Brazil World Olympic Dreams

Olympic dreams. Matthew Pinsent travels to Brazil to find out how

athletes there are gearing up for the London Olympics and the real

When you think about sport in Brazil, there is one image that

springs to mind. These guys might explain why they have produced so

many fantastic footballers over the years, but sport here is more than

this. Rio will host the Olympic Games in 2016. I have come here to

find out just how sport fits into this amazing country - beyond the

beautiful game. This programme will take me from the beachfront at

Ipanema to the backstreets. If you don't train for sport, you will get

knocked out. Life is like that. will meet for young men hoping that

rugby is the next thing here. thought it was just for girls. But

then I picked up the ball, started to run and play properly. And a

young boxer whose life changed forever when his father was gunned

down and killed. I really miss him. Being able to share my success with

him. And the mayor tells me the IOC were right to put their faith in

Brazil. The Olympics is about change. It is about changing each

city. Come to Rio. It is 6am at this rowing club.

Still half asleep, it is a daily routine for rowers all over the

world. One thing I definitely do not miss is these early mornings.

Before the blistering summer heat makes any strenuous activity a

chore, these rowers are putting in the hours. Month after month. It is

a tradition that goes back over a century. And maybe the best is yet

to come. In 2016, this lagoon will host the rowing and kayaking in the

Summer Olympics. It is hard to imagine a more spectacular setting

for competition. And this lake is at the heart of a city that lives

and breathes sport and the outdoor life.

MUSIC. The body beautiful is an obsession

in Rio. Any free time, you will find the people of the city trying

to push that little bit more out of themselves. The next few years are

huge for Brazilian sport. The World Cup comes here in 2014. Two years

later, Rio will host the Olympic Games. And not just in sport.

Brazil today has a new confidence and sense of energy. Rio's downtown

is a testament to an economy that is starting to boom. They have

found oil off the coast here and by some measures Brazil has recently

overtaken the UK to become the sixth largest economy in the world.

There are rich pickings to be had. While the rest of the globe is in

recession, as far as they are concerned here, it is a matter of

crisis, what crisis? The world is different these days. It what you

guys are feeling up there, it is not messing up with us down here. A

few years ago, if you got the flu, we would have pneumonia here. Now

things are fine here. We're a country that is rising. The link

between economic and sport in success in Brazil was back to the

turn of the 19th-century. Today's generation of young rowers are

following in the footsteps of the moneyed elite who took to bowling

as a means of getting fit and impressing the young ladies. Over

the years, the club has expanded and taken on other sports. The

football team that grew out of this club have hosted some of the

world's greatest players. But its origins are in rowing and it all

began here. In this cafe, the rowers who formed this club first

met. Today, it is probably more famous for its beef steaks. But it

is a welcome break from the heat of the day for one world-class athlete.

I rode against her husband in two World Championships. She is quietly

confident that people will see a different side to Brazil during the

Olympics and the rest of the world will realise that there is more to

sport than just football. Football is the flagship of Brazilian sport.

A lot of people come here to learn football. Brazilian players are

exported to other countries. But people forget there are many, many

people practising all sorts of other sports. There are many

talents in sports which sometimes are not acknowledged here in Brazil.

It is hard to get financial support because of this. People only want

to invest in football. MUSIC.

If Olympic sport in Brazil is to get more investment, it is going to

need more people like Sarah. She is from a remote province on the

fringes of the rainforest. At just 22, she is one of the country's

best hopes for a medal at 2012. Maybe because she chose a sport

which was less mainstream and not seen as a sport for girls, it was

not easy. -- getting started was not easy. Her parents did not

approve. At first, I would go to judo at school, do my homework real

quick so my mum didn't suspect anything. But when I got better I

needed a bus fare to get to practice. She got suspicious.

the family is fully behind her and the success she has had judo has

given her the discipline to do well at her studies as well. Even so,

she still has one major hurdle to overcome. Myself. I am my main

obstacle to winning right now. I need to overcome my nerves more.

Technically, I am there. I just have to win the fight inside my

head. This is part of Rio not many visitors sprawl into. For years,

they have been linked to violence and crime. Like in London, the test

will be what is left once the Olympics are over. There are more

than 6 million people in Rio and it is how they benefit from the games

that will be the ultimate measure of success. This new cable-car is

getting people around more quickly. But will the legacy deliver in a

way that makes a real difference? The mayor is confident it will.

There is the gathering of this 15 days for everyone to get together

to party. Rio is very used to that. The greatest change will be the

legacy for the poorest people of the city. We know this will be a

much better place to live and work. It will be more gentle to its

people. This man -- the mayor also knows that the international

community is taking a gamble in choosing Rio de Janeiro over the

other candidates for the Games in 2016. He pull thought that hour

weakness would be some of the problems that the city has. Would

we use that as an asset. Chicago is a great city, as is Madrid. I am

half Spanish. Torquil. But these guys have got everything. That is

what we told the IOC member has. -- Tokyo in Japan. If the Olympics is

about legacy and change then look no further than Rio de Janeiro off.

It will certainly be a party here. This is a city that knows how to

have a good time. The City is obviously proud of the things that

make it famous. Partying, beaches and beautiful people. But the

organisers you want the Games to make a difference in people's lives.

