Organizer says Rio can learn from hosting Cup

GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) ― Rio de Janeiro has a great advantage with Brazil hosting the 2014 World Cup two years before the Olympics, the president of the organizing committee said Friday.

Carlos Nuzman said in an interview with the Associated Press that the World Cup will give Rio organizers valuable information on how to prepare for the first ever games in South America.

In Guadalajara for the Pan American Games, Nuzman said Rio will greatly “benefit” from the experience Brazil will get during the World Cup.

He said his main concern is with transportation, and that he expects Rio to undergo a positive transformation not seen in an Olympic city since the advances obtained by Barcelona for the 1992 Games.

Rio will be key for the World Cup as it hosts the competition’s final. It’s also where the International Broadcast Center will be located, and where most of the visitors will converge during the monthlong tournament.

“We will benefit a lot from the World Cup,” Nuzman said. “It’s a great advantage that we have it. It will definitely help us.”

There is a lot of work already being done in Rio because of the World Cup, including the upgrade of the city’s airports and the renovation of Maracana Stadium, which will host several matches as well as the final.

“There will be great advances in place on infrastructure, services, security, health ...,” Nuzman said. “The experience we will be gaining will be significant.”

Nuzman said transportation is an area in which Rio will likely learn the most from the World Cup. He said security often is mentioned as a concern, but he said that it’s not his biggest worry because it’s easier to find ways to improve public safety.

“I’m always concerned with transportation,” he said. “The city will receive hundreds of thousands of people. That is never easy. Even the greatest urbanists can’t predict what will happen. We will pay close attention to that.”

He said the Rio government knows it will be a great challenge to accommodate the Olympic visitors, but Nuzman added that the changes underway will bring a great legacy for the city.

“I think Rio will become the best example of a city which transformed itself the most because of the Olympic Games,” he said. “It will surpass Barcelona as an example of transformation.”

Barcelona is often mentioned as one of the cities which maximized economic and social benefits from the Olympics, along with Beijing in 2008 and Seoul in 1988. The 1992 Olympics transformed Barcelona’s waterfront into a vibrant neighborhood that remains one of the city’s biggest tourist attractions.