Richard Pound warns of risks of Rio 2016 Olympics (Feature)

Copenhagen - The election of Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Olympics implies undeniable 'risk,' according to long-time Olympian Richard Pound. 'I'm one of the older (International Olympic Committee) members and I tend to be conservative. So I look at the risk and I look for the lowest risk, and clearly Rio is not the lowest risk,' Pound told German Press Agency dpa at the IOC meetings in Denmark. Rio de Janeiro beat Madrid 66-32 on Friday in the final round of IOC voting to designate the host of the 2016 Olympics, bringing taking the Games to South America for the first time in history. The Canadian Pound was an influential member of the IOC in the 1990s but was relegated when he lost to the Belgian Jacques Rogge in the presidential election in 2001. An eight-year leader of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), a former swimmer, lawyer and expert in the world of sport, Pound admitted that he had been surprised by the strength of the Rio bid on the home stretch of Friday's election in Copenhagen. 'I was surprised at the level of willingness to go to Rio. It started in June,' during the presentations of the four bids at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. Faced with favourable reports from the evaluating commission, however, IOC members trust that any challenges can be overcome. 'You say: 'Well, it's certainly not the choice I would have made, but why not?'' While he warned of Brazil's risks, however, Pound also acknowledged South America's giant potential. 'It's certainly a proactive decision. We've talked about the Olympic Movement being universal, but we've never been to Africa and we've never been to South America. We now have a city which has made it through the applicant phase to a candidate-city phase.' 'Any one of these four cities could put on the Games: they all have certain risks, and they are different risks, but they can all do it,' said Pound. When Rio showed in its presentation where the Games had been held and where not, the visual effect was a 'very powerful' representation of Rio's potential, Pound said. 'There will be challenges, of course, but it sounds like they face those challenges. And they have a much more stable economy than they've ever had, and they seem to have a much more stable leadership than they've ever had,' he said. The president of the Brazilian Central Bank told the IOC that by 2016 Brazil would be the world's fifth-largest economy. 'It's not bad, and it means that they have the means to do. What they're short on is organization and experience,' said Pound. Pound still thinks, however, that the IOC should hit the brake and wait to see what happens in the 2010 football World Cup in South Africa to see whether Africa can host the Olympics. 'Frankly it's a lot more difficult to organize 28 sports than a tournament with only one sport,' he noted. 'In Africa there are a lot of small countries,' he said. 'You need a certain size, a country with a certain level of infrastructure that most of them don't have.' According to Pound, only South Africa and Egypt could be considered to host the Games in Africa, while in South America only Brazil and Argentina are up to the task. He admitted that he was surprised by the blow that the IOC dealt Chicago and US President Barack Obama, who travelled to Copenhagen for the final presentation of what he calls his home city but could not prevent a first-round elimination. Pound explained the lobbying process, whereby weaker bids would tell IOC members that Obama's presence guaranteed Chicago a place in the final and an extra first-round vote would allow their own bids to go home in a more dignified fashion. 'It happens all the time. This is what you say if you're from Tokyo or Madrid,' Pound said. Pound praised Brazilian Joao Havelange, a former president of the football body FIFA, for his invitation to his 100th birthday in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. 'I thought it was a very clever thing to do. I also think it's possible that he might be there, he's a very healthy guy!' Pound said. The Olympics are headed to South America and Pound is still amazed by the strategy of the Brazilian bid. 'People say, 'it's time we go to South America,'' he recalled. 'When you get that kind of an idea, logic doesn't play any part.' 'My strategy would not be, 'I deserve it,' nobody deserves (the Olympics),'' Pound warned.