Rio 2016; Olympic Tennis Centre

© EOM
© EOM

rio 2016 olympic tennis centre 2

© EOM/Renato Sette Camara
© EOM/Renato Sette Camara

 

Olympic Tennis Centre

  • Location; Barra Olympic Park
  • Construction; 2013-2015 (planned)
  • Construction Cost; $46 million
  • Tennis test event; December 2015
  • Olympic Games; Tennis
  • Paralympic Games; Wheelchair tennis, 5-a-side football
  • Capacity;
    • Centre Court; 10,000 seats
    • Court 1; 5,000 seats (temporary structure)
    • Court 2, 3,000 temporary seats. Court will remain after the Games
    • 7 outside competition courts (each with 250 temporary seats)
    • 6 practice and warm-up courts
  • Legacy;
    • Olympic Training Centre
    • Major international tennis tournaments (ATP 500)

 

Source / read more: Rio2016.com

Rio 2016; Construction update Barra Olympic Park (2)

Photo: EOM/Renato Sette Camara
Photo: EOM/Renato Sette Camara

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

Carioca Arenas and Olympic Tennis Centre are among the most developed, with spectator and competition areas already visible

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.”

Photo: EOM
Photo: EOM

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

 

Source / More photos: rio2016.com

Rio 2016; Seventh IOC Coordination Commission visit

Photo: Rio 2016/Alex Ferro
Photo: Rio 2016/Alex Ferro

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Coordination Commission brought to a close its seventh visit (29 September to 1 October) to the South American host city today: it follows a successful winter here for Brazil and for the country’s preparations for the Olympic Games, which included the FIFA World Cup, Rio 2016’s first test event, the Rio 2016 World Press Briefing and the Rio 2016 World Broadcasters Meeting. The Commission left Rio satisfied with the progress that the Rio organisers have made since their last visit in March this year.

 

Source / Read full article: The International Olympic Committee (www.olympic.org)

Rio 2016; Construction of Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Village 50 per cent complete

Photo: Rio 2016/Alex Ferro
Photo: Rio 2016/Alex Ferro

Construction of Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Village 50 per cent complete

Work enters the home straight, with 17 out of 31 buildings erected

Construction of the apartment complex that will become the Olympic and Paralympic Village for the Rio 2016 Games has passed the 50 per cent completion mark. Based in Barra da Tijuca, in the west zone of Rio de Janeiro, the Village will have capacity for more than 18,000 guests, including athletes and officials. Construction started in July 2012 and the buildings will be finished in the first half of 2016.

“The project is progressing very well and it is exciting to see the Village take shape,” said Rio 2016’s Olympic and Paralympic Village Director, Mario Cilenti. “It is going to be incredible to have the best athletes in the world staying in one place, here in Rio, for the first Olympic and Paralympic Games in South America. We are doing everything to ensure they have the best possible facilities so they can focus all their attention on producing their best performances.”

Seventeen of the 31 buildings in the complex have already been erected and construction will be completed on the remaining 14 towers by the end of this year, with internal finishings to be done in 2015. The next stage will be installing the ‘overlay’ – the process of transforming a future residential complex into the Olympic Village. These works include the construction of a temporary medical centre, cafeteria with space for 5,000 people and gym, among other amenities.

Another challenge is guaranteeing the complete accessibility of the Village for the Paralympic athletes, who will arrive a few days after the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games on 21 August 2016. The opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games will take place on 7 September 2016.

“We have two to three days, at most, to carry out the transition from Olympic to Paralympic Village,” Cilenti said. “To do this, everything has to be thought about and built now. There will be around 700 accessible bathrooms, in addition to the common areas, which must meet the needs of not just wheelchair users, but also athletes with a visual impairment and with reduced mobility, amongst others.”

There are currently 6,500 workers involved in the project although this number will rise to 8,000 by the end of the year. They have already used an amount of concrete equivalent to four Maracanã Stadiums.

The 31 buildings will be divided into seven condominiums with a total of 3,604 apartments, 10,160 bedrooms, 10,150 bathrooms and more than 18,000 beds. The total area will be 475,000m² and during the Games, about 10,000 people (staff, contractors and volunteers) will work in the operation of the Village.

“It is as if we are building a large hotel that will host the best athletes in the world, who will come from more than 200 countries to live together for a few glorious weeks in Rio,” said Cilenti.

 

Source & more more images of the Village construction works: Rio2016.com

Rio 2016; Model testing Rio 2016 slalom course

Photo: Whitewater Parks International
Photo: Whitewater Parks International

Rio 2016 canoe slalom course undergoes innovative model testing in Czech Republic

US-based specialists produce scale model of Olympic Whitewater Stadium course with help from two Czech world champions

A scale model of the Rio 2016 Olympic canoe slalom course, a key element of the X-Park that will be located within the Deodoro Olympic Park, has undergone extensive testing in a laboratory at Prague’s Czech Technical University. Commissioned by specialist whitewater designers John Felton and Bob Campbell, whose US-based company was behind the London 2012 slalom course design, the 1:13 model (one 13th the size of the real thing) has helped to confirm that the Rio course will meet Olympic technical specifications.

For the first time, obstacles were magnetically attached to the model’s metal base plates, allowing the research team, led by Czech world champion father-and-son canoeists Jaroslav Pollert Senior and Junior, to quickly reposition them and better observe the water flow in a range of scenarios (see a video of the project here). Obstacles will also be interchangeable, albeit not magnetically, on the finished course, enabling it to be tailored for different watersports.

“We’re always trying to improve on the previous version,” said managing director Campbell. “London was the best we had done up to then, but this time we have been able to slightly narrow the channels and reduce the overall height with no loss of performance, which will help reduce costs. We have introduced efficiencies that will help commercial viability for the legacy operator. It would be great to realise that same legacy for Rio.”

