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The Brazilian Ministry of Tourism has confirmed that the Olympic Games Rio 2016 helped the country achieve record tourism figures last year. Over the 12 months, Brazil welcomed 6.6 million foreign tourists, which represents a 4.8 per cent increase on the previous year. In terms of revenue generated by tourism in 2016, the total was USD 6.2 billion, an increase of 6.2 per cent on the previous year.“The numbers are extremely positive,” said Brazil’s Minister of Tourism Marx Beltrão. “There is still plenty of progress to be made, but we have shown ourselves able to take advantage of the mega events that we staged in Brazil.”Meanwhile, on 23 December, the Rio 2016 Wall of Champions, which includes the names of each of the 2,568 medallists from the Olympic and Paralympic Games, was unveiled in Rio de Janeiro. The curved wall comprises 10 steel panels and features an 8.5cm stainless steel reproduction medal for each of the athletes or teams that featured on the podium.On 11 December, the Japanese capital Tokyo held a ceremony to break ground on the new national stadium that will serve as the main venue for the 2020 Olympic Games. In attendance were Japan’s prime minister, Shinzō Abe, and the governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike. The ceremony ended with a video revealing how the stadium, which will host both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2020 Games as well as athletics events, will look once construction is completed by November 2019.Kengo Kuma, the architect of the new stadium, opted for a wooden lattice design that echoes traditional styles seen in Japanese temples and pagodas. The structure will use Japanese-grown larch in its wood and steel composite roof and prefabricated panels to accelerate construction and contain costs.RECORD TOURISM BOOST FOR BRAZIL FROM 2016 GAMESTOKYO 2020 MAIN STADIUM BREAKS GROUNDThe IOC Debrief Olympic Games Rio 2016 was held in November in Tokyo, the host city of the Games in 2020. Organised by the IOC, the event brought 25 members of the Rio 2016 Organising Committee to the Japanese capital in order to share their knowledge and experience with representatives from future Olympic host cities.Attending the debrief were delegates from the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and the 2024 Candidate Cities. The event was designed for the attendees to learn and share based on the experience of Rio 2016, from preparation to the delivery of the competitions and the ongoing process of securing the post-Games legacy.IOC President Thomas Bach delivered a message via video to the opening day’s plenary session. “We had an increase of 75 per cent of produced broadcast hours compared to London 2012. We had five billion impressions on our social media platforms,” he said. “These were marvellous Games in ‘the Marvellous City’. Hopefully, you can carry the inspiration and energy that we saw in Brazil to the next host cities.”‘MARVELLOUS’ RIO GAMES INSPIRE FUTURE HOST CITIESBelow Prime Minister Abe with Tamayo Marukawa, minister in charge of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic GamesAbove The debrief was held in Tokyo over three days 18 OLYMPIC REVIEW