(ATR) IOC President Thomas Bach tellsAround the Rings that problems facing the Rio 2016 Olympics are not unique to these Games.
Bach arrived in Rio de Janeiro Wednesday morning ahead of the IOC Session and the 2016 Olympic Games. He told reporters he made two stops today. The first was a visit to the Olympic Village to meet with athletes. The second was to tour the renovated port area with Rio 2016 President Carlos Nuzman and Mayor Eduardo Paes to see where the Olympic Flame will be housed during the Games.
The IOC president arrived just as problems with the Olympic Village dominate the talk in Rio. Two days earlier, the Australian delegation refused to move into the Village citing an unsafe building. Numerous NOCs have since reported issues with the cleanliness and readiness of the complex. They since have said that joint cooperation from the IOC and Rio 2016 has set things on track.
"A few days before an Olympic Games there are always some challenges to be addressed and we have seen them here," Bach said to ATR. "If you see the determination of the Brazilians to address these challenges, this makes everybody more confident that the remaining ones will be solved in the next 24 to 48 hours and the same is true for any challenge in the Olympic Games."
At the future home of the Olympic Flame, Bach told reporters that the urban renovation achieved here, "in other areas of the world would take generations, but it has been achieved in seven years using the Olympic Games as a catalyst."
Bach would not give any hints as to what the cauldron looked like. He said the location "will be the place to be" during the Games, because the five kilometer Olympic Boulevard would serve as the Games’ "beating heart."
NBC Asked Rio to Revise Parade of Nations
Rio 2016 confirmed to Around the Rings that broadcast network NBC asked to change the order of the parade of nations during the Opening Ceremony.
Greece traditionally leads the parade with the nations marching in alphabetical order in the language of the host country, with the hosts marching last. That would have put the United States, or Estados Unidos in Portuguese, in the middle of the lineup, potentially causing viewers to change the channel after Team USA marched.
"We are not changing the lineup for NBC, but we wanted to," Mario Andrada, head of Rio 2016 communications told ATR. "We think their request made sense."
For the 2016 Games there will be two Olympic cauldrons. One will be located in the Maracana Stadium and lit during the Opening Ceremony. The flame will then travel to the Porto Maravilha location "by a bit of magic" where it will light the second cauldron. The Maracana cauldron will be extinguished until it is re-lit for the Closing Ceremony.
As more than 10,000 athletes file into the Maracana Stadium to open Rio 2016, two figuresinfluential in bringing the Games to Rio will be absent. Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva confirmed that he would not be attending the Opening Ceremony nor will currently suspended President Dilma Rousseff.
Rousseff said that she would not take part in a ceremony "in a secondary role." Lula, who was instrumental in Rio’s bid to win the Games in 2009, confirmed he would not go, telling Brazilian media there was "no political climate" for their attendance.
"We just got the message, the important thing is we invited them," Andrada said to ATR about the news. "We don’t have time to be disappointed. We have to keep going, as it is very close to the opening ceremony and there are a lot of things we have to do."
Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro
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