Many of the successful elements of the design for the London 2012 venue at Lee Valley have also been applied to the planning of the Rio 2016 venue. “The London course shined during the 2012 Games, but it has also left a huge legacy for anyone wanting to experience whitewater rafting or canoeing, and even for training rescue teams,” said Campbell.

Sebastián Cuattrin, Rio 2016 Canoe Sport Manager, competed in four Olympic Games, finishing eighth in the K1 sprint competition at Atlanta 1996. “The testing in the Czech Republic is very important because it’s through this model that the International Federation can confirm that its technical requirements are being met. They are testing the behaviour of the water in relation to the obstacles. It’s crucial,” he said.

The Rio Olympic Whitewater Stadium will feature 280m of artificially created rapids, with all the water being pumped from a 25,000m3 lake nearby. Fully modular, man-made obstacles will be placed along the channel to simulate the rocks found on natural rapids, creating waves, pools and eddies through which athletes have to race on a designated route from top to bottom.

Preparative workstarted at the site in August, with earth clearing and the installation of construction infrastructure, and final construction drawings are due to be delivered in November. The finished project is set for delivery in February 2016, with a test event scheduled for November 2015.

“Test events are an opportunity to adjust and perfect the venue and its operations in order to have everything 100 per cent ready, without surprises, for the Games,” said Roberto Ainbinder, Olympic Project Integration Director at the Municipal Olympic Company (EOM) in Rio de Janeiro.

“The canoe slalom course is a complex venue, with sophisticated electrical and hydraulic equipment that need to be exhaustively tested before they enter regular use. This is true for the Games and for the legacy usage, when the canoe course, together with the Olympic BMX Centre, will comprise the X-Park, which will be open to the general public.”

Source: Rio2016.com

Rio 2016; Underground sewage collection system helps improving water quality at sailing venue

MARINA DA GLÓRIA

 

New project to clean up Rio 2016 sailing venue announced by government

Underground sewage collection system latest is initiative to help improve water quality at Marina da Glória and in Guanabara Bay

The Rio de Janiero State Government has initiated a project to help revitalise Guanabara Bay ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. A giant ‘containment belt’ (known as a cinturão in Portuguese) will be installed underground, inland from Marina da Glória, the Olympic and Paralympic sailing venue. The system will capture sewage that had been destined for the bay.

The agreement to install the cinturão was signed on Tuesday (2 September) at the Rio 2016 headquarters. The project will see the construction of an underground pipeline, about one kilometre long, and a sewage pumping station with a capacity of 450 litres per second. The new system will be connected to existing rainwater collectors. Waste will be redirected along the existing networks, avoiding its disposal in Guanabara Bay.

The works are due to start immediately and scheduled to be completed by September 2015.

“This is one more example of how the Games can serve the city,” said Leonardo Espíndola, Rio state government’s chief of staff. “This project will remain as a permanent legacy of the Games. We have already reached the point of treating approximately 50 per cent of sewage and, without a doubt, in 2016 we will have a much better bay for competitors and the population.”

The project is the final part of a package of measures to improve conditions in the bay ahead of the Games. Measures already undertaken include the closure of rubbish dumps, creation of new sewage treatment units and deployment of eco-barriers and eco-boats to capture and remove floating debris.

As a result of these initiatives, the state government estimates that it will surpass its target of treating 80 per cent of sewage that reaches the bay by the Rio 2016 Games.

“In the last three years, the competition areas were already of international standard, due to various initiatives that have been developed in Guanabara Bay,” said Wagner Victer, the president of Rio’s state water and sanitation company. “The only point lacking was at the area where the boats embark, at Marina da Glória. With this project, 100 per cent of the commitments made in relation to the Olympic sailing location will be concluded one year before the Games.”
Marina da Glória staged the first Rio 2016 test event last month, the Aquece Rio International Sailing Regatta.

“We passed the test of the sailing event, which was praised by both the International Sailing Federation and the athletes,” said Rio 2016 President Carlos Nuzman. “We are pleased to see these projects happening because Guanabara Bay is one of the picture-postcard sites of the Games. All these efforts will create a unique setting for Olympic sailing.”

 

Source: rio2016.com

Rio 2016; Construction update Golf course

Panoramic view: ©Rio 2016/Alex Ferro (click to enlarge)
Panoramic view: ©Rio 2016/Alex Ferro (click to enlarge)

 

Olympic golf course construction 59% complete. Sprinkler system now reaches 13 out of 18 holes, planting of grass underway on five more.

Read full article: Rio2016.com

 

Read more about the Rio 2016 Olympic Golf course:
>> Rio 2016; The return of Golf
>> Rio 2016; Planting of grass begins on Olympic Golf Course

PyeongChang 2018; Groundbreaking ceremony Ice Venues

©PyeongChang 2018

 

A groundbreaking ceremony was held to launch the construction of ice venues for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The event was attended by nearly one thousand people, including key officials and representatives of Gangwon Province and the PyeongChang 2018 Organizing Committee, as well as the Culture, Sports and Tourism Ministry.

The latest construction project will be carried out at the Gangneung Sports Complex, which already houses a few sporting venues, including an ice rink that will be refurbished to become the curling venue for the PyeongChang 2018 Games. The venue construction of figure/short track skating, ice hockey I and II, as well as speed skating is scheduled to be completed by October, 2016 in order to meet the timeline for Test Events during the winter of 2016-17.

The total cost of ice venue construction is estimated at 425 million US dollars.

 

Source: www.pyeongchang2018.com