Rio de Janeiro Flying High Over 2016 Olympics Win

(ATR) Brazilian President Lula wept for joy as he faced the media with leaders of the jubilant team from Rio de Janeiro shortly after winning the 2016 Summer Games.

The IOC voted overwhelmingly to give the Games to the Marvelous City, trouncing Madrid in the third round of voting after Tokyo and Chicago were eliminated.

“Rio is a city that has suffered for a long time," President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva said.

“For a long time Rio showed up in headlines only for crimes. We wanted Rio to show up in sports headlines with good news about what we are doing."

The news couldn't get any better than the announcement that the IOC had chosen Rio to become the first South American city to host the Games.

"We're not a second-rate country, we're a first-rate country," Lula said. "We need just one unique opportunity to show the world we are a great nation, that we have the competence to do the same thing that China did or Germany did. Because when we are provoked, we work well."

Lula mopped his eyes with a handkerchief as he openly wept at the start of the briefing.

"I cry now because I didn't have the courage to cry during the presentation," Lula said.

He said the day was the most emotional and most exciting day in his life and he felt enormous pride in being Brazilian.

"There are not happier people, more creative people than Brazilians," Lula said.

He thanked everyone from Nuzman to the "messenger boy and the people who throw out the trash."

Although Rio placed second in the initial round with 26 votes (behind Madrid's 28), it gained 20 votes apiece in the next two rounds. Rio amassed 46 votes going into the head-to-head contest against Madrid, then won 66-32 for the largest margin of victory since 2001, when Beijing beat Toronto 56-22.

The last three IOC host city votes have been decided by four votes or fewer.

"To choose between four excellent candidatures is an always difficult, sometimes painful exercise," IOC president Jacques Rogge said. "In the first place I think of those who are not retained. We thank them, we understand their disappointment. We can tell them they are excellent bids and they fought well."

Rogge pointed out that this is the third bid for Rio. The city tried for the Games in 2004, then again in 2012, when it didn't even make the final cut.

"But Rio remained humble, Rio wanted to listen, and corrected their shortcomings," Rogge added. "They learned a lot and today they won, and I think this is a very nice story."

Bid president Carlos Nuzman recalls telling Rogge, "We'll be back."

Rio organized the 2007 Pan American Games,which were considered the most successful in the event's history, and, Nuzman said, "None of us had one day of holiday after the Pan American Games."

Rio even changed its plans for the Pan Am project, adding improvements to put itself in better position to win the Olympics.

The Brazilian government has already determined that Nuzman and Carlos Roberto Osorio, who was secretary general of the Pan Am Games, will lead the Rio Organizing Committee.

Before the press conference, which included the ceremonial signing of the host city contract, Rio bid supporters sang "Cidade Maravilhosa," their official song, and then chanted "Lula! Lula! Lula."

Because Brazil is a country that was colonized, Lula said it used to think small and believe it wasn't important.

"We always thought we couldn't do things," he said.

On Friday morning, with Danish televisionshowing President Barack Obama arriving on Air Force One, Lula thought, "My fellow friends, we lost now. Obama has arrived and we're going to lose."

Instead it was Chicago that went out in the first round.

"I have high hopes on President Obama," Lula said. "He's a great fellow. I'd like to convey a message. I apologize for being happy and you're all sad, but you were happy many times in your country. And we were sad many times."

Assessing what happened with the one-time front-runner from the United States, Lula said, "This is what defeated Chicago: Rio was the bid that won because it presented the best bid for hosting the Olympic Games in 2016."

Rogge said the vote sent a clear message that the door is open to other countries like Brazil, which is one of the top 10 economies in the world, yet had never hosted the Olympics.

"There was absolutely no flaw in the bid," Rogge said, "and the members I believe chose also for the extra added value of going for the first time to a continent that had never had the Games, so I believe this is an important decision."

Vowing to start work immediately, Rio will not only prepare for the Olympics, but also the FIFA 2014 World Cup.

"We still have a lot of things to do," said Lula, citing infrastructure projects.

Lula said the Olympics means the organizers are "going to have to sleep less, think more and work that much harder."

The Rio bid slogan was "LiveYour Passion."

"Our slogan now," Lula said, "is work, work and work."

And after 2016?

"We'll start fighting for the Winter Olympic Games," Lula joked. "Don't be surprised, or don't be frightened."

Written by Karen Rosen.

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