Rio de Janeiro officials said that the city could have two Olympic flames "burning simultaneously at two different venues." The current plan is for the Olympic cauldron to "burn at the Maracanã stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies" and football finals will be held. But officials are "now suggesting another flame could be lit at the Nilton Santos stadium where the blue riband athletics events take place" (REUTERS, 2/25). ... Sporting events at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics are to be held in the Japanese region of Fukushima, where the world's "second worst nuclear accident occurred four years ago," in a move criticized by environmental activists. Spectators and athletes in the Olympic village will be "served with food from the region as part of an effort to restore the reputation of Fukushima, formerly one of Japan's richest agricultural regions." But the plan risks "alarming foreign visitors for whom the name Fukushima has become synonymous with radioactive contamination" (LONDON TIMES, 2/25). ... Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes "is to ask some of the city's biggest companies to shut down during next year's Olympic Games to make transportation easier for athletes and officials." Paes said he was planning to "meet next month with leaders of the judicial branch and bosses at state-controlled oil company Petrobras and the BNDES, a major development bank." Paes: "I don't want people to leave the city, we want them to stay, but it is clear that mobility will be affected during the Olympics" (REUTERS, 2/24). ... IOC President Thomas Bach has said he is "very satisfied" with Rio de Janeiro's preparations to host South America's first Olympic games in '16. Bach's "upbeat comments" came just 10 months after IOC VP John Coates described Brazil's organization as the "worst ever" (REUTERS, 2/24).
