Rio 2016 Olympics venues 95% complete

With little more than 200 days to go until the Rio 2016 Olympics, the project for the Olympic Park which will host the event is 95% complete, according to the local Rio government. Six venues are ready to go: the Future Arena, which will stage handball and goalball games, the International Broadcast Center, the Golf Course, the Mountain Bike Center, the Olympic BMX Center (for bicycle moto cross), and the Canoe Slalom course.

The Barra Olympic Park covers an area of 1.18 million square meters and will host 16 Olympic and 9 Paralympic sport events. Many of the facilities will provide a legacy for Rio after the games. Some of them will be dismantled and turned into schools and sports training centers. Others will become offices. And some, including the Velodrome, will be used for training high performance athletes as well as for social projects.

The media center, which is located in the Olympic Park and is about 92% complete, will be converted into a 17-story office building. A four-star hotel with 404 guest rooms, which will host part of the accredited media staff, is 88% complete and will become a private development after the end of the games.

According to the city government, the Aquatics Stadium, which is in its final completion stage, will be converted into two training centers complete with Olympic-size swimming pools after the Olympics. And the facilities in X-Park will become a public park offering a range of leisure activities for the population.

After the end of the Paralympics, the BMX track will be kept, but the canoe slalom course will be turned into a recreational pool. The venue, located in one of the poorest areas in Rio, will be enhanced with game courts, bike paths, nature walking trails, and fitness areas. Also planned are areas for environmental education, extreme sports, mountain biking, and leisure areas complete with barbecue facilities, digital inclusion centers, and a family health center.

Translated by Mayra Borges