In March, representatives of six international sport federations visited Rio de Janeiro to meet with members of the different functional areas of the Rio 2016™ Organising Committee, visit their competition venues and exchange ideas on the project.

The Rio 2016™ Organising Committee works in close partnership with the international sports federations, who are responsible for the technical requirements of the Olympic and Paralympic Games for each sport. Among the main subjects discussed during these visits were the test events preparations, transport to the competition and training venues, and validation of specific content, such as the pictograms for each sport.

“Along with the athletes, the international federations are the most important clients for the Sports Department. We work together to answer questions and update them on our project progress. They want to know about the venues, become familiarised with the training venues and many other operational details”, explained the Sports Competition Manager, Rodrigo Garcia.

The first sport to visit the Organising Committee during March was the International Hockey Federation (FIH). Four senior members of the FIH were in Rio: the President, Leandro Negre, the CEO, Kelly Fairweather, the Sport & Development Director, David Luckes and Susan Neil, member of the Executive Board. During the second week, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) sent its Executive Vice-President Neil Harwood, and the Olympic Games and Events Specialist, Raul Calin.

From March 20th to 29th, the International Cycling Union (UCI), the International Sailing Federation (Isaf), the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) and the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) also attended a series of meetings with the Rio 2016™ Committee.

The group sport manager Bernardo Villano (left), responsible for Sailing, watched the Isaf head of competition, Alastair Fox, during their visit to Guanabara Bay (Rio 2016™)

The manager of the UCI´s Mountain Bike and BMX programmes, Peter Van den Abeele, the Vice-President Scott Perry and the Head of Isaf competitions, Alastair Fox, the Vice-President of the ISSF, Gary Anderson, and the Secretary General of the ISSF, Franz Schreiber, as well as six members of the UIPM, including the President, Klaus Schormann, attended the meetings in Rio.

The architect responsible for the Guilherme Paraense National Centre for Sports Shooting in Deodoro, Tayomara Gama, participated in the ISSF visit and commented: “It was very productive. We were at the sports shooting range and there we heard the international federation´s suggestions for use of the space. We´re going to do studies to see if the suggestions are viable. We´ll do as much as we can so that all clients are received in the best manner possible”

The international federation visits are a clear demonstration of Rio 2016´s strategy of working together in close partnership with the many project stakeholders to deliver technically excellent, unique and memorable Games.

Sports scheduled to visit during April are the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and the International Canoe Federation (ICF) and, in May, visits with the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) are already planned.