(ATR) The Rio 2016 Closing Ceremony saw the curtain close on a successful campaign of events at the Olympians Reunion Centre by EY.
The ORC, which was located in the iconic Flamengo football club in Lagoa, welcomed thousands of visitors throughout the Games.
Olympians from over 50 countries spent time at the ORC, catching up with old friends and making new ones, networking for business opportunities and enjoying the Games with friendly hospitality.
"It has been beyond our expectations," said Joël Bouzou, President of the World Olympians Association.
"We have had Olympians from all cultures, all ethnic groups - Olympians from everywhere in the world – even some of the refugee athletes visited here.
The ORC was presented by EY, who used the space to hold a number of events promoting the benefits of having elite athletes working in business. In particular they promoted the importance of gender equity and at the end of the Games announced that they would take on eight retiring female athletes into paid internships to give them a boost in their post-sport career.
Bouzou believes that the success of the centre, with many sports and national Olympic committees holding events there, is just the platform for bigger and better things in the future.
"For the future Games, we will promote it more so that everyone has good information about it," he said.
"We plan to have the broadcast feed from all events here so that Olympians can come and watch with their friends when they don’t have tickets.
"We hope that more and more groups want to have their events here so that eventually we will have too many to choose from."
The most important thing for Bouzou about the centre, was the ability to bring Olympians together and for them to see how they can be supported, but also for them to be better informed about the difference they can make outside of the Games.
"We want them to spread the message of Olympism around the world on five continents," Bouzou said.
"I want to empower them with these tools to make sure they are, as good citizens, using sport as a tool for social cohesion and education.
"There are more than 100,000 Olympians in 146 countries - it is an army for peace; it is an army of role models. They live with the Olympic ideals all of their life and they want to spread the message all around the world."
Written by Alice Wheeler in Rio de Janeiro.
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