AFP reports Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva pleaded with South American and African International Olympic Committee (IOC) delegates Sunday to throw their votes behind Rio. 2016.
Lula reportedly told a South American-African political summit in Venezuela “I’d like to ask your delegates in the IOC to vote for Rio de Janeiro on October 2 which would bring the Games to the South American continent for the first time”.
He added, “Brazil is the only great world economy never to have staged the Olympics. South America has never organized the Olympics and in Latin America only Mexico has staged the Games in 1968. This cannot be a privilege reserved for the rich nations”.
