As sad as I was to learn that Chicago did not win its bid to host the 2016 Olympics, I couldn’t help but be excited for the choice of Rio de Janeiro. Without a doubt, the choice of Brazil as the host for the Olympics shows the country is now ready to officially take its place as an important country on the international scene.

Brazil’s star has been rising slowly for the past several years. Not only does it have the world’s sixth largest population (and the largest population in South America), it is also the world’s tenth largest economy. Along with Chile, Uruguay and Argentina, it is one of South America’s more advanced democracies despite the fact it was run by military and populist governments for half of the twentieth century.

Additionally, Brazil can brag that it is a leader in the biofuel industry. Weary of becoming overly dependent on oil, Brazil has taken great pains to develop alternative fuels. Instead of using pure gasoline (which is not even sold in the country) to fuel its vehicles, Brazil uses a mixture of 75 percent gasoline and 25 percent ethanol. Creating this alternative fuel has also given the Brazilian automobile industry a chance to flourish, since it must develop cars that can actually use this fuel. Stepping away from fossil fuels has allowed Brazil to produce cleaner energy and to avoid dependence on Middle Eastern oil, which has undoubtedly had a positive effect on its economy.

The International Olympic Committee’s choice of Rio de Janeiro shows the international community is finally taking note of Brazil’s up-and-coming status as a world power. For years, the world has seen Latin America as an unstable region and the “backyard of the United States,” but giving Rio the chance to host the Olympics (the 2016 Olympics will be the first time any South American country has hosted the games) shows Brazil and the region as a whole are gaining more international respect. After all, not just any country gets to host the Olympics.

Though Brazil has lots of positive traits, it is still plagued by several pressing issues. Despite its strong economy, 31 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. Additionally, the disparity between the rich and the poor is quite large. Because of the overwhelming poverty, slums are common, as is crime.

Perhaps Brazil’s government will try to solve some of these problems now that it will be hosting the Olympics. The international community’s attention will be focused on the country, and obviously it will want to put its best foot forward. When Beijing hosted the Olympics in 2008, it made major efforts to clean up the city (decreasing pollution significantly, for example), and it seems likely Brazil will want to make sure visitors don’t see Rio de Janeiro as a poverty-stricken city full of slums and crime. Instead, the government will want to show the world a modern, advanced city.

Hosting the Olympics is not a panacea for a country’s problems, but getting this opportunity will surely stroke Brazilian pride and make the country strive for better conditions. More significantly, the choice of Rio for the 2016 Olympics shows the international community’s views of Brazil are changing for the better.

—Aimee Sobhani is a junior in the College of Arts and Science. She can be reached at .