(ATR) The Olympic golf course is in the hands of the local organizing committee as important preparations continue.
Hailed as a "historic day for Brazilian golf," by both Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes and Brazilian Sports Minister Georg Hilton, the city of Rio relinquished control of preparations to Rio 2016 amid a large crowd of onlookers.
Mayor Paes led the ceremonies by presenting the course, which had seen numerous challenges from lawsuits and construction delays which hampered the delivery of the course to some extent. He was joined by Rio 2016 President Carlos Nuzman, Brazilian Sports Minister George Hilton, Brazilian Golf Federation President Paulo Cezar Pacheco, and IOC representative Gilbert Felli.
As stewardship of the course is transitioning, the superintendent of the course Neil Cleverly told Around the Rings plenty of work remains to get the course playable for the Olympics.
"Today’s event locally is a great relief to get it out the way and to continue with the golf course, but we’ve got a lot more to do and the golf course isn’t finished," Cleverly said to ATR.
"We need some maturity, and we got to get it mature to the standard that the golfers demand. With the current state of affairs we’re transitioning into another era for this golf course, and hopefully things will be provided from this point forward."
Cleverly said that the state of the area the course is on has improved in the time he got here, and that many of the animals in the area have thrived and those "displaced have returned through its own cognizance." He has been working on the course for the past two and a half years in Rio, and stressed the importance of not letting old challenges stop the forward progress of the project.
Environmental groups originally tried to block the construction of the course, asking for holes to be moved to accommodate the wildlife in the area. One hole was eventually moved, and a wildlife corridor was created on the course.Eventually the lawsuits werethrown outpaving way for the course to be completed.
With limited growing windows, a warm summer and the delay of the sport’s test event proved fortuitous for organizers. The limited timeframe was not the only set of challenges for Cleverly and his team.
"The challenges were resources, mainly," Cleverly said.
"There were also contradictory conversations with certain individuals, lack of knowledge from day one on construction of golf course from a development point and other underlying issues we had to get over."
As organizers rush to make the course playable for 2016, questions remain about the value of the legacy from the course. Olympic organizers have repeatedly stressed there will be no white elephants resulting from the Games, but also admit golf is not as popular of a sport domestically as others in the Olympic program.
"There are some things that you need to do when you deliver the Olympics, and some sports that are not popular in your country, but you need to build the venues," Eduardo Paes said to ATR.
"I hope we can get the most of it. I don’t think there is much legacy for a golf course, I’ve always said that, but course will be used by players, and the Brazilian Golf Federation has an obligation to bring kids here and make social projects here."
Rio 2016 President Carlos Nuzman took a more positive view of the legacy of the course, calling the construction "an honor and a challenge" to build, and the city knew what they were getting into.
"We knew this when we supported golf to come and be included in the Games," Nuzman told reporters.
"It is a big legacy. It is a public golf course where young boys and girls can participate to develop the golf. This is a chance in a new region of the world for golf to develop. I think for all the sports that did this before, they have succeeded and now golf will no doubt do the same."
Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro
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