The slogan for Rio de Janeiro’s 2016, “Live your passion”, is to make a dramatic debut. It’s to be projected onto the Rio 2016 Wheel following the second countdown to 2009 at the New Year celebrations on Copacabana Beach.
According to a Rio 2016 press release Copacabana’s New Year party is one of the grandest and most traditional in the world, attracting more than two million revellers, among them city residents and tourists from Brazil and around the world. The festivities are broadcast live throughout the country and relayed to may other countries. In the lead-up to midnight there will be shows featuring Brazilian music on the beach.
Rio 2016 says the campaign slogan reflects the Brazilian people’s way of getting passionately involved in whatever they do. It also expresses the open and democratic manner with which the country welcomes different cultures, races, customs and religions.
Carlos Arthur Nuzman, Rio 2016 President said, “the Rio 2016 bid is an open invitation for everyone to live their passion for sport in this marvellous city, whether as an athlete, official, journalist or spectator. The bid is looking forward to the next nine months of the campaign, carrying Rio’s offer to the Olympic Movement to a global audience”.
The Ferris wheel will open to the public on January 2. The wheel has 24 gondolas seating 144 people in groups of six. One of the gondolas is accessible to people with disabilities. Each ride will average three minutes. As visitors step off they will see a container identical to the one that will transport the official Rio 2016 documents to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on which they may sign their names and leave messages.
At the Rio 2016 Plaza there will be a range of entertainment options and an exhibition on the bid. Daily at 11 p.m. images promoting Rio 2016 will be projected onto the wheel and will be visible along the entire length of Copacabana beach.
