Rio de Janeiro - Whenever he travels abroad for bilateral talks or conferences, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva always takes with him a piece of paper with the lone words "Rio 2016.""I do it so I don't forget to ask for the support of the rulers of other countries for Rio de Janeiro's bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games," Lula explained.
The "workman president" enthusiastically took on the mission of convincing the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of granting Rio South America's first-ever Olympics, and he became the bid's best ambassador.
Lula - a former metal-trade-union leader who reached the presidency in 2003 after trying for over a decade and suffering three consecutive electoral defeats - gets irritated by any show of scepticism about Rio's chances to defeat its more economically-powerful rivals: Madrid, Chicago and Tokyo.
In an interview after meeting with the members of the IOC evaluating commission that was visiting Rio this week, Lula compared criticism of the bid with the attacks that he himself suffered when he gave up on being a trade-union leader to fight for the Brazilian presidency.
"I too faced a lot of prejudice throughout my life. They said that I was not prepared to be Brazil's president, that I had not studied, that I spoke no English. Now I ask them: what Brazilian president has had better international relations than I have?"
Indeed, Lula's foreign relations are wide, and his popularity abroad is comparable to the huge levels he enjoys at home. Earlier this year, in London, US President Barack Obama himself described Lula as "the guy."
Lula hopes that his efforts around the world have conquered key support for his mission. He takes it for granted that Rio is set to get most of the votes - if not all - of developing countries, and particularly of Brazil's neighbours.
"South American countries have a duty to support Rio," Lula said.
And he vowed that, if the Brazilian city gets through the first round of voting in the IOC election, October 2 in Copenhagen, he will get the support of the Olympic committees of Spain, the United States, and even Japan.
"If Chicago is eliminated, what reason will my friend Obama have not to support us? I am sure that, if Chicago does not get through to the second round, he will have no doubts in supporting a bid from the Americas. I am part of the Summit of the Americas and so is he," Lula argued.
He further expressed complete confidence in Spain's support for Rio in case Madrid is voted out of the dispute, since both are Iberian-American countries.
And he noted that Japan would also look favourably at Rio's bid, since "there are 400,000 Brazilians with Japanese ancestors who live in Japan and Brazil holds the largest Japanese community outside Japan."
Lula's optimism is derived from his life story - in which he started out as a poor boy from northeastern Brazil - and he stressed that, like himself, Brazil has to "set itself challenges" to become a "first-class citizen" in the planet.
When asked whether it is justified to invest over 11 billion dollars in an Olympic bid in a country with severe poverty problems, Lula resorted to a phrase uttered two decades ago by Joaosinho Trinta, the creator of extravagant parades for the samba schools of the world-famous Rio Carnival.
"It is true that Brazil has a portion of poverty, but it also has a portion that is comparable to any rich country in the world. I agree with what Joaosinho Trinta said: it is intellectuals who like poverty, poor people like good things."
The "workman president" enthusiastically took on the mission of convincing the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of granting Rio South America's first-ever Olympics, and he became the bid's best ambassador.
Lula - a former metal-trade-union leader who reached the presidency in 2003 after trying for over a decade and suffering three consecutive electoral defeats - gets irritated by any show of scepticism about Rio's chances to defeat its more economically-powerful rivals: Madrid, Chicago and Tokyo.
In an interview after meeting with the members of the IOC evaluating commission that was visiting Rio this week, Lula compared criticism of the bid with the attacks that he himself suffered when he gave up on being a trade-union leader to fight for the Brazilian presidency.
"I too faced a lot of prejudice throughout my life. They said that I was not prepared to be Brazil's president, that I had not studied, that I spoke no English. Now I ask them: what Brazilian president has had better international relations than I have?"
Indeed, Lula's foreign relations are wide, and his popularity abroad is comparable to the huge levels he enjoys at home. Earlier this year, in London, US President Barack Obama himself described Lula as "the guy."
Lula hopes that his efforts around the world have conquered key support for his mission. He takes it for granted that Rio is set to get most of the votes - if not all - of developing countries, and particularly of Brazil's neighbours.
"South American countries have a duty to support Rio," Lula said.
And he vowed that, if the Brazilian city gets through the first round of voting in the IOC election, October 2 in Copenhagen, he will get the support of the Olympic committees of Spain, the United States, and even Japan.
"If Chicago is eliminated, what reason will my friend Obama have not to support us? I am sure that, if Chicago does not get through to the second round, he will have no doubts in supporting a bid from the Americas. I am part of the Summit of the Americas and so is he," Lula argued.
He further expressed complete confidence in Spain's support for Rio in case Madrid is voted out of the dispute, since both are Iberian-American countries.
And he noted that Japan would also look favourably at Rio's bid, since "there are 400,000 Brazilians with Japanese ancestors who live in Japan and Brazil holds the largest Japanese community outside Japan."
Lula's optimism is derived from his life story - in which he started out as a poor boy from northeastern Brazil - and he stressed that, like himself, Brazil has to "set itself challenges" to become a "first-class citizen" in the planet.
When asked whether it is justified to invest over 11 billion dollars in an Olympic bid in a country with severe poverty problems, Lula resorted to a phrase uttered two decades ago by Joaosinho Trinta, the creator of extravagant parades for the samba schools of the world-famous Rio Carnival.
"It is true that Brazil has a portion of poverty, but it also has a portion that is comparable to any rich country in the world. I agree with what Joaosinho Trinta said: it is intellectuals who like poverty, poor people like good things."
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