The Olympic Games should be held in South America for the first time in history, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Monday.
Rio de Janeiro is bidding to host the 2016 Games.
"We are competing with three important cities: Tokyo, Chicago and Madrid. Rio de Janeiro has concrete chances," Lula said in his weekly radio address. "The Olympic Games have to come to South America."
The International Olympic Committee is to pick the host country for the 2016 Games in Copenhagen this November, the dpa reported.
Lula described Brazil's performance in the Beijing Olympics as "reasonable." The South American country ended its lacklustre run in 23rd place with 15 medals - three gold, four silver and eight bronze.
"Obviously, as a Brazilian I want to win as many gold medals as possible. But there are others who also want to win. I think Brazil won some things that it was not in the habit of winning," Lula said.
Among the unexpected results he referred to were Maurren Maggi's long jump gold, the success of the women's volleyball team and swimmer Cesar Cielo's 50-metre freestyle victory.
Brazil won silver and bronze medals in women's and men's football respectively. "The frustration that we Brazilians have is that we always expect to win the gold medal in football," Lula said.