All Hands On Deck for Torch Security - Rio Report

(ATR) Security representatives from all 27 states of Brazil met in Brasilia on April 5 to finalize torch relay security plans.

The summit was hosted by the Special Secretariat of Security for Major Events (SESGE) and the Brazilian ministry of justice. The plan born out of the meeting will be brought to the State Commission on Public Safety and Civil Defense for the 2016 Games on April 6, for final approval. If the plan is approved it will be presented to the Rio 2016 organizing committee on April 8.

SESGE secretary Andrei Rodrigues called the plan the most complex security operation for Brazil, given the scope of the relay. Rodrigues told Brazilian media that the plan for the relay includes countermeasures for accidents, acts of terrorism, protests, riots, and more.

The domestic leg of the Olympic torch relay will cover 95 days with visits to 335 cities across all 27 states of Brazil. On April 5, the Brazilian tourism ministry released an interactive map of the full relay, which can be found here.

"We have an action already defined in our Strategic Plan [for risks], which was made in October last year when we mapped the main risks and actions to mitigate these risks," Rodrigues told reporters.

"Today, we are already in the operational phase. We have a model of operation defined by the secretariat, already including 27 states, and now here have their regional coordinators working on this planning and making the minute to minute details of the operation. It is an operation that involves all Brazil's security institutions."

British Athletes to Train at Flamengo

Flamengo Club de Regatas will host British athletes training for the 2016 Olympics.

The British Olympians Association signed an agreement with Rio de Janeiro sport club Flamengo for use of the club’s pools and weightlifting rooms, so athletes can train in Rio ahead of the 2016 Games. Flamengo signed a similar agreement with the United States Olympic Committee in 2011.

Mahdi Choudhury, Head of Sport Operations for Rio 2016 at the BOA, told Around the Rings, that the partnership was about an ideal location for British athletes to train and leaving a legacy for the club after the athletes depart. He added that the BOA had been collaborating with Flamengo since 2010, and that the facility should "be an important performance advantage for the team during [the Games]."

"Through working with Flamengo and James Moore, Team GB’s Head of Performance Services, we will be helping set up the club’s new Sport Science project," Chodhury said. "We’ll also be working with the coaches from our national governing bodies with regards to upskilling Flamengo coaches via a variety of workshops and presentations."

When negotiating the arrangement, the BOA worked with the USOC to make sure that all of the athletes training at the club will co-exist. According to the BOA, they signed the arrangement after determining what facilities the USOC would not need.

Liberia Considers Olympic Pullout

The costs of sending athletes to the 2016 Olympics and the Zika virus could leave Liberian athletes out of the Games.

A letter from the country’s finance ministry, received by Reuters, said that the government could not approve the $151,882 the sports ministry requested to send 20 athletes and officials to the Games.

"Given the current fiscal position of the Government ... we are [unable] to grant this request at this time," the letter read. "It is important to note that Brazil is currently battling the Zika epidemic ... and given our recent experience with Ebola, it will be public health risk to send [athletes] to that part of the world."

Liberia was one of three West African countries decimated by the Ebola outbreak that began in 2014. A recent flare-up of the disease was reported in the country on April 4.

Liberian Olympic Committee President Philipbert Brown told Reuters he had not seen the letter, but hopes the government could find the money to support the athletes who had been training for the last four years.

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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