VilaWeb - Diari escola: Rio de Janeiro: Olympic City

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dimecres, 11 de desembre de 2024

> The Marvellous City

> Focus on tourism

> Brazil

dimarts, 6 d'octubre de 2009

Last Friday, 2 October, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Olympic Games. It was the first time a South American city had secured the Olympic nomination.

To win, the Brazilian city defeated the other three candidates: Chicago (United States), Madrid (Spain) and Tokyo (Japan). Chicago and Tokyo lost in the first two rounds, and in the final round Rio de Janeiro received 66 votes against 32 for Madrid.

The votes were in line with forecasts which placed Rio as favourite; something the Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva knew how to make the most of when he delivered a passionate and convincing speech. President since 2002, Lula is admired as a politician in South America and throughout the whole world for his efforts to move the country forward and to achieve recognition for Brazil as an emerging power in the economic and political arena.

We shouldn't forget that in 2014, two years before the Olympics Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will host another sporting event that is popular throughout the whole world: the FIFA World Cup.

The Marvellous City

+ A view of Rio de Janeiro.

Located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, Rio de Janeiro is considered to be one of the most fascinating and beautiful cities in the world. The Marvellous City, as it is also known, is situated to the south of Guanabara Bay. At the mouth of the bay is the famous Sugarloaf Mountain, next to Botafogo beach. Also famous all over the world is the statue of Christ the Redeemer, on Corcovado Hill, at an altitude of more than 700 m.

Focus on tourism

+ Copacabana beach.

Rio de Janeiro has a population of 6 million and almost 12 million counting the metropolitan area. It is Brazil's most touristic city on account of its beaches (Copacabana, Ipanema, Botafogo, etc.) and the massively attended carnival, the most famous in the world, along with that of Venice. However, there are marked differences between Rio's rich and poor: exclusive districts are found side by side with the 'favelas', areas where people live in extremely impoverished conditions.

Brazil

+ Flag of Brazil.

With a population of nearly 200 million, Brazil is one of the world's largest democracies and, in recent years, has consolidated its position as an emerging power: it is a member of the G-20, a group comprising the world's 20 largest economies. The most densely populated city (even more so than Rio de Janeiro) is Sao Paulo. However, the capital city is Brasilia, which was built in 1960.

MATERIALS

Elections for the 2016 Games
Format:Web
Pàgina del Comitè Olímpic Internacional, sobre l'elecció de la seu dels jocs olímpics del 2016.
Bid Rio 2016
Format:Web
Pàgina que havia preparat la candidatura olímpica finalment guanyadora: Rio de Janeiro.
Rio
Format:Web
Guia turística oficial. En portuguès i anglès.
República Federativa do Brasil
Format:Web
Pàgina del govern brasiler.

QUE HO SABIES?

Rio de Janeiro was the capital of Brazil between 1822 and 1960.
The city is very closely associated with music, especially samba (a dance originating in Africa) and the musical style known as bossa nova.
The word 'Carioca' is used to refer to natives of Rio de Janeiro.