Rio Report - IOC, Rio 2016 Get Re-Acquainted

(ATR) A relaxed mood seemed to prevail as the IOC Coordination Commission and Rio 2016 met for the first time, just over seven months after Rio de Janeiro won the 2016 Olympics.

Close to 100 people packed a ballroom set up with a "U"-shaped conference table. Chairwoman Nawal El Moutawakel, IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Gilbert Felli and Rio 2016 President Carlos Nuzman sat at the head table, with 20 IOC commission members and staff lining one side, their counterparts from Rio on the other side. Two rows of support staff sat behind the principals.

The last time Moutawakel led an IOC commission to Rio was just over a year ago when the city was hosting the Evaluation Commission for the 2016 Olympics.

Compared to that visit last May, there’s a total absence of tension now that Rio has won the 2016 Olympics. Nuzman regaled his colleagues at lunch before the opening of the IOC commission with stories from the campaign trail that resulted in uproarious guffaws from the table where he sat with federal sports minister Orlando Silva, Rio state governor Sergio Cabral and Mayor Eduardo Paes.

In a media scrum on his way to the IOC meeting, Paes fielded questions about the venue changes he wants to see happen, "if they are best for the Olympics and best for the city," he told Around the Rings.

See and hear the mayor in this Around the Rings video.

The IOC commission will not visit the port district which the city is renovating in the hope of attracting the move of four sports currently planned for the Barra da Tijuca district.

More than 100 members of the press are accredited to cover the IOC Commission meeting, which takes place mostly behind closed doors.

After Tuesday’s opening plenary, the IOC commission will tour venues across Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday,including the stunning lagoon planned for rowing, the Rio Centro convention center in Barra da Tijuca with its indoor arenas and the Joao Havelange Stadium where athletics will be held.

If the weather holds (rain is forecast) some members will see the Rio venue plan by air in a helicopter.

The commission also plans to stop by the studios of Record TV in the morning and Globo in the afternoon.

The two are expected to bid top dollar for the rights to air the 2016 Games across Brazil. Richard Carrion, IOC member from Puerto Rico and leader of IOC TV negotiations in the Americas is a member of the Rio co-comm.

While a press conference Thursday will end the IOC part of the visit, a similar session dedicate to the Paralympics tales place Friday and Saturday with Rio 2016 and officials from the International Paralympic Committee.

Written by Ed Hula.