Millions from around the globe are
about to descend upon Rio de Janeiro for the upcoming Summer Olympics in Brazil
on August 5, 2016. As the country prepares for this international onslaught of
athletes and attendees, Brazil has been beset by many challenges
as the host of the Summer Games, including a beleaguered
police force.
But what interests me the most about Brazil’s
hosting of the 2016 Olympics is what the games mean for its national image.
Like it or not, every country has a certain perception in the world, a “brand,”
if you will. If I was in a focus group for the International Olympics Committee
(IOC) back in 2006 – which was
when Rio’s bid for the 2016 Summer Games began – and a moderator asked me
what are the first things that come to mind when I hear “Brazil,” I would
answer, “Samba, soccer, steakhouses, and a people with a love affair for the
derrière.”
It definitely wouldn’t have been a
place I would have chosen to host the Olympic Games, but here we are in 2016
with the opening ceremony a little more than a week away.
Brazil is no stranger to large,
international sporting events taking place on its soil and hosted the FIFA
World Cup not once, but twice.
It is also the “B” in BRICS,
which is an acronym for the five major emerging national economies of Brazil,
Russia, India, China, and South Africa. It’s a nation to be reckoned with, for
sure.
Still, it’s one thing for a country
to have a GDP that ranks
in the top 10 worldwide, but it’s quite another for it to host the largest
sporting event in the world.
For the nations that receive the
honor of hosting the games, a degree of prestige is bestowed upon them as well
as a sense of “We’ve made it,” possible
negative fiscal impacts aside. A good example of this was the 1964
Olympics in Tokyo. Less than a generation after Japan had been devastated
in World War II, the island nation rose like a phoenix out of the ashes, and
the world caught a glimpse of the economic powerhouse it would become. Whether
or not Brazil will have a similar “Cinderella Story” for its Olympics remains
to be seen.
All eyes will be on Rio next Friday
as the first nation on the South American continent hosts the Olympics. Brazil –
it’s time to put your best Samba sandal forward and show the world what you got
by shaking your scantily clad tail feather (literally)!