Rio 2016 insists: "We are very proud of Havelange"

London (dpa) - The organizing committee of the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics insisted Friday it remained "very proud" of former FIFA president Joao Havelange despite his implication in a bribery scandal and has no plans to change the name of the Olympic Stadium.

"I feel comfortable with having a stadium named after him. We are very proud of what Mr Havelange did for sport in the world, and, especially, in Brazil. Havelange is a legend in sports," Leonardo Gryner, executive director of the Rio organizing committee, told a press conference in London.

According to documents released last month in Switzerland, Havelange is alleged to have made at least 1.5 million Swiss francs (1.5 million dollars) in March 1997 from the now defunct marketing firm ISL in connection with World Cup contracts.

Fellow Brazilian Ricardo Teixeira, a former FIFA executive committee member and Brazilian football federation president, as well as Havelange‘s ex son-in-law, allegedly received more than 12 million Swiss francs (12 million dollars) from 1974-98.

ISL, which went bankrupt in 2001, allegedly paid 138 million Swiss francs (141 million dollars) in bribes to FIFA officials 1989-2001.

The scandal led several organizations of Brazilian civil society to demanding a name change for the Olympic stadium in Rio, which was originally built for the 2007 Pan-American Games.

However, Gryner made it clear that, for him, Havelange‘s wrongdoing does not match his achievements. dpa re vs bwh Author: Diana Renee