host the 31st Olympiad in 2016 signified a major achievement not only for his hemisphere -LRB- no city in South America has ever before hosted the games -RRB- but for him -- a former autoworker and union organizer who defied dizzying odds to become president . Lula da Silva was born to a peasant family in one of northeastern Brazil 's most impoverished areas and migrated as a young man to a city near São Paulo , where he worked as a metalworker , losing his left pinky finger in the process . In the 1970s , he became a union leader , said Luiz Valente , chairman of the department of Portuguese and Brazilian studies at Brown University in Providence , Rhode Island . During the years of military rule from 1964 until 1985 , the government cracked down on unions . But Lula da Silva acquired a reputation as a public figure by leading a successful strike in São Paulo , Valente told CNN in a telephone interview . `` He was able to negotiate a favorable contract for his union but , from a political standpoint , he demonstrated that worker strikes were possible again in Brazil
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The 63-year-old bearded fireplug of a man erupted in tears , pulled a white handkerchief from his back pocket , carefully unfolded it and pressed it into his eyes , pulled it away , pressed it again to his eyes , this time with more force , pulled it away again just long enough to take a sip of water , then rubbed them again . Lula da Silva gets a kiss from bid committee president Carlos Arthur Nuzman after the announcement Friday . `` I 've never won a gift before , '' Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told reporters . `` The first gift I ever had in my life I had to buy . It was an old bike with a broken belt and I had to fix it . Today , people who do n't even know me gave me the greatest gift that a president could have : to host the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro . Rio deserves this because Rio is a city that has suffered . '' For Lula da Silva , Friday 's announcement in Copenhagen , Denmark , that Rio de Janeiro will