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Rio 2016 Olympics chief Carlos Nuzman says 'every day a final'

The head of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics believes "every day is a final" for Brazil's government and Games organisers following extensive delays to key building and infrastructure projects.

But Carlos Nuzman, president of the Rio 2016 organising committee, is confident the city will deliver on the promises it made when winning the right to stage the Olympic and Paralympic Games four years ago.

"We need to have the adrenalin of the athletes to work as in a final," he told BBC Sport.

"To organise, in seven years, you cannot have everything ready, as a lot of people want in advance.

"I'm comfortable and confident that we will deliver all the constructions and venues and everything on time."

Nuzman, in Athens to deliver a progress report to the International Paralympic Committee, also responded to comments from International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president John Coates that Rio needed a "concerted effort" to deliver a successful Olympics.

Coates is reported as saying Rio's efforts to be ready to host the Games are "more of a crisis than Athens" - a reference to the 2004 Olympics, when Greek organisers struggled to deliver venues and infrastructure on time.

"I think it's different from one city to another city," said Nuzman. "We are confident, together with the governments that are responsible for the construction and infrastructure, that they will deliver on time."

Delivering those projects is just one part of Rio's problem.

The World Anti-Doping Authority (Wada) revoked the accreditation of Rio's anti-doping testing laboratory in September following what it called "repeated failures" at the facility.

Fifa, football's world governing body, has already said it will have to analyse blood and urine samples taken from players at next summer's Brazil World Cup at a lab in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Nuzman admits Rio's new £4.5m laboratory, which is being built and will be required to handle approximately 6,000 samples during the Olympic and Paralympics, will not be ready for another two years despite a "fast track" procedure being put in place.

"The Brazilian government is working together with Wada and has a fast track to approve this construction," he said. "We are confident it will be on time for the Olympic and Paralympic Games."

With fewer than 1,000 days until the start of the Rio Olympics, questions have also been raised over safety and potential disruption following a summer of unrest, some of it violent, on Brazil's streets.

Protestors are calling for social and political change in Brazil, with some questioning the money that has been spent on securing the two biggest global sports events within two years of each other - the World Cup and the Olympics.

Now 71, Nuzman represented Brazil at volleyball at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics before going on to lead the sport's national governing body for 20 years.

Elected to the IOC in 1995, he is now intent on delivering a memorable Olympics for Rio, having been in charge of the city's successful bid campaign.

He is convinced Brazilians are happy to stage the Games and believes there will be no further disruption to the tight schedule Rio is now operating under because of future unrest.

"This will not impact the preparations for the Games," Nuzman explained. "We are absolutely confident in this.

"The reaction of the public and the research that we have is everyone is in favour of the Olympic and Paralympic Games."

He is reluctant to put a figure on what the budget for the Games is now, but believes the Brazilian people will get value for money.

"We are finalising the budget," he said. "One thing that Rio will leave as a legacy is that we'll organise a very well done Games in very good financial conditions, less than all the former organisers."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/25081955

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Rio de Janeiro Opens Bidding for 2016 Aquatics Center Construction; Facility Details Finalized

The city of Rio de Janeiro on Friday announced a period of open bidding on the Aquatics Center that will be built for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

The center, which will be built in the Barra da Tijuca Olympic Park, is estimated at a cost of R$218 million (approximate $93 million USD). It will include a primary temporary facility with seating for 18,000 people and two 50-meter courses. The structures of the pool will be detachable, reusable, modular steel structures that will host swimming for the Olympics and Paralympics as well the water polo finals.

18,000 seats is slightly larger than the pre-Olympics 17,500 of the London Aquatics Centre, which in turn was slightly bigger than the pre-Olympics 17,000 of the Beijing Water Cube. Both of those prior centers are still standing, albeit in different forms after the Games.

Diving and water polo will be held at the existing outdoor Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, which is currently being renovated ahead of the Olympic Games in a separate project.

The city explained its reasoning behind a temporary facility as due to the fact that “Rio de Janiero already has two aquatics centers, and the Maria Lenk and Julio Delamare facilities already have the capacity for national and international events. As there is no demand for another center in the city, the most cost-effective option was to build a temporary facility for swimming and water polo finals because over the lifetime of a permanent sporting venue, 60% of the costs are in maintenance.”

Originally, the plan was to leave the outer structure in the pool in tact for use as an Olympic Training Center, but that too has been scratched.

