RIO DE JANEIRO — In one cheery promise in the 2009 bid that won Rio de Janeiro the rights to host the Summer Olympics, there’s a promise that “more than 200 young low-income cultural mediators will be trained in foreign languages, Olympism and Brazilian culture ... [and] will act as tour guides for the delegations to the Games.”
Six months out from the opening ceremony, are young, low-income polyglots polishing their global hostessing skills and readying themselves to receive foreign athletes?
The answer: Sort of.
When asked about the 2009 promise, Rio 2016 spokesman Philip Wilkinson pointed to a partnership between the committee and the company Education First to offer free online English courses to public school students, volunteers for the Games and taxi drivers.