By Caio Jahara

   After three attempts, Brazil has finally been chosen to host the Summer Olympics games.

   The Brazilian government expects to spend about $14.38 billion US dollars of its own money on the games. Brazil is the 10th largest economy in the world, and is expected to be the fifth by 2016, according to the World Bank.

   “The $14.38 billion US dollars will come from people`s pockets, who in general do not have an ideal living condition,” said junior, Leticia Caropreso.

   In the final round of choosing a host for the 2016 Olympics, Rio de Janeiro beat Madrid, with 66 votes, against 32. Chicago and Tokyo were also in the final round.

   With the victory, Rio became the first South American city to host an Olympics. Also, Brazil repeats what Mexico, Germany and the USA did, hosting the Olympics and the World cup within two years difference.

  The campaign for Rio 2016 didn’t start strong, taking 5th place behind Doha, Qatar which didn’t go to the final round because the games can’t be hosted in a region with extremely hot temperatures.

   The Brazilian presentation in the final round helped in the result, Brazil was defended in four languages (English, French, Spanish and Portuguese) and was aided with the speeches of Sergio Cabral (Rio Governor), Eduardo Paes (Rio Mayor) and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who asked IOC (International Olympic Committee) to face the challenge of expanding the cultural horizon of the Olympics.

   During the votes Chicago, considered the favorite, was the first to be eliminated. Tokyo was eliminated in sequence. The final decision came down to Rio de Janeiro and Madrid. One hour later Rio was finally chosen the 2016 Olympics.

   By the games Rio will have to improve the public transportation, which was considered a weak point in the voting process by the IOC. The hotel system also is under question, because Rio can’t guarantee that all rooms which were promised will be ready on time. To fix these problems, Rio de Janeiro will spend more money than all of the finalist cities, costing Brazil about $14.38 billion US dollars.

   “The Brazilian economy has never been doing this well, giving the country the ideal conditions to really spend money on infra structure and profit from the event,” said college senior, Pedro Jahara. “It will be first time that the Olympics will be hosted in Latin America, so it will motivate athletes and all of the countries for future events. Since Brazil is a poor country, the games will increase the money spent on sports which will help poor kids and families, who without sports would have no chance in the future.”

   Over 100,000 Brazilians went to Copabana Beach to celebrate the Brazilian victory.