Rio Olympics — where are the games happening?
Summer Olympic Games are the biggest sport event held every four years. In 2009 Brazil was chosen to host the 2016 Rio Olympics with the opening ceremony on the 5th August. Months and even weeks from the inauguration of the games, many reported flaws and unfinished projects. The Athletes Village is seen to be far from the expected standards. Despite certain issues, Rio Olympics will take place in both historically important venues and some other that were built specifically for the games.
Rio Olympics — Maracana Stadium
Maracana Stadium was opened in 1950 for the FIFA World Cup and has been used to host various local football games since then. This year it will hold both opening and closing ceremonies of Rio Olympics. Final game of the 1950 world cup attracted 199,854 spectators, making Maracana Stadium the largest stadium in terms of capacity. Construction of the original stadium was led by engineer Humberto Menescal and architectural design was in hands of 7 Brazil architects. In the final months leading to opening, it took an impressive number of 3,500 people to complete the venue. Interestingly enough, the first football games was held at still unfinished stadium back in 1950. Over the years the stadium underwent several renovations and is now the biggest stadium in Brazil and second biggest in South America. Now, almost 70 years later, it is finally ready for the Summer Olympics!
Beach Volleyball Arena
The Beach Volleyball Arena is a temporary construction erected on the Copacabana Beach. This impressive venue can fit 5 training teams at a time and has a designated space for warm ups. Beach volleyball has been part of the Olympics since 1996 and seems even more relevant to this year games. Indeed, who wouldn’t imagine volleyball players running all round the beaches in Brazil? Construction of this facility begun less than 100 days before the inauguration ceremony and the venue will have the capacity of 12,000 spectators.
Olympic Golf Course
2016 will see the return of golf as the Olympic discipline after over a century of being dismissed. The Olympic Golf Course is a newly-built 18-hole site. Situated in a stunning Marapendi Natural Reserve it will also be open to public after the tournament. It took four year for the architect Gil Hanse to get all the preparations done and to make the gold course as spectacular as possible. Well, we’ll see how it looks on TV!
Other sites for this year’s Rio Olympics include 16-court Olympic Tennis Centre and the Olympic Aquatic Stadium with the capacity of 15,000 spectators and hosting both swimming and water polo competitions.
The Rio Olympics 2016 are not only a sports’ fan dream but will also please architecture and nature enthusiasts. The organisational side of the games may not be perfect but let’s focus on what has been achieved. This, together with spectacular achievements of the athletes, can be admired by millions of viewers in Rio and at homes.
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