Rio ... or bust
ON THE AFTERNOON SEVEN YEARS AGO WHEN Rio de Janeiro was named the first South American city to host the Olympics, thousands of cariocas—the Portuguese name for Rio’s locals—stormed the storied Copacabana Beach in an outpouring of national pride. At the International Olympic Committee’s meeting in Copenhagen, Brazil’s delegation hugged and sang the samba anthem that trumpets Rio as the Marvelous City. “The world has recognized that the time has come for Brazil,” proclaimed then President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. It seemed as if the eternal country of the future had finally arrived in the present.
The tune is far different on the eve of the Aug. 5 opening ceremony. With its breathtaking scenery and intense lust for life, Rio may still be “full of a thousand charms,” as the lyrics of “Marvelous City” have it. But rather than welcoming the world to its global coronation, Brazil is scrambling to prevent the Games from a becoming a close-up view of the
