Amidst all the reports of the crisis that Brazil is facing due to the organising of the Olympic Games, there are also some positives that will be benefitting the city of Rio De Janeiro. Rio was chosen as the host for the 2016 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games on 2 October, 2009.
The Games will take place starting from 5 August to 21 August at a total of 32 venues across the city of Rio and there will also be five other cities who will co-host the football matches along with Rio – Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Manaus, Salvador and São Paulo.
Rio will become the first South American city to host the Olympic Games. The Games have been surrounded with controversy over the delay in construction of the venues, Brazil facing financial instability, political breakdown in the country, and the outbreak of the Zika virus.
But with just four weeks to go for the opening ceremony, the venues look set to give the athletes and the viewers an event to remember.
We take a look at the key venues:
#1 Maracana Stadium
Capacity: Approximately 74,000.
Events hosting: Opening ceremony, football and closing ceremony.
Facts:
- It was built in 1950 for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil and hosted the final where the hosts lost 2-1 to Uruguay.
- It holds the record for the world’s largest stadium when it had an attendance of 1,99,854 in the 1950 FIFA World Cup final.
- It was renovated in 2013 for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the capacity was reduced to 78,639.
#2 Olympic Stadium (Engenhao)
Capacity: Approximately 60,000.
Events hosting: Athletics and football.
Facts:
- It’s nickname “Engenhão” refers to the locality of the stadium. The stadium is known by many names but the official name is “Olympic Stadium”.
- The stadium was built in 2007 and is under the Brazilian football club Botafogo.
- The original budget of the stadium was only $60m. But the actual cost of building the stadium stood at $192m which is more than 300% of the actual budget.
#3 Carioca Arena (1,2 & 3)
Capacity: Approximately 30,000.
Events hosting: Carioca Arena 1- Basketball
Carioca Arena 2- Judo and Wrestling
Carioca Arena 3- Fencing and Taekwondo.
Facts:
- It is a set of three arenas built for the 2016 Olympic Games.
- It is an indoor stadium which is a part of the Barra Olympic Park in Rio.
- It was built in 2016 and will be converted into the Olympics Training Centre after the conclusion of the Games.
#4 Rio Olympic Velodrome
Capacity: 5000.
Events Hosting: Cycling and Basketball.
Facts:
- It was originally built in 2007 for the 2007 Pan American Games.
- The velodrome was closed in 2013 and reconstructed to fit international standards for the Rio Olympics.
- The new shape of the velodrome is that of a bicycle helmet, which was created by German architects of Schuermann.
#5 Fort Copacabana
Capacity: NA
Events hosting: Cycling, Marathon swimming and triathlon.
Facts:
- The fort is a military coastal defence fort built in 1914 by the Brazilian army.
- In 1922, the fort was the subject of the 18 of the Copacabana Fort revolt as rebellious officers turned the fort’s guns on Rio De Janeiro.
- It is a part of the Museum of the History of the Army where the public can visit.
