Ready, set, go! Brazil gets ready for the Olympic games

More than 10,000 athletes will compete for gold in the first Olympic Games to ever be hosted in a South American country. The games will take place in several venues around Rio de Janeiro, plus five co-host cities: Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Manaus, Salvador and São Paulo.
 
There was a lot of preparation leading up to the Games, whose opening ceremony is August 5, 2016. “Since the preparation process for the 2007 Pan American Games, Rio de Janeiro has been undergoing wide-reaching changes in its infrastructure,” says Angelo Colombo, CEO of AGCS South America. In order to host the Olympic Games, Brazil had to invest in several infrastructure projects to improve transportation and develop the port region. The city also had huge construction and renovation projects for the sport centers and Olympic Village. In addition, there were investments in a variety of social and environmental projects.
 
“After being announced in 2009 as the official host for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Rio has gone through a huge urban and social transformation. Since then, the infrastructure projects have created many opportunities for the local insurance and reinsurance industries.” says Colombo.  “Urban mobility was the key area, and in my opinion, it will remain the main legacy that the Olympic Games brings to the city. In terms of new transportation, the city constructed new highways and new subway lines, and this has a direct impact for the better on citizens’ day-to-day lives.”
 
AGCS has been involved as a reinsurer for several infrastructure projects related to the Olympics, including one of the Rio Subway lines, a few Olympic sites and a bus rapid transit system. According to Business Insurance, the 2016 Olympics has generated about $1 billion in insurance thus far to manage the potential risks of the games.