One of the aims of the Olympic movement is to bring sport and

different types of sport to people who may not normally get to

participate. This left might look pretty insignificant, but it is

part of a major project year to clear up many of the poorer parts

of the city. Before the left was finished in 2010, the only way up

from the bottom was all the way on these stairs. It is still a bit of

a climb when you get to the top here, but I am told the family I am

about to meet will make the climb worth it. These brothers have a

surname which means passion in Portuguese. They discovered that

sport is not all about the round ball. Rugby makes its Olympic debut

when the Games come here in 2016. These boys are hoping they will be

on the pitch. The eldest brother first discovered the game on the

The first time I saw rugby ice up I thought it was just for girls. But

then by started to play and I realised it was something different.

And all four brothers soon got a field -- a feel for the game.

Marcos plays for Brazil at international level and became the

first member of his family ever to leave the country. Rugby is now in

his blood. TRANSLATION: What does it mean to me? It has changed my

life. Who knows, maybe one day I could play in a professional team

and grow beyond that. Nobody wants to stay at the bottom. If you grow

in sport, everything will be all When he is not playing rugby or

building a home for his new wife, Max looks to hit the waves. A

certain -- surfing school has been opened for for they let kids and a

new rugby school is on the way. -- for favelas kids. I like feeling

the the thrill of riding on the wave, standing upon the board. I

began writing on a body board and then I thought, I have to change us,

I have to stand up. So I stood upon the board and then I went to serve

school. It is a great feeling gliding over the waves. It is great.

Things are not always easy here. Drug crime and violence has been

synonymous with the favelas for years now. There are some 26

murders for every 100,000 people in Rio. A while back, a couple of my

cousins who were drug traffickers were killed. I used to have are

thought to my head that I wanted revenge. At least I thought about

it. But then I started surfing and jujitsu. Then I found rugby. I have

changed completely. I think sport leads people to do good things and

not bad things. And things are beginning to change. Slowly, the

police are moving in to push the drug lords out. At the end of the

day, these boys and many like them in the favelas of Rio are loving

life. And it shows. Can you see your house from here?

When I came to Brazil, I did not want to go anywhere near the

favelas but when you are standing here, you think those white sand

beaches and the red umbrellas are a bit fake. This is the real Rio. The

reality of how sport can make a difference here is in this man's

story. Meet Roberto Custodio. At 23, he has won the Brazilian

championship at welterweight. He is in with a shout of a place at the

London Olympics. He lives where the drug lords still operate but he is

one of the lucky ones. TRANSLATION: There is a lot of violence here.

You wake up in the morning and don't know if you will make it back

batty evening. U Thant God every day if you stay alive because you

can stay at 10 -- you thank God every day. NEWLINE the middle of a

gunfight, the police come in and you are in the wrong place at the

wrong time. I have had friends that died like that. If you live in the

favelas, you're just a statistic. The fight for peace Jim was set up

by a British boxer in 2000. His aim is straight forward. We are here to

run a successful boxing club and give kids satisfaction and training

courses. They have to do the hard work. We do not do that. What we do

is provide a structure. That is the premise for fight for peace. If you

do not train, you get beaten. It is the same in any sport but it is

particularly true in boxing because it hurts. If you do not trained for

sport, you will get punched a lot and knocked out. Life is like that.

Roberto has lived his life on the edge between the success he is

seeing today and tragedy. When he was 13, his father fell out with

the local drug dealers who control so much of life here. He fled but

came back to visit and was executed. He was not an addict. He was just

walking, a bus driver. I never thought I would lose my father that

way. If people do wrong things, you sort of expect it. They either get

arrested or killed. It is so difficult, I really miss him, being

The people here believe firmly that if you show young people like

Roberto an alternative to a life of crime and provide them with an

education, it will reap benefits. Already, people here are feeling

the effects of other favelas are being cleared of drug lords. Guns

have been disappearing from the streets over the last few months.

Something is changing. There is so much in the community which we

should be proud of. Rather than put balls up in front of or say that

you have to keep that over there, it is not part of our city, now

because of the community policing programme, favelas are more

accessible to people. They are learning that these are not

terrible enclaves of violent people. 99 % of people who live here are

hard-working individuals just trying to get by. Moments to

remember. Life is changing for Roberto. Settling into a new home

with his young family and dreaming of a place in the Olympics. My wife

and daughter give me strength. My whole family do. When I am up there

I think of everyone. Sometimes it is hard to get to a certain level

when you come from a place like this but I think, they did this for

myself. No one did this for me. It makes me so proud.

I have been in Rio now for five days and everywhere you go, you are

struck with this idea that Brazilians do things differently,

whether it is housing, whether it is parting, whether it is sport

like this, a mixture of football and volleyball. I finished my

Olympic career in 2004 and I loved each of my Olympic experiences.

People said I would miss it. Even in London, for the Games of 2012,

my home city, I will have no problem watching other athletes,

other British athletes compete and win. I know when I come to Rio, I

It is late in the evening and the remains of another's day of fun in

the sun are being cleared away. Still time for the boys of Rio

Rugby to have another kickabout. For the Maixao brothers, it is a

chance to hone those passing skills and enjoy the last hours of the day

with their friends. Beach rugby will not figure in the official

programme for Rio 2016 but when you finish watching the 7th on the

pitch, I am sure you will find day day -- a game here on the sand. It

is rear's way of saying hey, it is our style, these Olympics will be