Thomas Bach, the International Olympic Committee president, said the Games in Rio were "iconic" on the eve of the closing ceremony.

 

国际奥委会主席托马斯·巴赫在里约奥运会闭幕式上表示，里约奥运具有“标志性”。
 

 

"It is an iconic Olympic Games, a Games in the middle of reality. It's been organized in a city where there are social problems, not in a bubble in 16 days Olympic Games somehow being isolated¹. And by seeing this, by facing this, to put sport into perspective. On the one hand to see what sport can do, but also understand their limitations."

 

Bach said that Rio has shown that the Games do not necessarily have to be held in a country with a high GDP.

 

Rio was awarded the right to host the first Olympics in South America in 2009 when Brazil had a booming economy. But the country is now in political crisis and its worst economic recession since the 1930s.

 

Preparation for the Games had been marred² by construction delays and financial constraints³. The hosts deployed⁴ about 85,000 security forces to safeguard the Games as crime rates had raised amid social instability.

 

The Olympic chief acknowledged the hosts' efforts, saying the Brazilian authorities have addressed concerns like security appropriately.

点击收听单词发音