The president of the London 2012 Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), Sebastian Coe, had the opportunity to get a closer look at the Rio 2016™ preparations yesterday, 19 March, and praised the project and the progress of the construction works in the city.

The only runner to have won 1500 Olympic gold twice, Coe arrived in Rio de Janeiro for a two-day visit. Accompanied by the president of Rio 2016™ Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, Coe visited the Rocinha Sports Complex in the morning, where children from the community have the opportunity to practice Olympic sports such as swimming, football, judo, taekwondo and boxing.

After that, he visited the Maria Lenk Acquatics Centre, a diving and polo competition venue for the Rio 2016™ Games, currently used as the Time Brasil training centre, a project of the Brazilian Olympic Committee (“COB”) which serves as a base for preparation of Brazil’s elite athletes. The training centre has an Olympic and a diving swimming pool, an area for taekwondo, a modern Strength and Conditioning room, and a rest room for athletes.

At Maria Lenk, the president of LOCOG could see the facilities, spoke to some Brazilian athletes who were training for the London 2012 Olympic Games, such as swimmer Kaio Márcio, diver César Castro, sprinter Rosângela Santos and the taekwondo team who train with Beijing 2008 Olympic bronze medallist, Natália Falavigna.

Sebastian Coe visited the Rocinha Sports Complex (Photo: Rio 2016/Miguel Sá)

After visiting the centre, Sebastian Coe went to the headquarter of the Rio 2016™ Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games and saw presentations about the Games project and the progress of its preparations in the city. He was also introduced to some of the most important athletes in the history of Brazilian sport: Bernard Rajzman, Nalbert Bitencourt, Giovane Gávio and Marcus Vinicius Freire (volleyball); Emanuel Rego, Adriana Behar, Sandra Pires and Adriana Samuel (beach volleyball); Ricardo Prado (swimming); Hortência (basketball); Flávio Canto and Sebastian Pereira (judo), Jade Barbosa (artistic gymnastics), Miriam D'Agostini (tennis) and Edson Menezes (rowing), and Rosângela Santos.

“I am impressed with what I’ve seen today and with the spirit of the youth I’ve spoken to. I am also very happy to see that the Brazilian Olympic Committee and Rio 2016™ work closely with several athletes and former athletes because when you see the world through the eyes of an athlete, you can deliver excellent Games to athletes”, praised Coe.

“London is determined to build a legacy to the city and the nation and I see that Rio is following this model. I believe that relationships made through sport, as it’s happened to London and Rio, are long-lasting. In a hundred years from now, the fact that we’ve been host cities once will keep our friendship going,” he added.

Sebastian Coe was introduced to some of the most important brazilian athletes (Photo: Rio 2016/Miguel Sá)

Carlos Arthur Nuzman stressed the cooperation between the organising committees of the two Games: “On behalf of the Rio 2016™ Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, I publicly reiterate my appreciation for all the assistance that Sebastian Coe and his team have been giving us since the time of the Rio 2016 application bid,” he said.

“We have learnt many lessons; many of them will stay and are very personal because they represent the victory of both cities, London and Rio. Cities that were not the favourites will be hosting the Games. The Rio 2016™ team has been permanently assisted by the LOCOG in our frequent visits and trips to London, where we feel very well-received and have learnt a lot”, he thanked.