Gary Lemke

showed them to be bare-faced liars, but they were allowed to get away with shaming a city, and a country, because Rio is perceived to be unsafe.

The levels of security were huge and you couldn’t go anywhere without the visible sight of police and heavily-armed military standing guard. That, sadly, is the state of the modern world rather than any slur on Rio or Brazil. Terrorism is a global real- ity, and a threat.

Given that Rio, any Olympic city for that matter, was under the spotlight, the media had plenty to feast their negativity on. From unfinished accommodation villages to crime to poor attendances. Rio fell a couple of notches below London, while Barcelona ’92 and Sydney 2000 were also better experiences for the neutral. Yet, Rio remains a spectacular city, with breathtaking scenery and people who love to party.

What Rio highlighted is that London was always going to be an impossible act to follow. Tokyo 2020 will likely be better prepared than Rio was, but the big hope is that when the show has moved on, once the Paralympics is completed, that the ordinary citizen of Rio, and Brazil, isn’t left paying the high cost of staging the Olympics.

Brazilians are passionate and vibrant people, but a Soccer World Cup was a better fit than hosting an Olympics.

Still, the Brazilian team itself performed well. While South Africa celebrated its 10 medals, including two gold – this is based on the presumption of Semenya winning the 800m – the host nation finished above South Africa on the table.

There is never something such as a “poor Games”.

Some are simply better than others, and Bach would be stretching the truth a little too far if he went ahead and branded Rio as the “best Games ever”.