In a ceremony held on Monday, June 23, the official Olympic Day celebrated worldwide, president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced several actions that will support Rio’s bid to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Lula signed the decree establishing the Government Action Management Committee and sent a bill to the National Congress allocating R$ 85 million to fund Rio’s candidature activities. The ceremony was held at Palácio Guanabara, the headquarters of Rio City Hall.

The details of the support to be provided by the government are among the items required by the IOC in the candidature file the candidate cities are expected to submit by February 12, 2009. The IOC’s final decision will be announced on October 2, 2009.

“We are not starting this candidature from scratch.  The experience of the Pan American Games will be broadly used. We must show our qualities, as we did for the Pan American Games. We took the first step, that is, presenting Rio’s bid. We already did all we could to place Rio among the  four candidate cities. The time has now come to do what many people feel is an impossible goal to  achieve. It’s time for a national, state and municipal  commitment and for sound work. I’m convinced that Rio may win the right to host the 2016 Olympic Games”, Lula said.

During the ceremony attended by several athletes and former athletes, president Lula was handed the flag of Rio’s candidature to host 2016 Olympic Games from Olympic and Paralympic medalists Marcelo Ferreira (sailing) Karla Cardoso (judo). Minister of Sport Orlando Silva said that significant legacies to Rio de Janeiro and Brazil will come from this candidature.

“With more competition venues, Rio de Janeiro will firmly establish itself as an Olympic city. The candidature will also represent an opportunity to promote Brazil as country with a stable economy. . Furthermore it will be the catalyst of a process of changes at various levels in Rio de Janeiro. This will be a long race, but I hope that on October 2, 2009 Brazil will be celebrating IOC’s choice”,  Minister Orlando Silva said.

Governor Sergio Cabral said that the actions announced by president Lula are of the utmost importance.

“We understand that Brazil has many strengths because of the current cycle it is now experiencing. The Pan American Games provided ample proof of what we are actually capable of accomplishing. President Lula is fully aware of the dimension of the challenges faced by this country. We are competing with three important cities, but democratization of sport one of the Olympic targets and South American has never hosted the Olympic Games", Sérgio Cabral recalled.

The president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee and of Rio 2016 Candidature Committee recalled that eight years ago, the IOC had never chosen a city that had never hosted the Olympic Games before.

"On Olympic Day, the allocation of resources to the candidature is not just a reason for pride. This action also evidences the level of government support the project deserves and this was recognized by the IOC in the evaluation of Rio’s bid. Significant challenges are precisely the catalysts of changes in any city, state or  country”, Nuzman affirmed.