Taken overall, the medium and long-term reputational and economic impact of previous Olympics has frequently been overstated for host nations. However, in the midst of its current troubles, Brazil now has a significant opportunity to use the world’s largest sport event for a positive brand makeover that could produce a lasting legacy for the country.

"I believe in sports as a true means of bringing countries and peoples closer. This is one of the most important segments of people-to-people diplomacy," he said. "You influence countries not by invading your neighbors but because of your soap operas, songs, sports and culture. This is what people now call soft power. This is as important as military power and much more lasting."

The Phoenix Suns will play successive games against the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs in Mexico City on Jan. 12 and 14, marking an expansion of the NBA’s effort to spread the game globally. The games, between three teams in states neighboring Mexico, will mark the first time the NBA has played more than one contest during the same season in the neighboring country since the league began playing there 25 years ago. 

Italy is on show at the Olympics and Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro with two important exhibitions and exclusive coverage of the games by state broadcaster RAI. [...]  "We are faced with the double challenge transmitting the importance of representing ourselves to our country and communicating the culture of the Country system. It is essential that the public service broadcaster speaks to those who are interested in Italy," 

Paralympian Abdi Jama has two ambitions at the forefront of his mind. Firstly, the wheelchair basketball player wants to get selected for Team GB’s squad for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. [...]  Jama hopes to inspire more disabled athletes to get active in his native Somalia. 

The North Korean women’s soccer team arrived in Japan on Thursday for Olympic qualifying matches in what Tokyo called “an exception” to its entry ban imposed over Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear weapons test and a rocket launch.

As the World Cup drew to a dramatic close on July 12, CPD reached out to a few public diplomacy experts and asked whether they thought Brazil’s hosting of the tournament had been worth it, in terms of its global image and soft power, and what it means for the country as it prepares for the arrival of the Olympics in 2016.