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Why Do Cities Keep Vying To Host The Olympics?

NPR | By Frank Deford
Published May 4, 2016 at 4:32 AM EDT
Brazilian Olympic Committee president Carlos Nuzman shows the lantern containing the Olympic flame brought from Greece as he gets off the plane in Brasilia on May 3. The three-month torch relay across Brazil will end at the opening ceremony on Aug. 5 at Maracana stadium in Rio.
Eraldo Peres
/
AP
Brazilian Olympic Committee president Carlos Nuzman shows the lantern containing the Olympic flame brought from Greece as he gets off the plane in Brasilia on May 3. The three-month torch relay across Brazil will end at the opening ceremony on Aug. 5 at Maracana stadium in Rio.

On Thursday, it'll be three months till the Olympics begin. Usually, there'd be a panic by now that construction was way behind schedule, but, incredibly, only a couple of major projects remain incomplete in Rio.

No, rather the question remains how much can go haywire during the games to distract us from our enchanting presidential campaign.

Click the audio to hear Frank Deford's take on this issue.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Frank Deford
Frank Deford died on Sunday, May 28, at his home in Florida. Remembrances of Frank's life and work can be found in All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and on NPR.org.
See stories by Frank Deford