“With a shared mission in promoting international friendship and exchange, EF has a strong background in supporting the Olympics”

The international education company will train 110,000 2016 staff and more than 900,000 candidates for the Olympic volunteer programme as well as contractors and schoolchildren in Brazil, in what will be the largest language training programme in progress anywhere in the world.

“We are enormously proud to be the Official Language Training Services Supplier to the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” commented EF co-Chairman Philip Hult.

“With a shared mission in promoting international friendship and exchange, EF has a strong background in supporting the Olympics,” he continued. “As we celebrate EF’s 50^th anniversary, we are committed to helping stage the most successful Games ever.”

EF has a long history with the Olympics, having been the Official Supplier of Language Programmes at this year’s Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, training 70,000 athletes, volunteers and staff. It also previously provided training for the Beijing 2008 and Seoul 1988 Games.

Carlos Arthur Nuzman, President of the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee, said: “This programme will provide many thousands of volunteers and staff involved with the Rio 2016 Games with the language skills necessary to warmly welcome athletes and visitors from all around the world.”

Nuzman added the language training will continue to benefit participants in the future, as preparation for Rio 2016 is expected to boost English Language proficiency in the country.

Brazil is currently rated as having ‘low proficiency’ in EF’s English Proficiency Index, although the Index shows that English language levels have risen “significantly” over the last six years.

“We are very pleased to partner with the expertise and experience of EF, to fulfil our common goal of creating a lasting legacy for language learning in Brazil,” he said.