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Maria Lenk Aquatic Centre and the Rio Olympic Arena – were previously built for the 2007 Pan-American Games and, alongside the newly-constructed facilities, will continue to provide a sporting legacy for the city after the Games. Three of the Park’s new arenas, for instance, will form part of a new Olympic Training Centre – alongside the Rio Olympic Velodrome and the Olympic Tennis Centre – while the temporary Future Arena will be dismantled and its parts will be used in the construction of four public schools.Barra da Tijuca will also be home to the Olympic Golf Course, as the sport returns to the Games after a 112-year absence, while Pontal – a beautiful beachside location just west of Barra – will be the start and finish point of the road cycling time-trial events.Four existing pavilions at Riocentro – the biggest convention venue in Latin America, which is within five minutes of Barra Olympic Park – will host competition and training venues for badminton, boxing, table tennis and weightlifting.Copacaban The iconic, world-famous Copacabana beach, in the south zone of the city, will host the beach volleyball competitions, while the calm waters sheltered by the headland of Fort Copacabana will provide the courses for the Olympic marathon swimming and the swimming sections of the triathlons, against the backdrop of Sugar Loaf Mountain. The rowing and canoeing competitions, meanwhile, will take place on the waters of the heart-shaped Rodrigo de Freitas LeftBrazilian President Dilma Rousseff with IOC President Thomas Bach and Carlos Arthur Nuzman at the one-year-to-go eventBelowThe Maria Lenk Aquatic Centre was built for the 2007 Pan-American Games o clebrt on yea go i s
ylOn 5 August, as the countdown clock struck one year to go until the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, IOC President Thomas Bach officially invited the world’s athletes to take part in the first ever Games to be held in South America. During a ceremony at Rio’s Cidade des Artes, President Bach gave invitations to representatives from the National Olympic Committees of Greece (where the Games originated), Russia (where the last edition of the Games was held), and the Republic of Korea, Japan, China and Brazil (countries of the current host cities). The party-like atmosphere at the ceremony gave an indication of what’s to come at next year’s Games. President Bach said: “This will be Brazil’s moment. The world will talk about a Rio de Janeiro before the Olympic Games and a much better Rio de Janeiro after the Olympic Games.”During the celebrations, the city’s government announced that construction work on the venues for the Games was entering the home straight. Work on the Barra Olympic Park was 82 per cent complete, while the three X-Park venues in the Deodoro Olympic Park were nearly 80 per cent complete. As part of the celebrations, President Bach joined around 30 local Olympians and young athletes to play beach football, volleyball and rugby, which will return to the Games next year. He said. “I think that the Games are very important for the cariocas and for Brazil because they will leave a great legacy.”One key legacy will be the redevelopment of Rio de Janeiro’s transport system. The city hailed a major milestone on 4 August when the final tunnel of the Transolímpica project was cleared. The new expressway will link the Olympic Village and Olympic Park in the Barra de Tijuca district to the X-Park in Deodoro, and will be used by an estimated 70,000 passengers per day.From 10-12 August, the IOC Coordination Commission met in Rio de Janeiro. The commission praised the Rio 2016 Organising Committee and its local government partners for their teamwork in delivering the first pre-Games test events, including the Aquece Rio International Horse Trials at the new Olympic Equestrian Centre. IOC Coordination Commission Chair Nawal El Moutawakel said: “We have been delighted with the unity of spirit and mission that is driving ‘Team Brazil’ to deliver a successful first wave of test events. We have already seen excellent volleyball, triathlon, rowing and equestrian events, with more exciting sport to come over the next few weeks.”On yea goOLYMPIC REVIEW 33