IOC Urges Rio 2016 to Step Up Broadcast Center Work -- On the Scene

(ATR) The IOC’s troubleshooter for Rio 2016 warns that the IBC will be "tough to deliver" by the October 2015 deadline.

"This is one we have to monitor every week. It’s a tight one. We have a good agreement between OBS [Olympic Broadcasting Services] and the constructor there ... We have to verify those timelines,"Gilbert Felli said.

"It’s going to be a tough one to deliver, yes," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Smart Cities & Sport Summit in Lausanne on Thursday.

Billed as a "first priority" by Rio 2016 organizers, the IBC was originally due to be delivered by next August. It must now be finished no later than October so OBS can fit air-conditioning and cabling.

Felli was in Rio last week and is leaving again on Sunday for a ten-day stay in the 2016 Olympic city.

He singled out the 5,800-seat velodrome at the Barra Olympic Park as the sports venue causing the IOC most concern.

"The one where the mayor himself is concerned is the velodrome," he said. "The construction company is always at the edge of the time limit. He’s putting a lot of effort on this one."

The venue is scheduled to be completed in the second half of 2015, but may now not be delivered until 2016.

Of the other venues under intense time pressure, Felli alleviated concerns about the second Olympic hub, saying,"Deodoro [Olympic Park] is tight, as we know, but we don’t worry too much about it."

"No," he said when it was suggested the Deodoro project had started off slowly in the summer after months of delays.

"The most difficult one is the canoe slalom," he admitted, "if you go there and see what it was three months ago and what it’s like now."

He said the International Canoe Federation had told him "they were impressed by the work done there already" and the way the project was shaping up. Felli spoke to a federation technical official a week ago who was "more than happy."

On Deodoro Olympic Park overall, he added, "Our understanding and feeling is that it’s on track."

Canoe, cycling, equestrian, fencing, hockey, modern pentathlon, rugby and shooting will call Deodoro home at the Rio Games.

Asked if the golf course was still delayed by a court ruling brought by environmental activists, he said, "When I was there, the judge gave them [city and constructor] five days to make a proposal [to relocate three holes].

"It has to be discussed between the parties ... If not, it goes to a second level of judgement. According to many people, they are confident they can find a solution."

Felli said tenders were "coming in" for the overlay work, which were according to the IOC’s timetable: "The calendar is good to succeed."

For his upcoming 10-day trip, Felli said his workload was based around assessment of deadlines from the last Rio 2016 coordination commission, including scrutiny of budgets, service levels to meet the needs of clients as well as monitoring venue constructions. Meetings on anti-doping and betting will also take place.

"It’s 10,000 things to do," he said.

He added, "The fact that I am present itself [helps make] these things go forward ... The other day when we had the golf [meeting] with the construction company, with the investor and mayor ... [It was] nothing to do with us. But the mayor said, ‘Come with me because if you are sitting beside me it brings more power to convince people and bring some arguments.'"

Following the re-election of Dilma Rousseff as Brazil’s president, questions are being asked about the impact of a shake-up of her administration, due to be complete by Jan. 1. Brazil’s sports minister Aldo Rebelo quit as planned after the elections, leaving an important hole to fill in Rousseff’s government.

Felli said uncertainties around the reshuffle of the sports ministry mean "it is going to struggle for a few more weeks."

"We don’t know who is going to be the minister [of sport]," he said.

But he calmed fears that a new sports minister would have any detrimental impact on the Rio 2016 project.

"No, first of all, the fact [is] that the same members of the administration remain. The same people are there. They know the project. It’s not our business who has won the elections. That’s for Brazil," he said.

"But for us, it is good that on the side of the federal state and on the side of the region are the same people because you can continue to work."

After next week’s Brazil trip, Felli is next back in Rio in December.He will be joined by IOC Olympic Games executive director Christophe Dubi and IOC co-comm chair Nawal El Moutawakel for a project review on Dec. 16-17.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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