Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff received the Olympic flag on Tuesday as the competition’s world governing body warned that the country had to “work harder” ahead of the Rio 2016 Summer Games. Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes flew into Rio de Janeiro from London with the flag on Monday, marking the official handover of the Games, and later on Wednesday the flag will be paraded through several Rio neighborhoods.
“Brazil has one goal (for 2016), increase its number of medals,” Rousseff said during a ceremony in the capital Brasilia. The country won a total of 17 medals at the London Olympics that concluded over the weekend — three gold, five silver and nine bronze. International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge meanwhile warned that much remained to be done to prepare for the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics. “We cannot be complacent. You have to work harder,” he told the O Globo newspaper. The city of 6.5 million is notorious for its huge traffic jams, poor infrastructure and slum violence, but authorities insist Rio will deliver.
“I am confident and optimistic that you will organize good games. But clearly you all need to understand that this requires hard work, a lot of planning and making sure no time is lost,” Rogge said. Brazil insists everything will be ready for the first summer Olympics to be held in South America. Some of the venues will be used for the 2014 World Cup, but the Olympic Village and other event sites have yet to be built.
