The preparation of the Olympic Games ends on a false note. In recent weeks, numerous scandals flooded news outlets all over the world. Be it the recent doping revelations, inconsistent awarding procedures or domestic cases of corruption that started with Petrobras and led to the impeachment of President Dilma Roussef. However, there is a straightforward solution for the IOC (International Olympic Committee) to mitigate the scandals related to the construction of the Olympic infrastructure: transparency in public procurement procedures.
READ MORESport has become an essential tool in the European Union’s soft power approach. Over the past few years, the political vision promoting economic development through sport has become a standard practice in Europe’s policies of solidarity and sustainable development. Yet, how can the European experience help improve the Olympic ideal of using sport to promote peace and prosperity?
READ MOREThe defeat of the Brazilian team at the hands (feet?) of the German Mannschaft two years ago is etched in our collective minds. The match – though remarkable – had little to do with that. What stuck was the reaction of the public and the images of heartbroken football fans that went around the globe. They showed a nation that had betted a lot on football – and lost.
READ MOREThe 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro have been heralded from the start as ‘legacy games’. One key component of the Rio 2016 legacy plan is increased sport participation for low-income children and youth, with a number of public programs set up, and substantial funding channeled, toward this goal. One month before the Games are scheduled to begin, however, this legacy has yet to leave a lasting mark.
READ MOREFor this month’s Special Report, Dr. Janice Perlman, founder and CEO of the Mega-Cities Project, joined us to share her wide expertise on public policy, mega-events and the Rio Olympics. Since her last book Favela. Four decades of living on the edge in Rio de Janeiro hit the shelves, six years have passed. It’s time to take a step back and have a look at what has happened.
READ MOREOver the past decade Rio has hosted the Pan-American Games (2007), the World Cup (2014), and now, on the 5th of August, the Rio Olympics will kick off. Not only is Rio de Janeiro the first Latin American city to host the Games, but it also differs vastly from Barcelona and Los Angeles in size, economy and society. It’s a mega-city with a metropolitan area that counts over 12 million people, that copes with a stubbornly persisting social divide, and that is already one of the tourist hot spots on the globe.
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