RIO DE JANEIRO, October 4 (RIA Novosti) - The international airport in Brazil's largest city, Rio de Janeiro, which won the bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, will be privatized and modernized to prepare for the Olympics, the authorities said.

Rio, which faced stiff competition from Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo, became the first South American city on Friday to be awarded the games.

Rio de Janeiro's Galeao international airport, the largest airport in Brazil, evoked the strongest criticism from members of the International Olympic Committee at the stage of Rio's preparations for the 2016 Olympic bidding, the State Privatization Council said.

The terms and the exact date of the airport's privatization would be determined later, the council said.

The issue of the airport's privatization was first raised a year ago by the governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Sergio Cabral, who said that the need to sell the airport was conditioned by its unsatisfactory infrastructure, poor airport services and ineffective management.