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| Gustavo Nascimento |
As Rio de Janeiro makes its final preparations ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games,
GUSTAVO NASCIMENTO's role as the organizing committee's sports venues design manager could not be more vital to the event's successful completion. Having previously been involved with the Vancouver 2010 organizing committee, Nascimento has had his experience to aide him in designing and planning Rio 2016's venues. He spoke to SBD Global about the differences between winter and summer Games and the progress of Rio 2016.
On differences between working on Vancouver 2010 and Rio 2016 ...
Gustavo Nascimento: It’s two different countries, two different cultures and two different projects. The Winter Olympic Games are smaller than the Summer Olympic Games. And we need to always put that into perspective. The scope itself is 16 sports in winter, 28 sports in summer. With the dependency on snow and natural items for winter -- the Summer Games is a slightly lower dependency, talking about wind for sailing and weather for a lot sports. The dependency itself is not as high. For instance, in Vancouver, the unexpected was huge. We had quite a shortage of snow for snowboarding and freestyle. This came last minute. What is very common and similar among the two projects is these two are being done for the first time in these cities. It was the first time Vancouver and the first time in Rio. The city had to adapt itself to the project. That was very common on both sides. … In Vancouver, the political structure and the financial structure is much more simple. The organizing committee had the responsibility to deliver all the infrastructure for the sports venues. They had to count on very few infrastructure projects delivered by the government like the connection from Vancouver to Whistler, where the road was widened. You have two different levels of government with different financial responsibilities and different delivery responsibilities, which makes the project itself more complex on a day-to-day basis. So [Rio] is more complex in size, it is more complex on the governance itself. But it’s just as fun. It’s an honor and an amazing opportunity.
On water safety …
Nascimento: We monitor the water quality for our competition zone on a daily basis. We have a priority of never putting athletes, technical officials or whoever who would be in the water to follow the competition or compete, at risk. We are monitoring on a daily basis, providing reports on a weekly basis and ensuring that the premises and parameters, set by the World Health Organization, are being respected.
On measures to combat the spread of the Zika virus …
Nascimento:
First of all, we trust all the public entities who are in charge of the combat of Zika in the nation itself. We have the federal agencies, the state agencies and the municipal agencies working together with our support to combat the mosquitoes and all the public measurements and actions that need to be taken to combat this disease. Of course, we are confident that this partnership is going to give us a very safe environment for the visitors and for the Games in August and September. Second, of course, we feel for all the families who have suffered for the disease of Zika and what happened to children and everyone who has suffered from that. We will take multiple and individual measurements to guide our clients to use the proper bug repellent, long-sleeves and fumigation of the venues and the areas where people will be concentrated. These are the main two actions being built in. So, partnership with the government and agencies to combat Zika, also informing and providing bug repellent and giving proper communication. ... We are absolutely positive that this is no longer a major risk.
On venue completion …
Nascimento: The only venue that we have to receive from the government is the velodrome, which will be handed over to us on the 17th of June. All other venues are in our possession. There are constructions in some of them, like the Olympic stadium for athletics where we are going to have three weeks more of construction. Final touch ups are being done in conjunction with the temporary construction for the Games. The same will happen on the aquatics stadium, the tennis center and the equestrian venue in that order. All the venues are ready.
On the progress of the Olympic Village …
Nascimento: With 31 towers and several elevators, the commission of such a large development, it will always give a few bumps on the road. We’re used to that. But we are absolutely sure that by the 24th of July, the athletes will be welcome in an amazing environment to perform at their best. … Things are going to be fully ready for the Games.
