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Basket in "Las Ventas".


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  • 2 weeks later...

So the roof would be temporary?

I'm not a fan of bull-fights but this is the place where Rafa beat that skinny American in the Davis Cup right? It was an amazing venue for that, like a boiling colonaded cauldron. I'm sure it would be fantastic for a US-Spain rematch, if Madrid overcomes the competition to win the 2020 games.

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There have been some more venue changes wih regard to the applicant file. It's all explained here: http://www.abc.es/20120724/local-madrid/abci-madrid-2020-retoca-dossier-201207231747.html (in Spanish).

Basketball was moved to Las Ventas bullring because it appears Real Madrid may not be building their new arena in the Campo de las Naciones cluster, so to avoid problems, the bid team reached an agreement with the city council to roof Las Ventas and host the basketball tournament there. I don't know if the roof would be temporary or permanent, it depends on what the city council decides, but from what I'm reading, I think it's likely to be permanent.

Hockey and volleyball will not be held in the Olympic Park anymore in order to use already existing venues and not to build new infrastructure. Hockey will now be held in the Campo de las Naciones cluster, right next to rugby and archery, and volleyball will be moved to the Palacio de Deportes, in the city center. The temporary venue for beach volleyball will be built in the Olympic Park instead of in the Casa de Campo cluster.

As the Palacio de Deportes is hosting volleyball now, judo and taekwondo will be moved to the IFEMA exhibition center in the Campo de las Naciones cluster, which will also host badminton, fencing, weightlifing, wrestling and table tennis. Boxing was also planned to be held here, but it's now been moved to the Palacio de Vistalegre, close to the Casa de Campo cluster.

So in the end, the only permanent venues that would need to be built if Madrid is awarded the Olympics are the gymnastics arena in the Olympic Park, the Madrid/Getafe Regatta Centre for canoe sprint, rowing and open water swimming in Getafe, the La Gavia Slalom Centre for canoe slalom in southern Madrid, halfway between the Olympic Park and the Magic Box, and the Paracuellos Shooting Center in Paracuellos del Jarama, close to the Barajas airport. The velodrome and the beach volleyball stadium would now be the only temporary venues.

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Much better and clever plan (having Judo and Taekwondo in the Palacio de Deportes was stupid, it's large enough to host Volleyball so why build a new arena with a weak legacy plan?). Moving the Beach Volleyball venue wasn't necessary though.

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Moving the Beach Volleyball venue wasn't necessary though.

No, it wasn't really necessary, but since hockey and volleyball had been removed from the Olympic Park, beach volleyball will make up for them. I think that's the reason why they decided to move it.

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Wow, this thread kind of passed me by, but I don't remember a bidding city ever making such substantial changes between its Applicant and Candicacy files!

Obviously these changes are down to the economic situation in Spain and are going to go down well with Madrid residents, but what will the IOC make of it all?

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According to several Spanish media, it appears it was actually the IOC who suggested using already existing infrastructure instead of building new venues in order to save costs, so Madrid has just followed their advice.

I've found a map showing the new venue plan, so you can compare it to the one in the applicant file. Brown means already existing venues; light blue, existing with permanent works required; dark blue, permanent venues to be built; and orange, temporary venues. The venues in a red frame are the ones who have been changed.

1344981265_405597_1344984121_sumario_grande.png

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  • 1 month later...

Based on the bid team experience in London 2012, Ana Botella, Mayor of Madrid, has announced a new location for beach volleyball in order to make it more attractive for both spectators and TV audiences. It will not be held neither in the Club the Campo nor in the Olympic Park anymore, but in the Retiro Park pond, right in the city centre, which would be emptied and adapted during Games' time. As an image is worth more than a thousand words, this is the place:

640px-Parque_del_Retiro.JPG

Just imagine it with sand instead of water and with the crowds of spectators around.

It's important to say that it would not be emptied only because of the Games. It's emptied twice a year to be cleaned, so they'd just be taking advantage of this situation to host the Olympics in one of Madrid's most iconic places.

As far as I know, this is the venue that will appear in the bid book. If you want to locate it on the map above, it is southwest from the Palacio de Deportes (number 25), but very close, around 15 minutes walking.

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Based on the bid team experience in London 2012, Ana Botella, Mayor of Madrid, has announced a new location for beach volleyball in order to make it more attractive for both spectators and TV audiences. It will not be held neither in the Club the Campo nor in the Olympic Park anymore, but in the Retiro Park pond, right in the city centre, which would be emptied and adapted during Games' time. As an image is worth more than a thousand words, this is the place:

640px-Parque_del_Retiro.JPG

Just imagine it with sand instead of water and with the crowds of spectators around.

It's important to say that it would not be emptied only because of the Games. It's emptied twice a year to be cleaned, so they'd just be taking advantage of this situation to host the Olympics in one of Madrid's most iconic places.

