Rio 2016: Olympic Football Returns.
Anybody who knows anything has been predicting Rio de Janeiro to win the 2016 summer Olympics bid, and today that formality became a reality. With a vote which went something like this…
1. Rio
2. Madrid
3. Tokyo
4. Chicago
…South America gets its first ever Olympic games. And this on the back of the 2014 World Cup which will be taking over Brazil*. I think it’s fair to say this should be enough to revive a dying sport: Olympic football.
* – While we’re at it…why even hold the 2014 World Cup. Can’t we just hand it to the Selecao and dispense with the formality? Seems like an awful lot of trouble for the answer to a question which has only one.
There have been numerous discussions of late debating the ways to turn Olympic football from an afterthought at worst and tinder for the club v country debate at best into a competition of relevance again. Some theorize it should be open to everyone, others think it should be kept strictly at an amateur level (which would lead to an Arsenal v Barcelona final). Others think it should be scrapped altogether, as the refusal of some clubs to release players causes the tournament’s legitimacy to come into question. This is a small part of the problem with the decline of Olympic football.
The large part? No one seems to care.
But now, Olympic football has hope. Why? Because it’s going to London in 2012, the birthplace of football and now Brazil four years later. Two absolutely football mad countries whose appeal lies in the stands as much as it does on the pitch. And simply because of that, people will care. Sure, the athletes are nice, but an international football tournament held in and around Rio? Who wouldn’t be over their heels by that? Four years after taking over Wembley? It’s no revelation that atmosphere can often make or break a tournament, and those are two footballing meccas.
Players will want to party play at these places. People will want to watch players play at these places. Beijing, Athens and Sydney? All nice, but not quite football mad. Add this to the aftershocks of World Cup 2014 and you have the recipe for a rejuvenated Olympic sport.
Now if they can only figure out just who they want to send…
***
In order to pass the friday, enjoy the Rio pitch:
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Comments
By gaston | October 2nd, 2009 at 12:00 pm 
congrats to brazil
Posted from 
United States
By Daryl | October 2nd, 2009 at 12:10 pm One huge thing: Brazil has famously never won the Olympic gold medal for football. And desperately wants to. You can more or less guarantee they’ll be going all out to win it in 2016 (and in 2012 for that matter).
By sscouser | October 2nd, 2009 at 12:56 pm Rio had presented the IOC “with a very strong technical bid, built upon a vision of the Games being a celebration of the athletes and sport, as well as providing the opportunity for the city, region and country to deliver their broader long-term aspirations for the future”.
Posted from United States
By Bruno Romani | October 2nd, 2009 at 1:19 pm As a Brazilian, my pockets are already sore…
By Chrystal K. | October 2nd, 2009 at 3:35 pm I’d love to go there!
Posted from United States
By Kieran | October 3rd, 2009 at 12:19 am How inconsiderate of the IOC. I’m planning on going to Brazil in 2014 for the World Cup, but won’t be able to justify going back two years later.
Maybe they should move the Olympics forward 2 years 
By hire | October 3rd, 2009 at 2:47 am Well Rio won the race and Chicago eliminated …
Posted from 
India
By Constant Gina | October 3rd, 2009 at 2:39 pm This is an obvious decision…who would choose Chicago over Rio De Janero?? wtf
Posted from United States
By sandrahn | October 5th, 2009 at 9:23 am “why even hold the 2014 World Cup. Can’t we just hand it to the Selecao and dispense with the formality? Seems like an awful lot of trouble for the answer to a question which has only one.”
To the contrary. Brazil is the only wc host country that did not win on home soil (1950). The 2014 final is already slated for Rio’s Maracana stadium — which is notorious for its curse on home teams (club or country) in major finals, esp. if they go to penalties.
It is very possible that Brazil will go to the 2014 final….and lose.
Posted from United States
By Fernando | October 7th, 2009 at 8:51 pm Yeah Brazil is going to be a fun place to watch the Olympics, the Brazilian Military will send in their death squads to the Favela Shanty towns and descend on the beaches so that Rich European tourists aren’t exposed to “poor” people begging on the beach.
Watch “Tropa Do Elite” — that’s a pretty accurate description of what goes on in the Favelas, not some Coca-Cola/James Bond Moonraker/fantasy most people have of Rio.
The best thing anybody can do is boycott those Olympics, because as sure as there is smog in Rio, thousands of real Brazilian citizens will suffer at the hands of Police Military Death Squads just so that a postcard image of Rio can be shown to the world.
Posted from United States
By Jake | October 10th, 2009 at 9:44 pm We send the Obamas to talk about their sick parents and fat kids which has nothing to do with the Olympics and then Brazil comes out with this video. No wonder Chicago lost the bid. Seriously…
By John Gamble | October 12th, 2009 at 7:53 am The IOC did the right thing. Lula campaigned for this for two years, in every meeting with heads of state and wrote to every IOC voter.
Great job by Lula, the “Most Popular Politician on Earth,” according to Newsweek.
Pres. Obama got involved far too late to save a fumbled USOC bid. Chicago would have been great. Rio will be much better.
Great decision bringing the games to South America and sharing the wealth. All the athletes training for 2016 are happy as well.
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