The release by the Rio office sang the praises of the relative frugality of the new construction in the Olympic Park as compared to the London 2012 Olympics. In total, new construction of a Handball arena, a Velodrome, and the water park will total R$641 million ($272 million USD); while that’s 9% higher than the candidature file estimated, the total net cost will be only about a quarter of the R$1.6 Billion ($680 million USD) of similar facilities in London.

Construction on the facility is supposed to begin in the first half of this year, and the contract includes 11 months of operating it at an additional $8 million cost. It is aimed to be completed in the first quarter of 2014, and will host a test event in April – likely to be the Maria Lenk Trophy, meaning that event, at least in prelims, would be open to all swimmers from Olympic countries around the world.

To see the full announcement, in Portuguese, click here.

http://swimswam.com/rio-de-janeiro-opens-bidding-2016-aquatics-center-construction-facility-details-finalized/

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Barra Olympic Park, heart of the Rio 2016 Games, starts rising out of the ground After earthworks and installation of underground infrastructure, venues that will host more than 20 sports are starting to take shape
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Work continues on the IBC, from where television images of the Rio 2016 Games will be beamed (Photo: Rio 2016/Alex Ferro)

Barra Olympic Park, which will be the heart of the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, is beginning to rise out of the ground. As the earthworks, foundation construction and installation of underground infrastructure – such as water, gas, electricity and drainage networks – draw to a close, the first structures are beginning to take shape (see photos below).

“The Olympic Park works are gathering speed,” said Alexandre Techima, Rio 2016’s Infrastructure Integration Director. “All the venue foundation works have been started and the constructors are meeting the scheduled targets. The construction will become more visible as the metal structures of the floor levels and roofs are mounted, as is the case with the IBC, where this is already happening, and Olympic Halls 1, 2 and 3, where this will be begin in August.

Work on the foundations and pillars of the three Olympic Halls, which will form part of the Olympic Training Centre after the Games, are in the final phase, with the walls and first levels of the third hall already under construction.

Works on the Olympic Tennis Centre, Rio Olympic Velodrome, Olympic Hall 4 and the Olympic Aquatics Stadium are moving towards the final stages of foundation construction, while the first metallic stakes and pillars are being installed. This map shows which sports will be in which venues.

At the International Broadcast Centre (IBC) site, where the foundation works and stake and block installation are in the final phases, work has begun on concreting the first floor and mounting the metallic structure of the second floor. At the Main Media Centre (MPC) site, containment work has been finished and foundations are close to completion.

Construction works at the Barra Olympic Park, which comprise many different projects, are scheduled to be completed between the second quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016.

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Why are there empty patches of land in Rio? Shouldn't they be building over every free inch of land???

What a waste of empty space.

Because the city limits of Rio de Janeiro are big. Indeed, the city have an entire national park inside its borders.

Not to mention, there a lot of reservation areas and the demand for residential building are more centered around Copacabana and Downtown areas...

Maybe a map can help you to understand.

1502171_1542811565933560_452156713350455

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Rio 2016 Games venues taking shape as work on Barra Olympic Park progresses

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Carioca Arenas 1, 2 and 3 will host eight sports at the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games (Photo: EOM/Renato Sette Camara)

Barra Olympic Park, which will be the heart of the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, is continuing to take shape. As building work progresses, the first spectator stands and competition areas are already visible, providing glimpses of what it will be like when the world’s best athletes battle for medals there in less than two years’ time.

“Significant progress has been made and we are happy to see that work is proceeding as planned, and in some cases, is ahead of schedule,” said Alexandre Techima, Rio 2016’s Infrastructure Integration Director. “Venue construction has progressed a lot over the past few months and the structures of a number of arenas are already visible, such as the Carioca Arenas and the Olympic Tennis Centre, as well as the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC), Main Press Centre (MPC) and hotel.”

The three adjacent Carioca Arenas have seen the most progress. Competition areas have already been concreted and the initial structures for the spectator stands are in place. During the Games, the three venues (previously known as Olympic Halls 1, 2 and 3) will host four Olympic sports - basketball, judo, fencing and taekwondo - and four Paralympic sports - wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, boccia and judo.

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Carioca Arena 3 will host fencing, taekwondo and Paralympic judo (Photo: EOM/Renato Sette Camara)

Work is most advanced on Carioca Arena 3, where the stand structure has been completed and work is underway on fitting the steel support structures for the roof.

“We have been working very hard to ensure that the venues are designed to meet all the requirements for hosting top-level sports competitions and we are very pleased to see the buildings leave the drawing board and become reality. Now it is possible to envision how they will be operated during the Games,” said Josué Moraes, Rio 2016’s sport group manager for taekwondo and judo.

