RIO DE JANEIRO - The towering cranes are a fixture in the skyline here, racing to complete the bridges, highways and stadiums that must be knitted together in time for next year's Summer Olympics.
What happens to the constellation of stadiums, arenas and other facilities once the Games are gone is a constant debate here. The government will spend an estimated $30 billion-plus to host last year's World Cup and the 2016 Games, and some residents have taken the streets in nationwide rallies to protest what they see as Brazil's misguided focus on the mega-events at the expense of new investments in health care and housing.
An economic downturn, labor strife and corruption has also slowed the completion of projects around the city that are already far behind schedule. Organizers are already forced to move the opening water polo matches because the venue won't be finished in time.
"There's a lot of pressure on the government to complete the infrastructure in time," said Michael Yoder, the Acting U.S. Consul in Rio, told about 30 Georgia political and business leaders who visited Brazil this week for a five-day trade delegation. "Any encouragement you can offer them about your own experience with the Olympics would be great."
Later, Gov. Nathan Deal and other state officials met with local government officials who asked him the same advice. They pointed to the conversion of the Olympic Village into college dorms as an example.
Atlanta's facilities for the 1996 Games were largely ready a year before the athletes arrived. But the city has its own troubled experience defining its Olympic legacy beyond Centennial Olympic Park, with most of the venues demolished or retrofitted in the two decades since the city's turn in the international spotlight.
At a meeting with Finep, a Brazilian technical trade alliance, questions about Olympic legacy came up again. The group's director, Rodrigo Fonseca, openly worried that his country's tech industry wouldn't capitalize on the massive attention and investment.
Tom Croteau, a deputy commissioner of Georgia's economic development arm, told them of a third-party firm hired before the 1996 Games to survey corporate executives worldwide on their perceptions of Atlanta.
"The feedback was interesting," said Croteau. "There were people who confused Atlanta with Atlantic City. We don't have that problem any more."
For Georgia officials, the 2016 Games could bring a different sort of opportunity. Most of the biggest construction contracts have long been decided, but a smaller projects will soon be available to U.S. firms.
Mark Russell of the U.S. Commercial Service in Brazil had a word of caution for those considering a foray.
"There's a saying here: Brazil is not for beginners," Russell told the delegation. "You have to have knowledge on the ground here. The bureaucracy, the tax structure, the distribution systems are all very different. You really need a local partner to do business."
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