With the results at the 2014 World Equestrian Games in France the eventing teams from Germany, Britain, Netherlands, France, Australia and Ireland have qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Showjumping teams to qualify for Rio include the Netherlands, France, US, Germany and Sweden.
They join the German, British and Dutch dressage teams that became the first in any sport to qualify for the Rio Olympic games.
Brazil has automatically qualified as the next Olympic host nation.
One of Brazil’s most famous and infamous foreign residents was the Great Train Robber, Ronnie Biggs. Biggs landed in Rio de Janeiro on 11 March 1970 and departed on 6 May 2001. He was “discovered” and arrested in Rio on 1 February 1974, and subsequently kidnapped on 16 March 1981.
Biggs tells the full story of his time in Brazil and Rio de Janeiro in his autobiography Odd Man Out: The Last Straw. He wrote his autobiography while living in Rio de Janeiro and then updated it when he was released from prison in the UK on 6 August 2009.
During his time in Rio de Janeiro, Biggs also wrote his one and only novel, Keep on Running, a book which was originally published in 1995, and has now been published on Kindle for the first time.
Keep on Running is a novel that draws on the true events surrounding the Great Train Robbery. It gives a dramatic account of what may have happened to the three men at the track who were never caught or charged. It covers their lives before, during and in the years immediately after the robbery in August 1963. It also features the shadowy character known to people on both sides of the law as the Ulsterman, and provides a dramatic solution to the puzzle as to whether or not there was a shipment of jewels on board the train and, if there was, why the owner never came forward.
The book is Biggs’ only novel, although he was very active in writing both poetry and lyrics, most famously for the Sex Pistols and Die Toten Hosen. He had also been involved in writing the screenplay for the film Prisoner of Rio.
The Kindle version of Keep on Running: A Story from the Great Train Robbery is available globally direct from your local Amazon or Kindle store.
Australia
Brazil
Canada
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Mexico
Spain
United Kingdom
USA
With now less than two years until the start of the Rio Olympics on 5 August 2016, the Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games has launched and unveiled the new “look” for the Games.
The look will become familiar over the coming years and at the games itself as it will be used to decorate and enhance the sports facilities and the city, in addition to appearing on tickets, uniforms, credentials, licensed products, stores and more.
People that know Rio well will recognise many of the city’s famous landmarks that have been woven into the colourful design.
The new image, the organisers say, was inspired by Brazil, Brazilians and Rio de Janeiro: “The look is multicoloured and vibrant as the harmonic diversity of our people. The look is organic and engaging like an embrace, inspired by our lush nature and human warmth. It brings fluid and energetic features, like our art, our identity.”
The games has also unveiled the logos to be used by the cities hosting the Olympic football tournament. As well as Rio they include the World Cup host cities and stadiums of Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Salvador and São Paulo.
The first Rio 2016 test event, the Aquece Rio International Sailing Regatta 2014, has brought some of the world’s top sailors to Rio de Janeiro. From 2 to 9 August, 324 athletes – including 23 Olympic medallists – from 34 countries will compete in 215 boats across five courses on Guanabara Bay, in the largest Olympic sailing competition ever held in Brazil.
“All the sailors who are dreaming of winning a medal at Rio 2016 are here,” said Australia’s Mathew Belcher, the London 2012 champion in the 470 class. “There are various Olympic champions here, and many more who will win Olympic medals. It’s my first time in Rio so my goal is to get to know and understand the climatic conditions, as well as to get to the know the city. I already knew that the wind varies from medium to low intensity in the bay and this will be a challenge for all the sailors.”
Belcher was joined in Rio by four other Olympic champions from the London Games: fellow Australian and 49er champion Nathan Outteridge, Spain’s Marina Alabau, who won the 49er FX, Holland’s RS:X champion Dorian van Rijsselberge, and Sweden’s Max Salminen, gold medallist in the Star class, which has been dropped from the Olympic programme for the Rio 2016 Games.
Great Britain’s Luke Patience, who took silver behind Belcher in the 470, also spoke of the high level of competitors and the importance of getting to know the Rio 2016 Olympic venue. “The best boats in the world are here,” he explained. “It’s an important opportunity for us to get to know the conditions and gather information, but it’s also clear that everyone who’s here wants to be the first to win a title on the Olympic Waters.”
For Patience, the regatta is his first sailing competition in South America and he expressed his excitement about being in the next Olympic host city. “It’s a really exciting city, full of life and energy. It has a happy atmosphere and is known for hosting big celebrations, like Carnival and the World Cup. I’m really happy to be here and determined to do my best in the test event.”
The International Sailing Regatta is the first in a series of 45 sporting events that will take place in Rio 2016 venues that will allow athletes and the organising committee to rehearse for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The majority of the events will be held in 2015.
