Carlos Nuzman, leader of Rio de Janeiro’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games and an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, announced Saturday he would now head Rio 2016’s organizing committee, reports Reuters.
Nuzman said there would be a smooth transition between the bid committee and the committee that will organize the Rio 2016 Games.
Nuzman told reporters, “we delivered a letter to the IOC from three levels of government that, with Rio winning on October 2, from October 3 it will be myself, and the secretary general will be Carlos Osorio”. Osorio was also secretary general of the bid team.
Nuzman said, “we already had the first meeting with the IOC. They told us to relax. We will enter a period of relaxing and that will finish with the first meeting with the IOC in Rio in the middle of November”.
Reuters reports Osorio said concerns that preparations for the 2014 soccer World Cup in Brazil could clash with plans for the Olympics just two years later, were unfounded.
He said the World Cup would be an advantage for Rio as it would offer a unique chance to test operations and make improvements for the Games two years later. Osorio said, “the coordination between the World Cup and the Olympics started with the preparation of our bid book. We laid out the World Cup plans and the Olympic plans to take advantage of all synergies possible. You can be sure Brazil will take full advantage of having those events so close together”.
