I was very excited to learn which four cities cleared the first hurdle in the long-distance race to the 2016 Olympic: Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo, and Rio de Janeiro. Officially, of course, I’m backing Chicago: it’s home turf for the American team, a world-class city, and close enough to New York that I can dream about attending. Unofficially, it was sweet to see Rio on the list, as I fell in love with the place earlier this year and had the privilege of chatting with one of the city’s Olympics-bid organizers on my trip there.
It was on a flight from Salvador to Rio that my seatmate heard my American accent and struck up conversation about my visit. It turned out that she used to work in Brazil’s tourism office and is now working to bring the Olympics to Rio. So while I generally try to assume my I’m-too-busy-staring-off-into-space-to-chat look on planes, my inner Olympics geek took over and I spent the remainder of the flight asking her questions about the city’s bid and its chances.
I was shocked to learn that South America has never hosted an Olympics. (Truthfully, I was shocked to learn that Rio has never hosted; I could’ve sworn I’d heard stories from Rio ’64 or another year in that era. Apparently not—those Games were actually hosted by another 2016 hopeful, Tokyo.) It seems surprising, as I associate that continent with competitive sports more than any other. And thanks to its devotion to soccer, volleyball, and other sports, Rio seems to have plenty of existing and planned venues for events. I can also imagine Brazil’s people and culture injecting a unique passion into festivities (come to think of it, I should have posed questions along those lines to the Brazilian music legend and Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil, who was, coincidentally, also on that flight).
Wherever the Olympics go that year, I’ll probably make an attempt to follow. And in the meantime, there are Beijing; Vancouver; London; and Sochi,Russia, to investigate.
I was shocked to learn that South America has never hosted an Olympics. (Truthfully, I was shocked to learn that Rio has never hosted; I could’ve sworn I’d heard stories from Rio ’64 or another year in that era. Apparently not—those Games were actually hosted by another 2016 hopeful, Tokyo.) It seems surprising, as I associate that continent with competitive sports more than any other. And thanks to its devotion to soccer, volleyball, and other sports, Rio seems to have plenty of existing and planned venues for events. I can also imagine Brazil’s people and culture injecting a unique passion into festivities (come to think of it, I should have posed questions along those lines to the Brazilian music legend and Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil, who was, coincidentally, also on that flight).
Wherever the Olympics go that year, I’ll probably make an attempt to follow. And in the meantime, there are Beijing; Vancouver; London; and Sochi,Russia, to investigate.
So basically, I think Chicago should host the Olympics 2016 which will help to progress overall Economy of United States of America and which will also generate the job for many people in United States.
No comments:
Post a Comment