Blair Tells Rio 2016 Legacy Comes First
Former British PM Tony Blair has some advice for Rio 2016.
"It cannot be just about the three weeks of the games," he was quoted by the AP.
"There is no point doing the games if there isn't a sense that something is being built for the long term."
Blair’s comments came Tuesday at a seminar for business leaders and Brazilian authorities in Sao Paulo.
The former Labour Party leader stressed to Games organizers how sport can be used to better lives.
"Part of the legacy is about what sport can do to society".
"Sport today is far more important that just sport itself. It can be used as a great anti-crime policy, a great health policy."
Blair was highly involved in London’s push to host the 2012 Summer Games, though he admitted last month in his best-selling memoir that he initially held significant doubts about launching the bid.
Now he hopes the upcoming Olympics will help teach British youngsters basic social skills.
"That's what we are trying to instill in our kids," Blair told Rio 2016 organizers, "and what you will want to try to instill in yours."
Brazilian sports minister Orlando Silva and Rio mayor Eduardo Paes both attended Tuesday’s seminar.
IPC, IOC Presidents to Celebrate Belgian Paralympic Committee
The presidents of the international Olympic and Paralympic committees will head to Belgium for the 50th anniversary of the country’s Paralympic committee.
Celebrations for the event are scheduled for Friday in Brussels, and will honor Chevalier Albert Tricot, co-founder of the Belgium Paralympic Movement who died earlier this year.
IPC president Philip Craven said he was "delighted" to receive the invitation.
"The Belgium Paralympic Committee has always been one of the front runners of the Paralympic Movement and I would like to congratulate them on their fantastic work throughout the last 50 years."
IOC president Jacques Rogge is Belgian.
Joining the two will be Herman van Rompuy,president of the European Council, and mayor of Brussels, Freddy Thielemans.
Originally founded as the Belgian Sport Federation for Persons with a Disability, the committee changed its name in 2001.
South Africa’s Delhi Delegation "Too White" Official Says
A South African sports leader says his country’s Delhi 2010 delegation was "too white".
Iafrica.com reports that National Assembly sport and recreation committee chairman Butana Komphela is up-in-arms about South African sports diversity, or lack thereof.
"The team looked like it came from Europe," he told his committee Tuesday. "We are not saying take kids from the streets, but why is there no concentrated effort to transform sport?"
"To London, send an SA team," he said. "The Samoan team looked more South African; ours looked like it's from the Queen."
Mafia Boss Shot Dead in Sochi
A Russian mafia boss is dead in Sochi, possibly the latest casualty as mafia chiefs jostle for their portions of Games profit.
Real estate mogul Eduard Kakosyan, 31, was gunned down Tuesday in the 2014 host city, AFP reports.
Russian media suggest the shooting was linked to the ongoing Olympic construction in the Black Sea resort.
Written by Matthew Grayson and Ed Hula III.
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