The Olympic flag has landed in Rio de Janeiro carried by mayor Eduardo Paes. This marks the official start of the Brazilian city’s preparations for the 2016 Games.
The arrival of the flag, with its five interlocking rings representing the coming together of the world’s inhabited continents, is also a reminder that pressure is mounting on the next Olympic host.
In a joint news conference, the Rio state Governor and the President of the Brazilian Olympic Committee put on a united front to assure the world Rio would be ready in four years. They said the city would live up to Olympic expectations. The Olympic flag will be taken to the capital Brasilia on Tuesday for a ceremony with President Dilma Rousseff. On Wednesday it will tour Rio’s notorious slums and some areas in the city’s poor outskirts.