The multi-territory deal, which was agreed a year ago, was confirmed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and BeIN yesterday at an official signing ceremony in Rio de Janeiro.
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Claudia Bokel, who will be handing over the title of Chair of the Commission to Angela Ruggiero at the end of the Games, said after the announcement: “Congratulations to the four newly-elected members to the IOC Athletes’ Commission, which is the voice of all the athletes within the Olympic Movement”.
Though International Paralympic Committee president Sir Philip Craven is openly expressing concern about attendances to those Games yet to come, Bach likened the slow sales for the Paralympics to a recollection of the situation in London four years ago.
We have seen iconic athletes across all the sports”, he told reporters at a wrap-up media briefing. The broadcast presentation includes 45 Analysts, 54 commentators and 12 Presenters in 4 dedicated Olympic studios. beIN Sports has created in-house 50 exclusive documentaries, broadcast leading up to and during the Olympic Games to present the athletes, the events and the history of the Olympic games.
“We all saw the level of competition over all sports was extremely high, with stunning performances from the athletes.
And the quote of the American runner when she helped up her competitor, to say ‘Get up, we have to finish, this is the Olympic Games.’ I think you can not better describe Olympic spirit and fair play than with this gesture and these words”.
“It is the first Olympic Games in South America, an iconic Games, but it is also a Games in the middle of reality. They were not organized in a bubble, but in a city with social problems and divides, and where the real life continued”, he said.
“This was very good for everybody”. But the country is now in the political crisis and its worst economic recession since the 1930s.
“We have shown that we are ready to face social reality and to address this”.
BeIN Sports is now broadcasting the Rio 2016 Olympic Games through a sub licensing arrangement; the new partnership will mark the first ever direct relationship between the global broadcaster and the IOC. The hosts deployed about 85,000 security forces to safeguard the Games as crime rate had risen amid social unstability.
Bach acknowledged the hosts’ efforts.
“There you go. I’m the greatest”, said Bolt, whose third straight 100m, 200m and 4x100m sweep put him alongside Carl Lewis and Paavo Nurmi on nine track and field Olympic golds.
Bach did not hesitate when asked in his day-before-closing ceremony review whether, knowing what they knew now, the International Olympic Committee would have selected economically-challenged Rio if he could turn back time.
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“We would like to give thanks to Brazilians and cariocas”, he added.
