Was it Brazil’s caipirinha cocktail or did the head of the International Olympic Committee skip a major news conference in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday because of jet lag?
IOC President Thomas Bach failed to appear at the chief media event marking the one-year countdown to the 2016 Rio Olympics — and initially officials gave no explanation.
Only well into the event led by Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes did the spokesman for the city’s Olympic organizing committee address Bach’s absence.
Bach was “very, very tired” after flying from Kuala Lumpur and was in his hotel, the spokesman told more than 200 journalists assembled at a nearly completed arena in the Olympic Park.
On arrival, Bach had appeared in good form, relishing two of Brazil’s most beloved pastimes — a kickabout with a football on the beach and a glass of the national cocktail.
“I had a caipirinha with him yesterday,” Rio Olympic committee president Carlos Arthur Nuzman said.
“Thirty hours of flying and then one Brazilian caipirinha makes people tired,” Paes quipped. “It was just one caipirinha,” he quickly added.
Nuzman said Bach made “a huge sacrifice” by flying to Rio after his busy trip in Malaysia to be at the one-year celebration, also due to be attended by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff later. – Agence France-Presse
