Leaders of the eight federations staging sports in Rio 2016’s second Olympics hub are traveling to the Olympic city for emergency talks with Games organizers next month.
The federations – canoe, cycling, equestrian, fencing, hockey, modern pentathlon, rugby, and shooting – held a closed meeting on the sidelines of SportAccord in Belek last week and agreed that a visit was necessary to speed up the progress.
ASOIF director Andrew Ryan told Around the Rings that the visit would take place in May. No date is yet fixed.
Talks between the federations and Rio 2016 will be geared towards helping to resolve some of the IFs' individual venue issues. Also on the agenda are collective efforts to make sure there is a good interaction between sports and the Olympics hub becomes an attractive site for spectators.
John Coates, IOC Executive Board member from Australia, told a small group of reporters in Belek, including ATR, that the IOC had not reached a point where plan B measures were necessary to relocate sports. Some federations at the joint IOC/ASOIF meeting in Belek had called for the IOC to consider contingency plans for their sports.
Coates said the construction and organization of sports in the Deodoro zone was the biggest challenge facing Rio 2016, noting that none of the eight sports had signed off on venue plans. Asked whether there was still time to complete venue projects, he said: "It’s got to be quick."
At the ASOIF general assembly in Belek, Ryan underscored the scale of the task facing Rio organizers. He said the existing equestrian and shooting venues needed substantial work.
"Of the remaining venues, there is nothing. There are no workmen on site, nor machines on site. There is substantial work to do," he said.
On Monday, the IOC’s Olympic Games executive director Gilbert Felli was scheduled to have a conference call with Rio 2016, the city’s mayor, and other Olympic stakeholders ahead of an inspection visit to Rio later this week.
Written by Mark Bisson
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