RIO 2016: Monday 5 August 2013 marks three years to go until the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when over 10,500 athletes from more than 200 countries will descend on the ´Marvellous City´. The Opening Ceremony, which will take place at the newly refurbished Maracana stadium, will create Olympic history as the first time that the Games will be held in South America.

The Rio 2016 Games will take place with venues in clusters across four Olympic zones; Barra, Deodoro, Copacabana and Maracana. Uniquely, the 2016 Games will include two Olympic Parks, with Barra Olympic Park hosting nine Olympic sports and the Deodoro OIympic Park staging eight Olympic sports.

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With three years to go the Rio 2016 project is on track and making strong progress towards delivering unique and memorable Games for the world to enjoy.

At the heart of the Rio 2016 project is a commitment to bring positive transformation through sport. The Games are acting as a catalyst to accelerate the development and improvement of Rio in the areas of urban infrastructure, transport, security, accommodation and education, as well as sports participation, to leave a lasting legacy for many generations to come. 

Due to the legacy of hosting the 2007 Pan American Games, almost half of the Rio 2016 venues are already built. Meanwhile construction projects for the new permanent and temporary venues are on schedule to host the test events programme, which is planned to run from August 2015 to April 2016.

In April work began on the Olympic golf course, which will become the first public course in Rio de Janeiro in legacy mode. Meanwhile the construction of Barra Olympic Park’s three sports hall arenas, which will host basketball, judo, taekwondo and wrestling, is also underway on schedule.

The new venues, along with the Maria Lenk Aquatic Centre, the Rio Olympic Velodrome and the Olympic Tennis Centre, will become Brazil and South America’s first Olympic Training Centre following the Games and form the central part of the Rio 2016 Games sports legacy.
 
The Athletes' Village construction is also well under way with the first three condominiums already rising out of the ground.

During June the organising committee initiated the “Model Venue Exercise” at the Rio Olympic Arena, which will host gymnastics during the 2016 Games. During the exercise, employees from various functional areas of the Committee attend presentations about the Games and perform integration activities. This important exercise is aimed at building an efficient operational plan to form the basis for the planning of resources - space, staff and equipment - required for all venues during Games time.

The ambitious Rio 2016 commercial programme is making strong progress, having already surpassed the initial estimates set in the bid. Rio 2016 is now aiming to raise the largest amount of Games sponsorship to date and 50% of this target has already been achieved.

The Rio 2016 project includes a large proportion of private investment, therefore reducing the amount of public funds required; The Barra Olympic Park, Athletes' Village, Bus Rapid Transit Transolimpica, International Broadcast Centre, Main Press Centre, Golf Course and the Porto Marav

Rio 2016