First Olympic Park Venue Opens to Public

(ATR) Carioca Arena 3 is now open to the Rio de Janeiro public on a limited basis, a first for the Olympic Park.

Yesterday, Rio City Hall held an event at Carioca Arena 3 to celebrate the opening. Mayor Marcelo Crivella was not present, but instead Under Secretary of Sports and Leisure Patricia Amorim took part. The arena was open for three hours where table tennis, badminton, mini tennis, and trampolines were open to the public.

A Crivella spokesperson told Around the Rings that the current schedule for the arena is to be open from 9am to 12pm on the weekends. More information about the hours for Carioca Arena 3 were not disclosed.

"Arena 3 is the only facility that is and will be under the management of Rio's City Hall," the spokesperson added.

The other venues located in the park, Carioca Arenas 1 + 2, the velodrome, and the tennis center are under the operations of the Sports Ministry. Originally, the previous mayoral administration tried to find a private operator for the facilities, but no company would commit to a 25-year lease. The park itself is open to the general public on the weekends, but few events have been held there.

City Hall is still working on a solution for the Deodoro Olympic Park. The park closed last December after the operator’s agreement lapsed. The latest on the situation from a spokesperson last month was, "no news about the bidding process that is in progress."

The spokesperson added to ATR that neither the Future Arena nor the shell of the Aquatics Center have been dismantled. Those venues, described as abandoned by international press, "await the transfer of federal funds to tender for the dismantling."

Amorim said in a statement after the event that it took City Hall a couple months to prepare the arena for public use. Its opening was important to answer "the public questioning about what was going to be done [for Olympic legacy]".

"We received this installation in March, completely empty, raw and, even without resources; in less than two months, we have been able to make use of it," Amorim said. "We are turning it into a place to practice sports and physical activity, for all the people to know and enjoy."

Written by Aaron Bauer

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