing on Tuesday at the Palacio da Cidade - the Mayor's Palace - alongside Mayor Paes, several State Secretaries and members of the Rio 2016 Bid Committee.

According to a media release, the press will not be granted access to the Copacabana Palace Hotel except to participate in the final press conference. Ironically, a statue in front of the hotel is of a journalist: society columnist Ibrahim Sued.

With reporting from Karen Rosen in Rio de JaneiroFor general comments or questions,click here