Brazil is a country of the future - and always will be.
So goes the long-standing joke.
But the head honcho of the Olympics' organising committee, Carlos Nuzman, reckons next year's Games will not only change the city, but also the perception of Brazil.
"One part of this, but a very important one: how Rio can do," Nuzman, the president of the Organising Committee for the Olympic Games said on Monday.
"This is a chance for one region of the world. And this chance is to start an enormous legacy ... to show to the world what we can do."
Rio de Janeiro lost its status as Brazil's capital to Brasilia some 55 years ago. And not much has changed in the city since, Nuzman said.
"We didn't have big changes in the city to give the population opportunity to be comfortable with the work of the city - only the Olympic Games can do this," he told a Rio 2016 World Press Briefing.
"And the real show is the city that (will) have more changes ... than in Olympic history.
"The change in downtown, the change in the poor areas - and one of them the most poor areas of the city, Deodoro, will have an Olympic park.
"This is different from other Olympic Games. This will show you cannot compare one city with the other city.
"Now we have the conditions to open (Rio) to all of the world ... a transformation."
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