Hundreds of people gather at Copacabana beach ahead of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) vote to determine the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics, on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro October 2, 2009.

Residents of South America’s largest country often claim that God is Brazilian and, if you believe the propaganda, the 2016 Rio Olympics will be nothing short of heavenly.The city’s Olympic bid document is riddled with superlatives – “vibrant” neighbourhoods, “bucolic” suburbs, “breathtaking” scenery and “legendary” sports stadiums – and yesterday thousands upon thousands of elated locals clad in Brazil’s green and yellow colours crowded on to Copacabana beach to celebrate what local authorities were calling a historic victory.

More on this and the “master plan” video after the jump

Residents of Rio, or “Cariocas” as they are better known, have had their fingers crossed for months about the decision, viewing the Olympics and the 2014 World Cup as a chance to revive their flagging city. Since the Brazilian capital was transferred to Brasilia in 1960, Rio’s fortunes have declined; most of the city’s 1,000-odd shantytowns are now controlled by heavily armed and very violent drug gangs, and many businesses have abandoned the city in search of safer and more profitable places to set up shop.

Despite this the so-called “Marvellous City” remains one of the most physically beautiful cities on earth and the prospect of watching Brazilian athletes performing before a home crowd has had sports lovers here salivating.

Among those who fans will hope to see at Rio 2016 are Mayra Aguiar, an 18-year-old judo champion who was the youngest member of the Brazilian Olympic squad two years ago in China, Manchester United’s young Brazilian twins Fabio and Rafael da Silva, and Marta, currently the world’s top female footballer, who at 23 says she hopes to make an appearance in seven years’ time.

Off the playing field, Rio’s Olympic committee has built its campaign around the city’s reputation for healthy living and happiness, employing the slogan “Live your passion”. But money and transparency, as well as joie de vivre, will be needed if Brazil’s former capital is to live up to the hyperbole of its bid.

“If we leave it to some people the focus will only be put on the spectacle itself,” warned Chico Alencar, an MP from the Socialism and Freedom (PSOL) party. “These games have to be about society. We will all have to be Olympic athletes in the sport of how best to use public money.”

Rio’s governors have promised to inject a massive $11bn into this increasingly dilapidated seaside city in the lead-up to the 2016 Games. A six-lane motorway is planned to link two of the major event sites, a private beach will be cordoned off for visiting athletes and a replica downtown street, complete with bars and cafes, is set to be constructed at the heart of the Olympic village in western Rio. The city’s mayor, meanwhile, hopes to give the rundown port district a multimillion dollar facelift with the help of the private sector.

Rio’s governor, Sergio Cabral, says residents stand to “gain more metro lines, more trains, more sewage treatment, more in terms of the environment, social services, in terms of sport and culture. The legacy for the city and the state will be extraordinary.”

The plans centre on Barra da Tijuca, a beachside suburb in western Rio, famed for its nouveau riche residents, its golden beaches and its increasingly polluted waterways. Half the Olympic events, including badminton, boxing, weightlifting and table tennis, will be held here, around the Olympic village.

Other events, such as equestrianism, fencing and shooting, will be held in Deodoro, another suburb of western Rio. The city’s southern beach zone will host beach volleyball and rowing and the sports complex around the Maracanã football stadium in the city’s north zone will be reserved for track events and the opening and closing ceremonies.

Rio’s Sambadrome (”home to the greatest show on earth”, according to the city’s official bid and which usually houses elaborately costumed samba dancers and deafening carnival drum troupes) will be set aside for the archery competition.

The local government describes the games as a “bridge towards a new era”, pushing the idea that the Olympics can help restore Rio to its former glory, days when the beachside city was known for its bossa nova and beaches rather than bullets and gun battles.

But amid all the celebrations there are widespread doubts about the event’s power to transform Rio, reinforced by the distinctly underwhelming legacy of the Pan American Games, held here in 2007. “The event was marvellous for the 12 days that it lasted,” said Alencar, the Rio MP. “But the before and the after were complicated.”

Alencar claims the Pan American Games have brought virtually no long-term benefits to the city, despite the budget ballooning from R$500m to R$5bn.

“Rio has many poor areas, hundreds of favelas, and we had hoped that, after the games, equipment, resources and sports projects would be redirected towards these areas,” he said. “This didn’t happen. The games ended and we went straight back to our routine of inequality and neglect.”

Writing in the Rio newspaper O Dia this week, the film director Moacyr Góes confessed he was “haunted by the fear of corruption, the poor use of public money and the electoral use” of the Olympic Games. The Olympics should only take place in Rio, he concluded, “if they are good for those who live … in the areas controlled by drug traffickers or paramilitaries, for education, for those who spend their lives on board a hellish and corrupt transport system”.

Speaking to foreign correspondents in Rio last month the Brazilian sports minister, Orlando Silva, rejected the idea that security issues would hamper a successful Rio 2016. Security was “a permanent challenge for all countries in the world”, he said.

That may be true. But in Rio de Janeiro, where the roads grow more congested by the day and where there were officially 5,717 homicides last year in the state as a whole, there is much still to be done. Even with a Brazilian God on Rio’s side.

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