Temporary structures that will be built to host the Rio 2016™ Olympic and Paralympic Games will benefit thousands of children and young people not only in Brazil, but in other places around the world as well. A clear example of this is Olympic Hall 4 – located inside Barra Olympic Park – that will host Handball and Goalball events. With a capacity for 12 thousand people, around 80% of the structure will be reused and transformed into four municipal schools after the Games.

Besides Hall 4, the Olympic Park will include other functional structures that will be used at a later time, following the concept of nomadic architecture, which can be dismantled, transformed and moved to another place. As the Rio 2016™ Games are still entering projects implementation phase, the best example of this initiative is the legacy the London 2012 Games are bringing to Rio de Janeiro.

In early July, the Instituto Bola Pra Frente of former Right Defender Jorginho, 1994 World Champion and silver medallist in the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games, received part of the structure of London Olympic Stadium. This material now serves as cover in areas of the Institute, located in a region that suffers from high temperatures in summer.

Jorginho does not hide the happiness with the gift. “Apart from giving a splash of colours to the place, it’s great to know that here in Guadalupe, the exact place where I learned to play ball and lived until I was 17 years old, there is a small piece of the Olympic Games. And to know the structure was assembled by eight young people from the community is even better. They were trained for this and were duly paid. This is our main goal: changing youngsters into protagonists; active, healthy and responsible citizens”, he said.

The multi-coloured thermoplastic membranes developed by Dow, Rio 2016™ official chemistry company, were installed in the Institute located in Complexo do Muquiço (a slum in Rio de Janeiro) in Guadalupe neighbourhood. The place was chosen for its efforts in educating socially vulnerable children and teenagers in Rio de Janeiro.

“We breathe sport. The opportunity of bringing part of Olympic Games history into daily contact with our pupils is a source of pride and a further encouragement for these youngsters here in Bola Pra Frente”, he said.

Jorginho spent much of his life in Complexo do Muquiço. In the same site where he built the Instituto Bola Pra Frente, there was an informal Football pitch where he used to play ball with his friends. It was there he also learned to be responsible. At the age of ten, after his father died, Jorginho and three other friends cleaned and tidied the place, earning a small amount of money that would be used for household expenses.

“With work came responsibility. As a boy I dreamt of seeing this space becoming some sort of Disneyland and I believe I was able to make part of this dream come true”, Jorginho said. He was nicknamed Sapinho (small frog in Portuguese) by his friends at the time.

By using the world of sports as learning methodology, the Institute had an impressive impact in helping its beneficiaries perform well at school. Besides Football, Handball and Volleyball classes, the Institute uses sport as a topic for academic support. In 2012, more than 4,250 children and teenagers benefited in Rio de Janeiro and São Gonçalo municipalities as well as in eight cities in the Northeastern part of the state of Goiás.

Besides Instituto Bola Pra Frente, an entity aimed at the social inclusion of children exposed to the misfortunes of civil war in Uganda, Africa, will also receive panels for a similar use. The remaining pieces were designated for recycling.

As an Official Olympic Partner until 2020, Dow, which developed the innovative solution, helped promoting another direct connection between two editions of the world sporting event, besides establishing a legacy from London to Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and strengthening the company’s and the Olympic Movement’s commitment with sustainability.