Atlanta's ties with Brazil got a boost on Oct. 2 when the country's tourism capital, Rio de Janeiro, beat out three other global cities for the right to host the 2016 summer Olympic Games. 

Rio de Janeiro, an Atlanta sister city with a population of about 6 million, was chosen by the International Olympic Committee over Chicago; Madrid, Spain; and Tokyo, becoming the first South American city to be selected for the world's largest sporting event. 

“The choice of Rio de Janeiro for hosting the Olympic Games reflects Brazil’s development, its growing role in the international scenario, the quality of the Brazilian project and also the image of Rio’s beauty impressed upon people’s minds all over the world,” said Adalnio Senna Ganem, Brazil's consul general in Atlanta, in an e-mail to GlobalAtlanta.

Attracting the Olympics marks another huge win for the emerging economic powerhouse, which will host the FIFA World Cup in 2014. The final matches will likely be held in Rio, home to the country's largest soccer stadium. 

Atlanta's partnership with the Brazilian city is one of the most active of its 18 sister city relationships, and collaboration will intensify now that the cities share an Olympic identity, said Wilma Kruger, chair of the Atlanta-Rio Sister Cities Committee.

"I want to call Atlanta to be with us together in this adventure. If one sister has a victory, then the other sister can celebrate," said Ms. Kruger, who is planning a trip to Rio in November to work on municipal partnerships.  

Franklin McGruder, president of the Atlanta-Rio de Janeiro Sister Cities Foundation, the funding arm for Ms. Kruger's committee, was "very excited" about the news, which came two days after his birthday.

"This is one of the best presents I could probably get in my life, to be a part of such a history-making event," building partnerships between two sister cities now joined by the Olympic bond, Mr. McGruder said. 

The foundation opened an office in Rio de Janeiro this year to help facilitate cultural, educational and business exchange between the two cities. The office focuses on boosting general awareness about Atlanta's ties with Rio de Janeiro. 

The Olympic selection will make those efforts easier, Mr. McGruder said. "That will give us more opportunity to expose our programs to various organizations and businesses," he said. 

David Bruce, a Georgia State University international business professor who runs a study abroad trip every year in Brazil and Argentina, said Rio's selection didn't surprise him. 

Aside from the historical aspect that South America had thus far been excluded from the Olympics, Rio de Janeiro has a lot to offer, he said.

"It's one of the most beautiful places on earth. They had something going for them there, that's for sure," said Dr. Bruce, who has been traveling regularly to Brazil since 1966. 

Dr. Bruce took a group of international business students to Rio de Janeiro in June to visit companies and learn about how Brazilians do business. 

Even then, the city's ocean ports were already making improvements, preparing five years in advance to accommodate more tourists. 

"With the World Cup coming up and hoping for the games, they were already looking for ways to hook in more cruise ships," said Dr. Bruce, citing conversations with port employees.

Throughout the bidding process, Rio had to overcome the image as a breeding ground for poverty and violent crime.  Dr. Bruce said that as with any big city, those fears aren't totally unfounded, but the reality in Rio is much less grim than the stereotypes suggest. 

"I have no hesitation about going to Rio," he said. "I go there all the time and take lots of students. The main thing is, most big cities have image issues and crime questions, but I've had my car stolen and house broken into in Atlanta.  I've never had any of those experiences in Rio."

Rio doesn't necessarily need to drastically clean up its act.; it just needs to let the world get beyond the stereotypes, Dr. Bruce said.

Brazilian President Luis Lula Inacio da Silva stuck to a similar narrative when he traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark, to speak to the IOC in support of Rio's bid. 

President Obama was there to support Chicago, which had been a front-runner but was eliminated in the first round of voting. 

Despite Rio's beauty and advantages, Mr. McGruder of the Atlanta-Rio Sister Cities Foundation believes that to host a successful games, the city must find a way to share the Olympic opportunities with residents of favelas, shantytowns made up of ramshackle dwellings.

"The whole process will have to be inclusive of the favela community. You will not be able to leave them out," said Mr. McGruder, who has visited eight states in Brazil since he began traveling there seven years ago.  His foundation supports housing programs and scholarships in Atlanta.

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