Rio Olympics Better Planned Than FIFA World Cup -- On the Scene

(ATR) Brazilian sports minister Ricardo Leyser tells Around the Rings the 2016 Olympics are the best prepared mega-sporting event four months out that the country has hosted.

Leyser, who has been involved in the sports ministry for over a decade, spoke after the first day of the tenth and final IOC Rio 2016 Coordination Commission. Leyser was part of planning the 2007 Pan American Games, the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

"We have all the venues almost done, with only small problems," Leyser told ATR. "This allows us to match all the problems to the schedules some months before. It is not perfect but I think it is very good."

Leyser admitted there were "thousands of topics" the coordination commission must tackle. But he said the challenge was fitting all the pieces of the puzzle together rather than making sure all of the necessary pieces were present. The minister singled out budgets, energy and transport as some of the prominent topics discussed.

Regarding energy, organizers must work with Brazilian providers to link the power grid up to both new and existing venues for the Games. Talks on transportation were dominated by the news of the breakthrough in construction with the Line 4 Metro. City authorities are still finalizing the subway and bus rapid-transit prices, as well as the logistics behind the Olympic lanes for athletes’ transportation.

Estimated costs have changed during the course of the Olympic project, meaning there may be areas with a surplus of funds, allowing money to be allocated to other areas requiring more funding. One such project receiving attention is the potential to paint the Olympic Stadium for the Games.

The stadium has been under construction for the past 18 month to repair structural damage to the roof and to install the track. According to Brazilian media reports, the IOC asked the city of Rio de Janeiro to paint the stadium as part of upgrades, but mayor Eduardo Paes refuted such claims after leaving the commission meetings.

"There are other ways to change the visual identity of the stadium; it will not be with paint," Paes was quoted in local media. "The city will not paint, and [the Olympic Stadium] won’t be painted."

Requests for clarification from the mayor's office yielded no response. After the meetings, Leyser took a more diplomatic approach to the issue. He said they were part of "small works" being ironed out, but any further work on the Olympic Stadium would be done with city money.

"We saved money in some projects, for example energy, at the beginning, so we have some money we can spend," Leyser added. "For the infrastructure works, I think the budget is okay."

2016 IOC Session Venue Finalized

The 2016 IOC Session will be held at the Cidade das Artes in the Barra neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro.

Cidade das Artes held the one year to go ceremony for the 2016 Games, and will also serve as the Japanese National Olympic Committee’s hospitality house during the Games.

Rio 2016 and IOC confirmed thevenue to ATR.

The IOC will hold an executive board meeting before the session at the Windsor Marapendi Hotel in Barra da Tijuca. At the 2016 Session the IOC will vote to finalize the sports program for Tokyo 2020.Baseball/softball, karate, skateboard, sport climbing and surfing are the five sports vying for inclusion in the 2020 Olympic Games.

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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