Brazilian president meets Olympic team

Brasilia, July 14 (IANS) Interim President Michel Temer met the sportspersons who will represent Brazil at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic and Paralympic Games, welcoming them to the "democratic world".

"Welcome to the democratic world that will gather in Brazil for the Olympic Games," Temer said in a brief address at the Planalto presidential palace on Wednesday.

Temer took office on May 12, when President Dilma Rousseff was removed from her post for up to six months while she undergoes an impeachment trial in the Senate for allegedly massaging budget numbers to minimise the deficit in the 2014 and 2015 budgets, reports Efe.

"When you are winning medals, we will be showing Brazil to the world. A Brazil with a stable democracy where institutions do work. You will be our country's ambassadors," Temer said.

Temer encouraged Brazil's athletes to compete for medals in the first Olympic Games ever held in South America.

"The important thing is to compete, but what's also important for us is to compete and to win. I hope you will get the success you deserve, just as you had success during training. I am sure that you will make Brazil feel proud," Temer said.

Temer called on the athletes to give "an effort with absolute concentration", adding that even if they did not win gold medals, they "will be participating, making Brazil known at this great moment for the country".

"This is a time when five billion (people) will be watching the Games and also the country. With each medal won, we will showcase the strength of sports in our country," the president said.

For Brazil, the Olympics are "a time of universal coming together. Sports is a way to bring friends together," Temer said.

--IANS

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