Three flags were dis­played promi­nent­ly at the clos­ing cer­e­mo­ny of the Lon­don Olympics: the Greek flag, which paid homage to the birth­place of the games; the British flag, to cel­e­brate the host coun­try; and the Brazil­ian flag, to honor the next host of the Sum­mer Games—Rio de Janeiro.

In 2009, Jon Lee Ander­son report­ed on the poor­est neigh­bor­hoods in the city. "No one knows exact­ly how many fave­las there are today, but it is esti­mat­ed that more than a thou­sand exist, hous­ing per­haps three mil­lion of Rio’s four­teen mil­lion inhabitants," Ander­son wrote. "In Rio, the fave­las edge up to the air­port high­way and spread into the dis­tance. At times, bul­lets crack over­head, as rival gangs on either side of the high- way shoot it out. They have been known to come onto the road with their guns to rob motorists. Most vis­i­tors head straight from the air­port on Ilha to beach­front hotels in the Zona Sul, the afflu­ent south­ern part of the city, on the far side of the moun­tains of Tiju­ca Nation­al Park. But there are fave­las in Zona Sul, too; there is no way to com­plete­ly escape Rio’s misery."