Paper short abstract:

The aim of this paper is to present the discourses from Brazilian media and academy regarding Rio de Janeiro’s election to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2016. It was focused on the perceptions around major stakeholders and their interests, challenges and possible legacies of Rio 2016.

Paper long abstract:

The selection of Rio de Janeiro to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2016 (Rio 2016) sets a geographical and cultural expansion of the Olympic market to South and Latin America, but also a symbolic achievement for Brazil and some politicians. As would be expected, the selection brought mixed feelings and analysis from the media and academia. In this sense, we propose to look how Rio 2016 was conceived by media and academy right after its selection. As method, we used the content analysis of published news and analysis of nation-wide newspaper and magazine, and papers on the main journals of sport area. The categories of interest were the mention of (1) major stakeholders and their interests, (2) challenges and (3) possible legacies of Rio 2016. The major stakeholders cited were the Brazilian government through its former president, the Brazilian Olympic Committee and local authorities, who generally intended to increase their political capital. The challenges were mainly related to transport infrastructure and corruption, which would be also the legacy. The findings showed a clear difference among the sources, whereas opinions and political standings were more evident in the media but not absent on the academic discourse. This evidence of diversity and structural specificities of the analysed voices are discussed.