Rio de Janeiro’s ability to host great events grows each year. In 2013, the Marvellous City prepares itself to host thousands of visitors for three of the world’s greatest events. In June, Rio was one of the Confederations Cup host cities, in June it receives World Youth Day and in September Rock in Rio comes to town.

Around 2.5 million visitors, including approximately 300 thousand foreign tourists from 135 countries, are expected on 23-28 July. This is another opportunity for the Rio 2016™ Organising Committee to gain experience.

Alexandre Varela, Transport Planning Manager, for instance, embraced an important function at WYD: Press Centre Coordinator at Fort Copacabana. The centre can host three thousand out of the six thousand journalists accredited to the event in a space of eight thousand square metres.

“There’s a considerable amount of work here because we have to think about the whole operation. All the television broadcast for the whole world is done from this centre. Today (Monday, the 22nd) we already had press conferences with Mayor Eduardo Paes and Rio Archbishop Orani Tempesta and five other press conferences are scheduled. We have 800 people in our team, including 200 that were hired plus 600 volunteers. 15 different services are performed in the venue and the operation runs full time from the 17th until the 28th”, he explained.

Isabel Magalhães, Rio 2016™ Media Relations Manager, will observe the organisers and accredited journalists at work in order to check trends and innovations related to the event’s coverage.

“The number of accredited journalist does not compare to that of the Rio 2016™ Games but it’s still significant. There are around two thousand foreigners and 40% of them are from the catholic media. There will be seven official languages out of 21 in total”, she said.

Leonardo Barreto, Rio 2016™ Client Services Manager, works as Volunteers Coordinator at the information point of Cardeal Arcoverde metro station in Copacabana. He leads a team of about 110 people and can be seen day or night, come hell or high water, providing information to all the visitors.

“It’s a very interesting experience. Since Saturday, the 13th, I already have people working at the metro station whenever it’s operational. I pay attention to everything, taking notes and pictures. Of course my goal here is to help but I also check what is working and what is not, so that we can profit from this experience and organise the Rio 2016™ Olympic and Paralympic Games in the best possible way”, said Leonardo.

Other Rio 2016™ professionals are also working hard to make sure a great event like World Youth Day runs smoothly. One such example is Mariana Barros, Documentation Analyst, who decided to work as a volunteer, a duty she is performing in Guaratiba, one of Rio’s West Zone neighbourhoods, even during her holidays.

The Marvellous City as backdrop to all types of shows

In June, an important Football event; in July, a great demonstration of faith; in September, one of the greatest music festivals. Over a four-month period, Rio hosts three great events that, at first, are not connected. The link between them is the vibrant energy of a city that prepares itself to welcome thousands of visitors from all corners of the world. With a calendar full of great events, 2013 is an important year of learning for the Rio 2016™ Committee that now steps up the pace of its preparations to reach the three-year mark for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, on 5 August.