The beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro, long thought of as the crown jewel of Brazil, has hosted the world famous Carnival since the 1700s. Not too long ago, it was decided that they would host another world famous event, the 2016 Olympic Games. Even more recently than that, they finally got to play host to something else that’s world famous; Pokemon. Specifically, the augmented reality Pokemon that Pokemon GO players have been flooding the streets in record numbers to catch, battle and train. That being the case, the mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes, has taken to Facebook to extend an official welcome to the droves of virtual Pokemon that will be roaming the city during the Olympics, as well as the very real trainers that will be there to catch ’em all.
The first Olympic Games to ever take place in South America is expected to draw a crowd of roughly half a million foreigners there to watch and compete. Statistically, given the game’s incredible launch numbers, a good portion of those are going to be Pokemon trainers. The Olympics are set to take place from August 5 to August 21, during which a huge number of events will be taking place. Human beings, of course, need to sleep at some point and cannot stay seated in one place to watch an event for all that long. As such, the games do not simply go on forever, and there is some downtime, during which some would think that it could be a real inconvenience for people to be wandering the city looking to bag a Pikachu or take over a gym. Mayor Paes, however, welcomes trainers with open arms.
On his Facebook page, he has even posted a promotional image showing Pokemon in hilariously appropriate places throughout the city, like a Hitmonlee in a martial arts arena and a Krabby roaming the beach. The very clear show of embracing the worldwide Pokemon GO phenomenon even has its own hashtag, which is #PokemonGoNoBrasil. While catching Pokemon is unlikely to be high on the list of things to do for people visiting the beautiful city for the summer games, those who do plan to lob some PokeBalls around can do so knowing that they have the full blessing of the powers that be.