Brazil has been partying hard for five years, hosting a string of international mega-events that end today with the Paralympics. So is it time for the hangover?
There was the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the Confederations Cup, the Rio+20 UN environmental summit, World Youth Day with Pope Francis and then the Olympics last month and the Paralympics this month.
At each stage, the same fears of catastrophic delays — or worse — were raised.
Photo: Reuters
And each time Brazil defied its doubters, sending its guests home happy.
It has been a grueling path, coinciding with a precipitous decline in the once-booming economy and a correspondingly sharp rise in political instability.
Dilma Rousseff was ejected from the presidency on the eve of the Olympics and her replacement, Brazilian President Michel Temer, was loudly booed at the opening ceremony.
Photo: EPA
Meanwhile, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who as president saw Brazil win the bidding to host the World Cup and Olympics, is now facing serious corruption charges.
As the economy continues to struggle in deep recession, a debate is under way over whether the billions spent on preparing for the events have left lasting infrastructure improvements or just a lot of useless vanity projects.
The World Cup came in for scrutiny after staging the tournament in 12 cities, some of them with no strong soccer market, such as the capital, Brasilia, Manaus and Natal in the northeast. Stadiums built for the event in these cities have since sat largely unused.
Photo: Reuters
It was the approximately 8 billion reais (US$3.4 billion in 2014) price tag for the stadiums that drew hundreds of thousands of Brazilians to protest, demanding the money instead be spent on transport, health and education.
The World Cup cost 25.5 billion reais to put on, the most expensive in history, while the far bigger Olympics, at 38 billion reais came in less than the London 2012 Games and far under the previous Beijing costs.
Olympic organizers called these the “budget Games,” emphasizing that 57 percent of funding came from private, not state sources.
“Rio is a success story and when we don’t get a national investor, we get an international partner,” Rio de Janeiro Deputy Mayor Rafael Picciani said.
The city also said that the Olympic arenas will get continued use and not end up as white elephants.
Still, there are skeptics.
“The local sporting industry is small in comparison to these events. And what private enterprise is going to want to run a velodrome when what people really like here is football?” asked sports market specialist Erich Beting, editor of the Negocio del Deporte blog.
A white elephant is not the worry, Beting said.
“The risk is a herd of white elephants,” he said.
The World Cup legacy projects were meant to include transport improvements as far apart as Sao Paulo, Fortaleza, Cuiaba and Recife, but not only were they not completed — they are still unfinished and showing no sign of going anywhere, Globo television reported in March.
Rio de Janeiro tried to avoid these problems, saying that the Olympics would transform the ramshackle city for the better.
A new metro line and bus system for example have raised public access to mass transport from 18 percent to 63 percent. New public spaces and schools have been built and areas of the once dirt and dangerous city center have been restored.
“Rio was in decline. It had been 35 years since major investment took place,” said Lamartine da Costa, a sports administration professor at Rio de Janeiro State University.
That progress came at a cost for the city’s most vulnerable people, according to activists like the Popular Committee, branding the works that took place across the city as a mission to take over valuable land and push the poor to the margins. Between 2009 and last year, more than 22,000 families were forced to move house, activists say.
Now another group of residents will be wondering what comes next after the party: The approximately 30,000 workers who got jobs during the build-up and now might be joining the nation’s huge army of unemployed.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
Playing soccer and competing for trophies is the best way that many transplanted Hong Kongers and Macanese have found to stay in touch, and to interact with Taiwanese society, said officials at the Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Football Friendship Cup, which was held on April 13. Twelve clubs, mostly of players and coaches originally from Hong Kong and Macau, took part in the tournament in New Taipei City. The event is sponsored by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council. Participating teams were from the wider Taipei area, Hsinchu, Taichung, Kaohsiung and other areas. They divided into two