RIO DE JANEIRO - Jacques Rogge, the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said on Wednesday he saw Rio de Janeiro as well on its way to preparing to host the 2016 Olympic Games.

"I'm very happy today because I see the preparations for the Games well underway," he said as he laid a symbolic first stone at what will become the Olympic Village in the city.

The ceremony gave an official profile to work that is already underway to have the facility ready for the world's premier sporting event.

Various VIPs attended, including sporting figures, Brazil's former FIFA president and former IOC member Joao Havelange, and Rio state governor Sergio Cabral.

Brazi will be the first South American country to present the Olympics. Its hosting duties will follow those of 2014, when it holds the football World Cup.

Rogge said the launch of work on the Olympic Village was "fundamental" because it formed "the heart of the Games," a place where participants could mingle while respecting differences of race, religion and languages.

Rio's mayor, Eduardo Paes, said: "Bringing the Games to Rio seemed an impossible dream. But today the city is living a special moment, and this is the first of many actions related to the Games. We will make sure the Games are exemplary."

Organizers showed Rogge a scale model of the Olympic Village, a facility comprising 48 buildings of 12 storys that will boast 2,880 apartments.

It will also have a training area, a plaza, a shopping mall with restaurants, a park, and areas for tennis, volleyball and football - and a beach for the exclusive use of the athletes.

Brazilian officials, meanwhile, are readying to unveil the Rio 2016 Olympic logo in a night ceremony on Friday, just before the New Year's Eve's celebrations on Copacabana beach.

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 12/31/2010 page22)