For a country, Italy, forced to tighten its belt and give up its candidacy for the 2020 Olympic Games, there is another one, Brazil, which instead is focusing strongly on this event to relaunch its image on the international scene and establish itself definitively as the sixth economic power.
On the other hand, the Olympics cost a fortune and in these times, in which sacrifices, tears and blood are asked of the Italians, embarking on a colossal project, with uncertain results, undoubtedly appears to be a leap in the dark. More so when you take that into consideration the latest editions have turned into a real economic flop, Athens 2004 above all.
Brazil instead believes in the opportunity and looks to 2016 with confidence. But the starting conditions are completely different from those of Italy. First of all, the economy has been booming for many years and there is no shortage of resources to make heavy investments. Secondly, Brazil has managed to ring together the organization of a series of major events within a few years of each other: the 2007 Pan American Games, the 2011 Rock in Rio which will also be repeated in 2013 and 2015, the 2013 Confederations Cup, the 2014 World Cup and finally the 2016 Rio Olympics.
This means that some large works can be exploited on several occasions. For example, the new Maracanã stadium will make its debut in the Confederation Cup, then it will be the main stage for the World Cup and in 2016 it will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics. Meanwhile, the Athletes' Village has already been built and has already been used to host the most important musical event of 2011, Rock in Rio, which will be repeated two more times before 2016. In view of the Olympics, it will then be converted and made available to the athletes.
How much the Olympics will cost overall is still not known for certain. The forecast is around 12-13 billion euros, but no one will be surprised if in the end this figure should skyrocket. On the other hand, time is starting to run out: after London 2012 has come to an end, in fact, the eyes of the whole world will turn to Rio de Janeiro, who has a lot of homework to do. The major costs will be borne by the federal and state governments and the city of Rio. And when it comes to public money, it's no wonder that expenses will eventually skyrocket, as in the case of the renovation of the Maracanã, which will end up costing twice as much as expected.
But, as in Italy, inflated expenses are also overseas hateful issue for taxpayers. Especially if we consider that in Brazil essential services such as health care and public schools are extremely lacking and state investments are reduced to the bone.
But Rio tries and focuses strongly on the development of infrastructure and transport, other sore points of the green-gold reality. In fact, the World Cup and the Olympics are promising on this front, given that a few billion euros will be allocated to the new underground line and the creation of three new bus lines with relative preferential lanes that connect over a hundred new stations. Fundamental works given that in Rio 70% of the population uses public transport for daily travel. In addition, the "bullet train" is also in the pipeline, the high-speed train that will travel the 600km that separate San Paolo and Rio, a project costing at least 15 billion euros.
In the meantime, the Organizing Committee has communicated that it expects to collect 400 million euros from the sale of official products which will be made available in over 6 stores. In the noble neighborhood of Barra da Tijuca, where the Olympic Park designed by AECOM (the same studio that designed the one in London) will be built, the construction of 40 new skyscrapers is planned, for a total of over 3.500 apartments. Rio's center of gravity will move further towards the south, an outlet for the growth of a city that already has 6,3 million inhabitants, 12 million if the metropolitan area is taken into consideration.
The Olympic Citadel, which will incorporate the sports facilities already built for the 2007 Pan-American Games, will be built on an area of 1,2 million square meters and will come to host 200 people a day. Another essential space for the success of the sporting event will be the Sambodromo, the famous walkway where the Carnival parades take place every year. Expanded to 72 spectators (from 60) just in view of the Olympics, when marathon runners will cross it to cross the finish line, next week it will be used for the first time in its new guise.
The wonderful city is therefore trying to seize the opportunity and take advantage of the situation to redo its look, a necessary operation after the recent tragedy caused by the collapse of some buildings in the historic center. And while the fight against organized crime finally continues with a stable, long-term program that is bearing the first fruits, Artur Nuzman, president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee promises: “Rio will be the best example of a city´s transformation following the organization of the Olympic Games. We also want to overtake Barcelona”.
In short, Brazil is not really making a bad impression, whatever the cost. Precisely the condition that Mario Monti wanted to spare the Italians.
