the ebid of sao paulo to the 2012 olympic games

Introduction

Since 2001, the São Paulo City Hall has established among one of its objectives to emphasize São Paulo as a pole of sportive events of its size, in a strategy of tourist promotion, economical development, political leadership and the reflection on the practice of physical activities, sports or leisure of its 10,5 million people. The city has held 214 non-sportive fairs and events in 2002, 76% of all events that took place in Brazil, and such leadership position should be also emphasized for sportive events. Sao Paulo had once held the 1963 Pan American Games, 22 editions of the F-1 Brazil Grand Prix - only Latin America season, performed 66 editions of the State Open Games - with 8.000 athletes and performed over than 68 official international competitions on the main category of 22 Olympic sports - among the 28 total - and during the last ten years, among other smaller size events, promotional or non-Olympic sports.

Methods

As strategy, the city has hosted a higher number of modalities (11) of the 2002 South American Games, along with other forces of the national sportive sector. After these events, São Paulo has created a group of 5 Municipal Secretaries and a technical staff composed especially by the Sports, Leisure and Recreation Municipal Council, by the Urban Planning Municipal Council and by the Anhembi Tourism and Events for the study of the technical and operational viability of the Olympic Bid; once confirmed, the City Hall invited the State Government to the conjoint challenge, which was promptly accepted; the Bid Committee was established with 17 authorities and state and municipal technicians as the entity that coordinates the Bid; the 27 Olympic State Federations were involved; a Bid Politic Council was created with 250 members from the public sector and civil society, especially representing the sportive, tourist, hotels, the real state and the financial sectors.

Results

Two hundred specialists were involved in the elaboration and the systematization of the information, thus producing a Candidature File with 536 pages distributed on 18 subjects plus 1.800 pages of institutional warranties, 22 maps, a Book of Urbanization and Architectonic Projects with 400 pages, 3 video tapes and several computational presentations.

Discussion / Conclusions
However, the Assembly of the Brazilian Olympic Committee selected the city of Rio de Janeiro as the Brazilian Applicant City for the 2012 Olympic Games by 23 votes against 10. Still, the Bid of São Paulo has provided an improvement legacy of the technical capacity, the strengthening of politic leaderships in the sportive environment, the self-esteem of the São Paulo population, according to the specialized literature about mega-events (De Moragas & Botella, 1994; Bobbio & Guala, 2002; De Moragas et al., 2003), longing for Brazil to hold the Olympic Games for the first time in South America.

References

[1]. Bobbio, L. & Guala, C., eds, (2002). Olimpiadi e grandi eventi. Roma, Carocci.
[2]. Comitê de Postulação de São Paulo (2003). Dossiê de cidade postulante aos Jogos Olímpicos 2012. São Paulo.
[3]. De Moragas, M. & Botella, M., eds, (1994). Les claves del éxito. Barcelona, UAB.
[4]. De Moragas, M. et al., eds, (2003). International Symposium 2002: The legacy of the Olympic Games. Lausanne, IOC.