Brazilian president says ‘Yes we can’ on 2016 bid

Brazil’s leader is borrowing President Barack Obama’s “Yes we can” catchphrase to plug Rio de Janeiro’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics.

A day before the International Olympic Committee selects the 2016 host, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva insisted Thursday that Rio is ready “body and soul” if picked.

At an early morning news conference, Silva largely steered clear of an ugly spat with rival Madrid that erupted in the run-up to Friday’s IOC vote. Rio’s team formally complained to the IOC on Wednesday after the city’s 2016 bid was criticized by a Spanish Olympic official.

Without naming Madrid, Silva said simply: “I don’t think it is ethically correct to speak badly about the other cities.”

He did say, however, that “the fact of the matter is that no one has presented a project of the magnitude that we presented, with the quality that we presented.”

“Some say, ‘Well Brazil maybe could have presented a smaller, more shy project, not an expensive project. This is for those that don’t believe in doing things,” he said. “We want to overcome and show the world that yes we can, we can do it.”

In Brazil, some critics say funds from Rio’s Olympic budget of more than $14 billion – larger than those of Madrid, Chicago or Tokyo – would be better spent on the city’s pressing social, education and security needs.

But the IOC, in its report evaluating the city’s bid, complimented Rio for seeing the games as an opportunity to use sport as a “catalyst for social integration” and for embracing the idea that they can transform the region and leave “a lasting and affordable legacy.”

One of the big selling points Rio has used to the IOC is the fact that South America has never previously held the games – a theme Silva hit on again. The United States, Japan and Spain have all previously been Summer Olympic hosts.

“For some countries, it is just one more sports event that they are going to organize,” Silva said. “But for us, it is a unique and extraordinary thing.”

Addressing the concerns of some IOC members about funding, Silva said Brazil has better resisted the global economic crisis than other countries.

“The crisis hit us last, and we got out of the crisis first,” he said. “There are a lot of people who are discussing the money issue, the budget issue. … It’s more than that, the Olympic Games. It’s much more than just a budget issue.”

Rio’s dispute with rival Madrid erupted when Spanish news agency Efe on Wednesday quoted Spanish Olympic Committee vice president Jose Maria Odriozola as saying that Rio was “the worst bid” of the four candidates.

It also quoted Odriozola – who is not formally part of the Madrid bid organizing team – as saying Rio had security issues, and its status as a favorite was based on marketing and sentimentality. In a statement to The Associated Press, Rio bid organizers said the criticism was unacceptable.

Madrid 2016 chief executive Mercedes Coghen apologized for the remarks later Wednesday at a ceremony to launch the Spaniards’ arrival in Copenhagen.