Games’ preparations need to step up: IOC
Organisers’ attention ‘turned fully’ on 2016 Rio Olympics.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) Olympic Games Executive Director, Gilbert Felli, speaks during the closing news conference of the IOC Coordination Committee sixth meeting for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralimpic Games, on March 21, 2014 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. PHOTO: AFP
RIO DE JANEIRO:
There is not a moment to lose if the 2016 Rio Olympics are to go off smoothly, International Olympics Committee (IOC) officials said on Friday, wrapping up their latest visit by identifying a ‘sense of urgency’ surrounding preparations.
The IOC’s Coordination Commission ended a sixth visit to the Brazilian host city with a message to the organisers that every second counts.
Rio will be the first ever South American hosts of the Games, but preparations have been characterised, as with those for this June’s football World Cup, by worries over whether a mass upgrading of the city’s facilities will be finished on time.
Concerns remain over transport and accommodation — news emerged last week that some 3,000 accommodation units due to house mainly media during the event will not be ready in the port area, which is undergoing a huge revamp.
Instead, equivalent accommodation is to be built in the western suburb of Barra da Tijuca, where many of the events will be taking place.
With the Winter Games in Sochi over and widely praised by the IOC, Nawal Moutawakel, head of the visiting commission, said the Olympic spotlight was now ‘turned fully on Rio’.
While Moutawakel urged ‘total focus and dedication’, the Games’ Organising Committee President Carlos Nuzman said, “We enter this crucial phase of our journey without a minute to lose, and certain that our partners in the government share this vision.”
Pollution muddies Rio 2016 waters
Waters polluted by sewage off the coast of Rio remain a concern for organisers of the 2016 Olympics, but the IOC insisted that the sea will be safe for competition.
Guanabara Bay, which will host sailing at the Games, has caused consternation amongst some athletes with the water quality condemned as ‘disgusting’ by one sailor. Moutawakel noted on her visit that authorities have pledged to deliver a huge increase in sewage treatment by 2015.
“There will be a seven-fold increase in treated sewage around the Guanabara Bay by 2015,” she said, with sailing test events slated for August serving as an environmental catalyst for the city authorities.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 23rd, 2014.
There is not a moment to lose if the 2016 Rio Olympics are to go off smoothly, International Olympics Committee (IOC) officials said on Friday, wrapping up their latest visit by identifying a ‘sense of urgency’ surrounding preparations.
The IOC’s Coordination Commission ended a sixth visit to the Brazilian host city with a message to the organisers that every second counts.
Rio will be the first ever South American hosts of the Games, but preparations have been characterised, as with those for this June’s football World Cup, by worries over whether a mass upgrading of the city’s facilities will be finished on time.
Concerns remain over transport and accommodation — news emerged last week that some 3,000 accommodation units due to house mainly media during the event will not be ready in the port area, which is undergoing a huge revamp.
Instead, equivalent accommodation is to be built in the western suburb of Barra da Tijuca, where many of the events will be taking place.
With the Winter Games in Sochi over and widely praised by the IOC, Nawal Moutawakel, head of the visiting commission, said the Olympic spotlight was now ‘turned fully on Rio’.
While Moutawakel urged ‘total focus and dedication’, the Games’ Organising Committee President Carlos Nuzman said, “We enter this crucial phase of our journey without a minute to lose, and certain that our partners in the government share this vision.”
Pollution muddies Rio 2016 waters
Waters polluted by sewage off the coast of Rio remain a concern for organisers of the 2016 Olympics, but the IOC insisted that the sea will be safe for competition.
Guanabara Bay, which will host sailing at the Games, has caused consternation amongst some athletes with the water quality condemned as ‘disgusting’ by one sailor. Moutawakel noted on her visit that authorities have pledged to deliver a huge increase in sewage treatment by 2015.
“There will be a seven-fold increase in treated sewage around the Guanabara Bay by 2015,” she said, with sailing test events slated for August serving as an environmental catalyst for the city authorities.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 23rd, 2014.