IOC Coordination Commission visits sports installations of the Rio 2016 project
Seven hours of visits to sports installations and TV studios of the networks which hold the broadcast rights for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. This was the agenda for the second day spent by the Coordination Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Rio de Janeiro. On this Thursday, May 20th, the 18 members of the group presided by Olympic champion Nawal El Moutawakel will once again meet with representatives of the Rio 2016 Committee and members all three levels of government.
“The IOC Coordination Commission had the opportunity of visiting some of the sports installations and talking with members of the Rio 2016 Committee and all three levels of government about the infrastructure of the Olympic Games Rio 2016. Once again, they were enchanted by the beauty of Rio de Janeiro. It was a very busy day, but also very gratifying”, said the President of the Rio 2016 Committee Carlos Arthur Nuzman, who accompanied the entourage throughout the whole visit.
In the morning, the Commission was divided in two groups. Nawal El Moutawakel, Gilbert Felli, Julio Cesar Maglione and Alex Gilady visited the Record TV Studios, where they watched an institutional video and were welcomed by network President Alexandre Raposo. The rest of the group saw the wonders of the city from a different angle, in a helicopter flight over Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, Cristo Redentor and South Zone beaches.
The group reunited at Riocentro, which in the Rio 2016 project will host four sports competitions. At that venue, the Sports Director of the Rio 2016 Committee, Agberto Guimarães, made a presentation about the sports and non-sports installations planned for Barra da Tijuca, one of the four great zones of the Rio 2016 Games.
The next stop was at Rio Arena, where some of the Commission members exhibited their basketball skills. Amongst them, Olympic medalists that shone in other sports, like ex-swimmer Alexander Popov and pole vault champ Sergey Bubka. Popov also felt at home in Maria Lenk Aquatic Park, where he took a great number of pictures. Following the visit to the competition area, the Commission saw a model of what the Rio 2016 Games Olympic Park and Village will look like.
At João Havelange Stadium, Mayor Eduardo Paes met up with the group and talked about the place, which was built for the Rio 2007 Pan-American Games. The final destination was the Globo TV Studios, where the entourage visited soap opera sets and were welcomed by Globo Sports Central director Luiz Fernando Lima.
THE IOC COORDINATION COMMISSION – In every edition of the Olympic Games, IOC appoints a Coordination Commission which makes periodic visits to the host city in order to assist the Organizing Committee’s work and monitor the project’s development. The group appointed for the Rio 2016 Games was formed in January of the current year and, in the same month, the President, together with Executive Director Gilbert Felli (SUI) came no Rio de Janeiro. The first woman to head one of IOC’s Coordination Commission, Nawal was also the first African to become Olympic Champion when she won the 400m hurdles in the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games.
The Coordination Commission has representatives from the five continents, all of them with previous experience in Evaluation Commissions or Olympic Games Coordination or Organizing Committees of the greatest sports event of the planet. The group represents many unities of the Olympic Movement, such as athletes, National Olympic Committees and International Federations, guaranteeing the necessary coordination for the events’ success. Besides Nawal El Moutawakel and Gilbert Felli, members of the group include Alex Gilady (ISR), Alexander Popov (RUS), Beatrice Allen (GAM), Ching-Kuo Wu (TPE), Francesco Ricci Bitti (ITA), Greg Hartung (AUS), Gunilla Lindberg (SUE), John D. Coates (AUS), Julio César Maglione (URU), Nat Indrapana (TAI), Nicole Hoevertsz (ARU), Patrick Joseph Hickey (IRL), Richard L. Carrión (PUR), Sergey Bubka (UKR), Timothy Tsun Ting Fok (HKG) e Willi Kaltschmitt Luján (GUA).
Following the IOC Coordination Commission’s visit, an Orientation Seminar of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) will be held to discuss the challenges and organization operations of the Paralympic Games Rio 2016. IPC Executive Xavier Gonzalez and Paralympic Games Senior Manager Thanos Kostopoulos will attend.