Under the Wire, Rio Delivers Olympic Velodrome -- On the Scene

(ATR) The Olympic velodrome is finally in the hands of the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee, with just 40 days until the Rio 2016 Opening Ceremony.

The city of Rio delivered the final venue of the 2016 Olympics today, six months after the original scheduled period for the end of 2015. Numerous delays in the venue led to the canceling of the cycling test event in March, as well as a change in contractor, before settling on a June 25-27 training date to test the field of play for the venue.

IOC Executive Director Christophe Dubi told reporters that the energy from the still to be completed venue is palpable, and reflects what to expect during the Rio 2016 Games. Dubi was joined by Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes, Rio 2016 President Carlos Nuzman and Sports Minister Leonardo Picciani, among other stakeholders.

"This velodrome was incredibly complicated to get to this stage," Dubi said to reporters. "When this venue comes alive, it is madness. "It is so loud but especially if [Brazil’s] athletes shine and they will. Once more congratulations to everyone. This was an outstanding result."

After the inauguration, Dubi told Around the Rings that temporary overlay will continue in the coming weeks, but "what was really essential was what is happening here, which is to deliver the velodrome."

Dubi’s timeline was supported by Rio 2016 venue management director Gustavo Nascimento who said that all temporary works for the venue will be finalized by July 21. That date remains the same for all temporary overlays for every Olympic venue, which Nascimento said will be easily achieved. Remaining works to be finished in the velodrome include the installation of the final seats and the completion of the media tribune, broadcast areas and concession areas.

Nascimento told ATR that he was "very pleased and excited," to be at the final venue inauguration, adding that the whole ceremony was done specifically for the athletes.

"There is still work to be done, with temporary works to be installed, but we are sure this is going to be done on time and we are going to be able to host remarkable events here in August and September," Nascimento added. "The quality of the works that’s being done and the entire infrastructure required to host a world class cycling event [was accomplished], we are going to have an amazing cycling event during Rio 2016."

The International Cycling Union technical delegate Gilles Peruzzi told ATR that seeing athletes test the venue helped alleviate fears that the federation still has about the venue. Last month, UCI President Brian Cookson told ATR he was "extremely concerned," with progress of the venue.

"[The event] was certainly not ideal, but given the circumstances we’re very happy to be able to do some tests this weekend," Peruzzi added. "Given the progress they’ve made in the last few weeks, we are very much reassured that if they can continue to keep up this pace they will be able to continue."

Two international athletes, Gael Suter from Switzerland and Alexander Porter from Australia, told ATR they were happy with how the track performed during the training session, and they were keen to get an advantage on the Olympic competition by traveling to test the velodrome. Suter’s Olympic participation is guaranteed, while Porter will learn if he made the Australian cycling team next week.

"There is still a bit of dust on the track so it has not reached its 100 percent potential yet," Suter said. "It will be ready for the Olympics and will be a fast track. It is a big advantage to know the facilities, the venue, the weather and where I am arriving."

Porter shared Suter’s optimism of the track, and said that the bike felt smooth underneath him while racing with no twitching, the signal of a quality track. He rated the track similar to the London velodrome, after riding on it at the 2016 world championships.

"It has been good to have a more low key look at [the venue], but at the same time it would have been good to test the velodrome under a more intense environment," Porter said. "I definitely feel it would have been important to have a test event here. You get a feel for the environment for what it will be like on race day."

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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