Rio Canoe Slalom Course Opens -- Photodesk

(ATR) Mayor Eduardo Paes opened the second venue in the Deodoro Olympic Park on Sept. 29.

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(ATR) Mayor Eduardo Paes opened the second venue in the Deodoro Olympic Park on Sept. 29.

The mayor, along with local children released the water that will fill the Olympic canoe slalom course, making it the second venue opened in the northern complex. According to Rio city hall, the venue is only 85 percent completed, with final works being done to build temporary seats for Games spectators.

Paes said that the Deodoro park will be opened to the public from December to April, to create a Games legacy that will be in use well before the cauldron in Rio is lit.

"There is no leisure area here or places to have fun. They have to travel far if they want to have fun," Paes told Around the Rings.

"I mean this is the main reason we got the Games. We didn’t want to build a canoe slalom stadium; we wanted to make the life of the city much better."

In addition to opening the venue, Paes helped break ground on a "family clinic" that will serve 24,000 people in the Deodoro area with health and dental services.

Click here to view the photodesk.

Written by Aaron Bauer

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