Rio gets chance to show off sporting passion

Rio de Janeiro is Brazil's capital of fun but it has also elevated sports to the level of a national passion, a lifestyle that never goes out of fashion.

But now Rio has won the right to host the 2016 Olympic Games, the city has the opportunity to channel this passion into a specific project.

Brazilians' devotion to sports is closely tied to national pride, which was put on show when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced its decision to bring the Games to Rio on Friday.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva burst into tears right in the middle of a press conference.

"This was one of the happiest days of my life, and I felt proud to be a Brazilian," said Lula.

Brazil will also host football's 2014 World Cup -- with the final at the Maracana Stadium in Rio -- meaning it will host the two of the most important sporting events of the next decade just two years' apart.

Flamengo, Brazil's most popular soccer team, play at the Maracana. But the legendary stadium was also the scene of the greatest blow to Brazilian sporting pride when the national side lost to Uruguay in the deciding match of the 1950 World Cup finals.

The country has never completely recovered from the humiliation on home territory.

But it hopes that 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics will finally help bury the past and usher in a new era in the country's sports history.

After winning five soccer World Cups -- in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002 -- Brazilians are universally recognized as masters of the game.

The largest South American country has also won multiple world and Olympic titles in volleyball, there have been Formula One racing legends like Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet and Emerson Fittipaldi.

But sports like swimming and tennis remain on the back burner, and the South American giant, whose population now reaches 190 million people, still has a lot to do to become an Olympic power house.

At the 2008 Beijing Games, Brazil ranked a modest 23rd among top medal winners: its athletes won there only 15 medals, just three of them gold.

This meager harvest is considered the result of insufficient attention to training and the lack of a high-quality sporting infrastructure.

However, sports occupy a special place in Brazilian life, and particularly in Rio.

City residents are masters and mistresses of the cult of physical beauty and its legendary beaches are for showing off physical prowess as well as sun bathing.

Thousands partied on the famous Copacabana beach into the small hours of Saturday, dancing to the infectious beat of samba music as they celebrated Rio de Janeiro's choice as the 2016 Olympics host.

"Rio loves you!" roared a crowd of 50,000 upon learning the IOC had chosen Rio over rival heavy-weights Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid.

Day and night, thousands jog or ride bikes along Rio's seaside boulevards, proof that Cariocas, as its people are known, are truly dedicated to sports.