Page 33

developments that will benefit cariocas for years to come.The enthusiasm of fans is evident, and the Brazilian public have started to enjoy the benefits of the Olympic legacy already. The port region in the city centre, once derelict and abandoned, is one of the main symbols of RioÕs transformation and is in the final phase of its regeneration. The Museum of Tomorrow and the port-side boulevard have become a meeting point for families, and in its first weekend the museum attracted 25,473 people. ÒPasqual Maragall [Mayor of Barcelona during the 1992 Games] told me: ÔThere are two types of Games: those that serve the city, and those in which the city serves them.Õ The Games really served Rio. We have built a fantastic legacy for the city that was only possible thanks to the Olympic Games,Ó said Eduardo Paes, Mayor of Rio de Janeiro.The sporting legacy is also already palpable. One of the biggest successes was temporarily transforming the Whitewater Stadium into a water park and opening it to the public in Deodoro, a less developed area of the city far from the south zone and its famous paradise-like beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema. The Whitewater Stadium and the Olympic BMX Centre were built in the area of Rio with the largest youth population to encourage these young people to take part in extreme sports after the Games. And even the sports that are making an Olympic comeback this year Ð rugby and golf Ð are becoming as much a legacy for the population as for sport.The city now has its first public golf course, built in Barra da Tijuca, and its construction project included the biggest programme in the country to recover restinga land (sandy, coastal plains of marine origin). In total, 650,000 seedlings were planted and the 1.6 million square-metre Nelson Mandela Natural Park is being built nearby, which will allow the conservation 44Test events held as part of the official Aquece Rio programmeOLYMPIC REVIEW 33RIO 2016 PREVIEW