Noise No Concern for Archers at Rio 2016 Test Event

(ATR) Archers and organizers tell Around the Rings traffic noise at the Sambadrome has not affected shooting at the current test event.

The Sambadrome, located in the Catumbi neighborhood of Rio, is near some major highways and organizers wanted to use the test event from Sept. 15-22 to see how that could affect the field of play.

"We have put a barrier to help a lot with the noise that usually comes from the streets," Rio 2016 sports directorAgberto Guimarães told reporters.

"We will use these days to make an assessment as to whether we have to take some other measure at the Games. As it stands today, it is going well."

Tom Dielen, secretary general of World Archery, told ATR that it was too early to make any assessments on the test event, since competition just began.

"We will see what actions will be taken to avoid a problem for the athletes," Dielen he said."I think the archers are very much impressed with how it’s shaping up and they look forward to the Olympic Games."

A total of 119 athletes and para-athletes are in Rio for the test event, which features both men's and women's individual events.

"I didn’t even notice it being noisy. To be honest it didn’t even enter my mind today," Brady Ellison, a U.S. Olympic archer toldATR."

"I don’t think it will be an issue too much. We’ve only had one meeting, and the athletes haven’t had their chance to put in their opinions, but so far everything is looking like it will be well run."

Crispin Duenas, an Olympic archer from Canada, agreed, telling ATR that he didn’t even know traffic noise was an issue organizers were concerned with."I like this venue, it's really clean. I’m expecting it to be working really nice for the Olympics, but now for the test event one year out it looks good," Duenas said.

"It is really good to be here because you can start to visualize what the venue is going to feel like. We didn’t know there was going to be a platform; we thought we were shooting on the ground, so that’s a really good thing to know to be prepared for."

No spectators were admitted for the event, as organizers told reporters it would require extra expenses in terms of logistics and the flow of visitors was not being tested.

"It was a strategic decision based on the resources we have," said Gustavo Nascimento, Rio 2016 venue management director.

"If you have spectators, you also need the bathroom, cleaning, security... you need staff, need to feed this staff. It was not a priority for us to test spectators here."

Olympic gold medalist from South Korea Jin Hyek Oh told reporters that there was no issue with background noise, but he hopes organizers firm up the platform from which the archers shoot from next year to prevent any swing.

"It would be nice to try to put a harder floor to the platform," Oh said."This here is a test and next year will be different. Since childhood I have seen Rio on television, but to personally come to this place is a different emotion."

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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