"Yes, we can!" Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Friday in Copenhagen, Denmark, after Rio de Janeiro was selected to host the 2016 Olympics.
"When I saw president Obama entering the room today, I confess I was a little scared of the so-called Obama factor. He told me when we met a week ago that he would send his wife, Michelle, to the Copenhagen voting session. I told him that I would win if he wasn't present. He came, but God wanted us to win today anyway", said President Lula prompting laugh from the Olympic committee. Chicago was eliminated in the first round of voting followed by Tokyo followed in the second round. In the end, Rio won 66 votes, more than twice the number of votes its final rival, Madrid, earned.
"Brazil is living an exciting moment! We worked hard during the last few decades. We now have an organized and strong economy, which has won the battle against the global recession, while other countries are still struggling. We live in a free country and enjoin democracy. In the last few years, 30 million Brazilians stepped out of the poverty zone," said Lula, who has been in the office since 2003.
"As a Brazilian citizen, I'm proud of being part of this project," he said tearfully, adding that Rio's victory marks the arrival of Brazil on the World Stage. "It started with Brazil's recent inclusion in the new G-20," he said, adding that his responsibilities as a president have increased drastically. The White House announced, late September, the broadening of the eight-country membership to include nations such as Brazil, China and India.
"The Olympics belong to all people, to all races, to all continents, to the whole humanity. It doesn't belong only to us, Brazilians, it belongs to South America too; a continent of almost 400 million men and women and nearly 180 million youngsters; a continent that has never hosted the Olympics...It's time to light the Olympic fire in a tropical country; in the most beautiful and wonderful city ever, Rio de Janeiro," said Lula.
"The 2016 Olympics in Rio will be unforgettable; it will be full of passion, happiness and creativity, characteristics of the Brazilian people," he said. Lula was also the key player in Brazil's successful bid to stage the 2014 soccer World Cup. "We are fully aware of the legacy the World Cup and the Olympics will bring to our people," said Lula who has approved generous financing of $23.2 billion for both projects.
Fifa's President, Joseph S. Blatter, said that Rio won the right to host the 2016 Olympics thanks to Lula's moving presentation to the International Olympic Committee. President Lula, who is a former steel and union worker that suffered hunger in his childhood, brought millions of viewers to tears with his final words. "Today is, perhaps, the most thrilling day of my life. I'm the proudest president in the world. If I had to die now, my life would have been worthy already."
Picture from the NY Times.
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