(ATR) The IOC Coordination Commission makes what should be its second to last visit to Rio de Janeiro ahead of the Olympics next August.
The commission begins work midday Monday and concludes Wednesday afternoon at Rio 2016 headquarters, with more than a third of its 17 members excused.
With warnings of crisis heeded more than a year ago by the Brazilian organizers and government, the IOC team headed by Nawal El Moutawakel will be focusing more on the operational details of the Games instead of construction delays.
However, there remains urgency for completion of the International Broadcast Center which is needed by November. On the government side there is pressure to finish vital transport projects in the west of the city where the key Olympic venues are located.
The IOC has been backstopped by Gilbert Felli, retired Olympic Games Executive Director, who’s taken up residence in Rio as an advisor for the 2016 Olympics.
El Moutawakel arrived last week for the one year to go events in Rio and then spent a couple of days in the Amazon city Manaus for the signing of the formal agreement to host preliminary football matches. The location in the north of the country will be the most remote venue from Rio de Janeiro. No stranger anymore to international football, Manaus hosted action in the 2014 World Cup.
Some commission members who arrived early enough had the chance to visit the equestrian test event Sunday at Deodoro, the most remote venue cluster in the Rio metropolitan area.
The commission members will spend the next three days in meetings with staff from Rio 2016 as well as government representatives handling Olympic responsibilities.
Given the intense publicity the water quality in the venues for sailing and rowing, the commission is likelytoreceive a comprehensive assessment of the situation. The test event for rowing ended over the weekend with some reports of illness inconclusivelylinked to the water. This week sailors from around the world will take part in a test event regatta, the second year in a row for such.
Over the weekend environmentalists assembled a fleet of small craft just off the marina where the sailing is to take place. The demonstrators want more action by the government to clean up Guanabara Bay.
The 17-member IOC commission will not be at full strength for this meeting with six members excused, a travel weary bunch of IOC members who have just finished attending the IOC session in Kuala Lumpur as well as other major sports events. IOC members here will include John Coates, Alex Gilady, Gunilla Lindberg, Beatrice Allen, Timothy Fok, Nat Indrapana, Nicole Hoevertsz, and C.K. Wu.
IOC members who will not attend includePatrick Hickey,Alexander Popov, Julio Maglione, Sergey Bubka and Willi Kaltschmitt Lujan.
P.R. executive and former London 2012 comms chief Jackie Brock Doyle is one of only three members of the panel not an IOC member. Francesco Ricci Bitti used to be an IOC member until he retired but now sits on the commission as a representative of the summer sports federations. José Luis Campo is the Paralympics representative, but is excused.
The CoComm meets for the ninth time this week since being formed in 2009. It’s expected to meet in Rio at least one more time, in the early 2016.
Written and reported in Rio de Janeiro by Ed Hula.
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