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Designs show how Carioca Arenas 1, 2 and 3 will look once completed (Photo: EOM)

The Olympic Tennis Centre is also taking shape. Work on the centre court’s spectator stands, which will hold 10,000 people, is progressing well and the preparatory earthworks for the other courts has been completed, ready for surfacing.

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Construction of the Olympic Tennis Centre spectator stands is progressing well (Photo: EOM/Renato Sette Camara)

The foundations of the Future Arena, the temporary venue that will host the handball and goalball competitions, are nearing completion. Work on the arena’s steel structure is already under way, with the pillars and beams being installed. One of Rio 2016’s main social legacies, the arena will be dismantled after the Games and its parts will be used to construct four public schools in Rio de Janeiro.

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The Future Arena’s steel columns and beams are being mounted (Photo: EOM/Renato Sette Camara)

Rio Olympic Arena and Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre, which have been operational since 2007, are scheduled to undergo modifications in the first quarter of 2015. Meanwhile, foundations are being laid for the Rio Olympic Velodrome and Olympic Aquatics Stadium.

While Barra Olympic Park’s nine competition venues will host 24 sports, the site will also be home to two important venues for ensuring that fans all over the world can enjoy the Games: the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC) and Main Press Centre (MPC). Work on the steel frame and concrete levels of the IBC are in the final stages. The foundations of the MPC have been completed and structural work is pressing forward on the basement, ground floor and mezzanine.

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With a total surface area of 62,000m2, the 12 IBC studios are beginning to take shape (Photo: EOM/Renato Sette Camara)

Work on the general infrastructure inside the Olympic Park is also progressing well. More than 10.5km of drainage, 5.3km of sewage system, 8.3km of water supply lines, 5km of fire prevention lines, 5km of lighting, 9.9km of medium-voltage grid and 21.9km of telecommunications lines have been installed.

The Barra Olympic Park works are being coordinated by the Rio Municipal Government.

The time-lapse video below shows how the work is transforming the former Rio racing car track into the Barra Olympic Park site:

Rio2016

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Good steady progress...Nothing to be concerned about, but yes, really only about 600 sleeps to go before everything needs to be ready without giving the IOC serious heart palpitations.

I think they've been getting serious heart palpitations for a couple of years now. Seeing them fall behind getting ready for the World Cup I'm sure made them worry if they made a huge mistake or that the Olympic games will also suffer massive delays.

But I am glad to see significant progress is being made.

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The aquatic centre isn't even off the ground yet. Not to mention that we haven't seen anything from Deodoro. Still lots of work to go.

Almost two years to go. I'm sure we'll have many stories of unfinished venues and looming disaster. We almost always to (well, maybe not for London). And then, like magic, all will be fine.

Anyone remember this:

With 4 Months Left, Main Sochi Stadium a 'Disaster'

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/olympic_coverage/article/with-4-months-left-main-sochi-stadium-a-disaster/487702.html

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Almost two years to go. I'm sure we'll have many stories of unfinished venues and looming disaster. We almost always to (well, maybe not for London). And then, like magic, all will be fine.

Anyone remember this:

With 4 Months Left, Main Sochi Stadium a 'Disaster'

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/olympic_coverage/article/with-4-months-left-main-sochi-stadium-a-disaster/487702.html

Giggled a bit when I read this at the very end. I can only imagine what type of comments were on there!

Dear reader,

Due to the increasing number of users engaging in personal attacks, spam, trolling and abusive comments, we are no longer able to host our forum as a site for constructive and intelligent debate.

It is with regret, therefore, that we have found ourselves forced to suspend the commenting function on our articles.

The Moscow Times remains committed to the principle of public debate and hopes to welcome you to a new, constructive forum in the future.

Regards,

The Moscow Times

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15 sports -- minus Athletics. That's a big one to move. More spectators for Athletics than anything else. Eliminating it should make it easy to accommodate the others.

Call me traditional but I feel like Athletics is the heart of an Olympic Park - it's absence makes Rio's plan lack that *soul*.

It might seem unsustainable, but im a sucker for aquatics and athletics being in the same precinct.

15 sports -- minus Athletics. That's a big one to move. More spectators for Athletics than anything else. Eliminating it should make it easy to accommodate the others.

Call me traditional but I feel like Athletics is the heart of an Olympic Park - it's absence makes Rio's plan lack that *soul*.

It might seem unsustainable, but im a sucker for aquatics and athletics being in the same precinct.

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Seriously, how the Construction is speeding up is Good. It's Good progress and hopefully, everything is complete before the Opening Ceremony.

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