Mazel tov! That’s perhaps how the big shots in charge of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the first to take place in South America, will toast victories when the competition gets underway Aug. 5.
Three of the top officials of the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee, including its president, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, are Jewish.
But in the run-up to the games, there have been more “oy gevalts” than mazel tovs as organizers deal with reports of unfinished venues, polluted swimming and sailing sites and, most of all, concerns about the mosquito-borne Zika virus.
Nuzman said the number of Zika cases in Rio has dropped sharply in recent weeks, and is expected to fall even further during the dry months of the Brazilian winter, as Rio 2016 organizers emphasized at a news conference on June 7. Last month, the World Health Organization said there is no public health justification for postponing or canceling the games.
Nuzman,77, preferred to talk about the robust Jewish connections at the games, including a ceremony to honor the 11 Israelis murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the Munich Olympics in 1972, the Israeli company that is providing security for the games and his own deep ties to Brazilian sports.
“My connection with Judaism and with Israel is through sports,” said Nuzman, who was part of the first Brazilian male volleyball team in 1964 when the sport debuted at the Olympics. “I started my career playing at the Brazilian Israelite Club and I have attended four Maccabiah Games in Israel.”
The grandson of Russian immigrants, Nuzman was born in Rio, home to an estimated 25,000 Jews. He is an active member of the 440-family Conservative synagogue Congregacao Judaica do Brasil led by Rabbi Nilton Bonder, his nephew.
Nuzman relies on other prominent members of the local Jewish community as deputies. Sidney Levy, a business executive, is the Rio 2016 committee’s chief executive officer and has a $2.2 billion budget to manage. Leonardo Gryner, a communications and marketing director who was part of the Rio 2016 bid, is deputy CEO.
Nuzman, Levy and Gryner are behind the ceremony to honor the Munich victims. The Aug. 14 event at Rio’s City Hall will be co-led by the International Olympic Committee along with the Olympic committees of Israel and Brazil.
Four yeas ago, the IOC rejected appeals for a moment of silence at the opening ceremony of the London Games in 2012, the 40th anniversary of the tragedy. Critics at the time were not appeased by various events marking the anniversary that took place at other venues.
The IOC also announced a special area in the Rio Olympic Village to commemorate the memory of all Olympians who have died. In addition, a moment of reflection in honor of all dead Olympians will be held during the closing ceremony.
“There will be no minute of silence at the opening ceremony,” read an IOC note, frustrating a longtime request of families.
The widows of weightlifter Yossef Romano and fencing coach Andre Spitzer will instead light 11 candles at the City Hall event. The Israeli government will be represented by the minister of culture and sport, Miri Regev.
“The mayor will open the doors of his house in a gesture of great friendship with the Brazilian Jewish community and the whole people of Israel,” said Israel’s honorary consul in Rio, Osias Wurman. “We are deeply moved. Symbolically falling on Tisha B’Av, one of the saddest days of the Hebrew calendar, the event will be a unique moment.”
The security of the 12,000 athletes and anticipated 500,000 visitors is among the most sensitive issues for organizers, and the Israeli company International Security and Defense Systems won the international tender to secure the games. ISDS has coordinated security at previous Olympics and soccer World Cups.
Leo Gleser, ISDS president and a former Mossad agent, will have his hands full. Last November, a French national identified as an executioner in ISIS propaganda videos tweeted, “Brazil, you are our next target.” Brazilian counterterrorism experts regarded the statement as credible.
Israel will make its 16th appearance at the Olympics by bringing to Rio its largest delegation — 50 athletes for the Olympics and another 50 for the Paralympic Games immediately afterward. Some 10,000 Israelis are expected to make it to Rio to root for their national heroes.
Visitors will be able to take part in two special Shabbat ceremonies: Some 300 guests are expected at Bonder’s synagogue, and Chabad will host a Shabbat event during the Paralympics.
In a joint educational project, students from four Jewish schools and four municipal public schools will produce a book about the Munich murders and the Olympic spirit. — jta