As far as I know, this is the venue that will appear in the bid book. If you want to locate it on the map above, it is southwest from the Palacio de Deportes (number 25), but very close, around 15 minutes walking.

Very nice indeed. But crikey, how many more changes are we going to see to this bid between the applicant and evaluation stages? Is the list of venues that haven't been changed/moved now shorter than the list of those that have?!

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As of now, 7 sports have been moved from their original location, 2 of the original venues have been removed, 2 new venues have appeared and there's 1 venue that has changed its location twice.

I don't know if this will be good or bad for the bid, but I have to say that, perhaps with the exception of hockey (because I loved how the suggested venue for 2016 looked like), I like the venue plan much more with all these changes.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Real Madrid Atena = Finals basketball

Palacio de Deportes = Preliminaries basketball

Volleyball only in Coslada Volleyball complex (why in 2 different arenas with same capacity?)

Judo, TKD in IFEMA only, not in Palacio de Deportes

No need extra money for Las Pentas temporary arena

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Volleyball only in Coslada Volleyball complex (why in 2 different arenas with same capacity?)

What r u talking about? Because one is INDOOR volleyball; and the other is for Outdoor Beach...(and yes, like the Horse Guards stadium in London this year. That had 15,000 seating.) It seems the indoor Coslada stadium also estimates 15,000 seating for the Indoor events. And apparently they are both in the same complex. So that's why there are 2 arenas w/ similar seating capacities.

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Apparently, neither the new Real Madrid Basketball Arena nor the Coslada Sports Hall are going to be built, that's why new venues were needed basketball and volleyball, which in the end also implied some more changes (judo, taekwondo and boxing). The venue plan is now much cheaper than before.

Beach volleyball doesn't have anything to do with this. Here they just seem to be looking for the best setting for crowds and TV audiences.

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Apparently, neither the new Real Madrid Basketball Arena nor the Coslada Sports Hall are going to be built, that's why new venues were needed basketball and volleyball, which in the end also implied some more changes (judo, taekwondo and boxing). The venue plan is now much cheaper than before.

Beach volleyball doesn't have anything to do with this. Here they just seem to be looking for the best setting for crowds and TV audiences.

Palacio Vistalegre for volleyball, Palacio de Deportes for basketball. Basketball finals could be in new gymnastics arena in olympic complex.

Boxing, TKD, and Judo only in IFEMA. Not the finals in arenas

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Unless the Olympic program structure changed, basketball finals could not be held in the gymnastics arena as it would be hosting rhythmic gymnastics during the last days of the Games.

Judo and taekwondo are planned to be entirely in IFEMA, from the preliminary rounds to the finals, and same for boxing in Palacio de Vistalegre.

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Unless the Olympic program structure changed, basketball finals could not be held in the gymnastics arena as it would be hosting rhythmic gymnastics during the last days of the Games.

That's exactly what London has just done at the O2 Arena. But rhythmic gymnastics went to a different venue from the rest of the gymnastics program (Wembley Arena).

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't think they want to go further than Getafe. Compactness is one of the strongest points of the bid and Fuenlabrada is a bit isolated from the rest of the venue clusters. They only way I can imagine Las Ventas (or any other similar "special" venue) not being used is if boxing stayed in IFEMA instead of moving to Vistalegre. There are actually two usable IFEMA pavillions (numbers 9 and 10) that would not be hosting any competition during the Games, but I guess they're to be used as training facilities or anything, so there would be no room for more sports in IFEMA and they decided boxing was the sport that had to be moved.

Anyway, I think Las Ventas is a good venue for basketball. It has already hosted tennis matches and the atmosphere has always been brilliant. And in any case, Vistalegre is also a bullring-style building, the only difference is that it's quite further than Las Ventas from the Olympic Park, so I can understand they chose to host basketball (far more popular in Spain) in Las Ventas and boxing in Vistalegre.

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I don't think they want to go further than Getafe. Compactness is one of the strongest points of the bid and Fuenlabrada is a bit isolated from the rest of the venue clusters. They only way I can imagine Las Ventas (or any other similar "special" venue) not being used is if boxing stayed in IFEMA instead of moving to Vistalegre. There are actually two usable IFEMA pavillions (numbers 9 and 10) that would not be hosting any competition during the Games, but I guess they're to be used as training facilities or anything, so there would be no room for more sports in IFEMA and they decided boxing was the sport that had to be moved.

Anyway, I think Las Ventas is a good venue for basketball. It has already hosted tennis matches and the atmosphere has always been brilliant. And in any case, Vistalegre is also a bullring-style building, the only difference is that it's quite further than Las Ventas from the Olympic Park, so I can understand they chose to host basketball (far more popular in Spain) in Las Ventas and boxing in Vistalegre.

Fencing isnt so popular and in previous bids Volleyball which is more popular was about to be held in Coslada, outside Madrid

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