A new initiative, the Rocinha By Rocinha Project, hopes to boost tourism to one of Rio de Janeiro’s largest favelas and was created earlier this year by a small dedicated team of young people, all living in Rocinha. The project hopes to start a cultural exchange between residents and domestic and foreign tourists visiting Rio.
Rocinha By Rocinha has adopted a tourist concept largely used in European countries: the free walking tour. At the end of the guided tour, the visitors then have the option of making a voluntary contribution according to how much they want and can afford. All generated funds go directly to the guide that is doing the tour of the day. The same procedure is adopted for the charged packages, such as the tour to the Dois Irmãos mountain and a tour of Rocinha by night.
“We want to show what the culture of Rocinha has to offer and to give a true feeling of what its like to be part of the community,” explains one of the founders of Rocinha By Rocinha, Erik Martins. Erik leads the team formed by five other guides, all with excellent knowledge of the community, good English and a willingness to become entrepreneurs, and help Rocinha to prosper.
“Our tours cover the recent initiatives that are improving the conditions of the slums, but also reveal the locations that still lack of zeal. We don’t want to hide what saddens us, but explain everything that is beautiful and culturally rich around us, as some fascinating panoramic views that fill us with pride”, Erik explains.
Rocinha By Rocinha has the support of a group of voluntary international consultants who are helping to organize and publicize the work and created the Rocinha By Rocinha website and helped develop a solution for the guides to accept payments from international credit and debit cards.
The Swedish company iZettle, one of Europe’s leading providers of mobile payment services and apps, is a partner of Rocinha By Rocinha and this allows foreign tourists, not always with cash to hand, to be able to pay securely by card. Operating in Brazil since August 2013, iZettle is now helping entrepreneurs and professionals from nine countries to accept payments on their smartphones and tablets.
Reservations for Rocinha By Rocinha can be made through the website or by email to tours@rocinhabyrocinha.com.
On Sunday, 13 July 2014 Germany beat Argentina one-nil in extra time in Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanã to to win the 20th FIFA World Cup. It was Germany’s 4th title and, including qualifying, it had had to play 16 games to reach the final, winning 14 of them and drawing two.
The first trailer for “Rio, Eu Te Amo“, which is part of the Cities of Love series, has been released. Produced by Conspiração Filmes, Empyrean Pictures and BossaNovaFilms, the film is set for an 11 September release in Brazil.
Among the directors involved in the project are Paolo Sorrentino, Vicente Amorim, John Turturro, Guillermo Arriaga, Stephan Elliott, Sang-soo Im, Nadine Labaki, Fernando Meirelles, José Padilha, Carlos Saldanha and Andrucha Waddington. Actors include Fernanda Montenegro, Rodrigo Santoro, Vincent Cassel, Jason Isaacs, Cláudia Abreu, John Turturro, Emily Mortimer, Marcelo Serrado, Harvey Keitel and Vanessa Paradis.
The BBC has announced that the new Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi, is to visit Rio de Janeiro on 19 August. A reflection of the importance of the Brazilian market and the popularity of Doctor Who in Brazil.
The trip will see the twelfth Doctor, Capaldi, on-screen companion Jenna Coleman, and the show’s lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat, visit seven cities across five continents in 12 days, where they will attend fan events and media interviews, publicising Series 8 to a global audience.
The tour, which starts on 7 August, marks the largest ever promotional undertaking in Doctor Who’s 50-year history and will kick off in the Welsh capital and home of the series’ production, Cardiff, before taking in London, Seoul, Sydney (Australia), New York, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro. More details of the itinerary will be available from doctorwho.tv soon.
BBC Worldwide’s ambition for the brand has grown since the global success of the 50th anniversary, which saw the special episode The Day of the Doctor broadcast simultaneously in 98 countries and in over 1,500 theaters across the world.
Even on the eve of the World Cup there was still time on Monday, 9 June for the League of Samba Schools (LIESA) to make the draw to decide the date and order that the top samba schools in Rio de Janeiro will parade in 2015.
Sunday, 15 February 2015
Monday, 16 February 2015
The winner in 2014, Unidos da Tijuca, has again chosen to go out last on the final night.
During the period of the World Cup, Rio Conferences, part of the Mayor of Rio’s office, will be running six conferences consisting of 16 panels with more than 90 top speakers.
The free events will take place at MAR (Museu de Arte do Rio), in the port area of Rio de Janeiro, and will run from 09.00 to 13.00 followed by lunch.
The six conference topics and dates are:
For more information and to register CLICK HERE
MAR (Museu de Arte do Rio)
Brazil the Guide 