The $51 billion cost of the Sochi Games, most expensive Winter Olympics in history, and alleged corruption are evidence of endemic problems. The stadiums are all located along the coast overlooking the Black Sea This is the biggest construction project since the fall of the Soviet Union, on a par with the trans-Siberian railway…
Gary Hershorn / Reuters When pressed about the 2014 Sochi Olympics’ record $51 billion price tag — a sum that is five times the amount spent on the last Winter Games in Vancouver and that dwarves the GDP of three-fifths of the world’s countries — Vladimir Putin has shrugged off allegations of corruption, insisting that…
RIO DE JANEIRO The area surrounding the house of Eomar Freitas, 36, looks like a war zone after air strikes. The shopkeeper’s home neighborhood is Rio’s Favela do Metrô, a slum tucked between Radio Oeste Avenue and the metro, next to the Maracanã station. Located just 500 meters from the Maracanã stadium, where the…
Lots of powerful relationships are made at the Olympics. But perhaps none is more significant than the swimmers that together make Phelpte. Feel the love. 1. Relationships can develop a push-pull quality when partners are in the throes of an Olympic bromance AND fiercely competitive at the same time. Here Lochte may pull away, but…
Near Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, the Country Brand Index’s highest ranked Latin American country Conducting business meetings isn’t easy when people don’t even know you exist. Just ask Eduardo Clari, an investments specialist. Paraguay’s state export and investment promotion agency. “They confuse us with Uruguay. Or else they think we’re part of Brazil,” says…