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Rio 2016 Bets On Temporary Venues, But Economist Questions Cost Effectiveness

With a quarter of Rio 2016’s Olympic venues being built for temporary use, Rio 2016 Organizing Committee Sports Venues Design Manager Gustavo Nascimento says the temporary structures will minimize the risk of leaving the city with white elephants. "Building temporary structures that suit the needs of the Games and only keeping what the community is able to absorb is the proper way," Nascimento said. Venues such as the Beach Volleyball Arena in Copacabana and the Olympic Aquatics Stadium at Barra Olympic Park will be deconstructed after the conclusion of the Games. "We feared the lack of use for these venues, which led to very creative ideas," Nascimento said. The Future Arena, which will host Olympic handball and Paralympic goalball, will be dismantled and its materials will be used in the construction of four state schools. While the plan is something Hamburg University Economics Professor Wolfgang Maenning calls innovative, he questioned its overall cost effectiveness. “As far as I know, the Brazilians are the first ones to try this kind of sustainability," he said. "It’s a showcase, and we have to see what happens. As an economist, I dare to ask whether the cost of converting this arena into schools is really lower than just constructing new schools. I really don’t know. But it’s a question of management, of cost analyzers, and if the Brazilian case is a good one, I am sure it will be studied by other Olympic bidders and could be copied. At least it’s an innovative idea." Innovation is something the IOC is in need of, said Maenning, a Gold-Medal winning rower who is critical of the organization’s host city criteria. While temporary facilities and repurposed structures are great ways to limit the risk of venues becoming a burden on the community, Maenning thinks the problem stems from the bid process itself. "Why is it that the Olympic family and Olympic sports demand stadiums in a size from which they know that after the Olympics, they can’t be used anymore in the relevant countries?" Maenning asked. "I think that the IOC, sooner or later, will not insist anymore to have a catalog or prescription of what you have to offer, for instance, the size of the stadium you have to offer if you want to apply for the Olympics. I think there should be much more individuality by the Olympic bid countries." 

TIME FOR A CHANGE: As Brazil’s economy struggles, the country cannot afford to continue to pour money into Olympic projects after they have outlived their usefulness in the Games. The IOC has long sold its product as an opportunity for countries to showcase themselves, build up a city’s infrastructure and increase local interest in sports through legacy venues. Temporary structures change this dynamic. "What the Olympic family always hoped to achieve with the Olympics is that the sporting infrastructure would become better in the host city for a long-term benefit," Maenning said. "It might not be an economic benefit, but it’s a benefit for the sport and the performance of the sport." While he laments the decreasing number of legacy venues, Maenning said that compromise is a necessity. "We have to change a little bit our minds, and we have to change the concept of the Olympics," he said. "With the Rio case, it’s a very interesting one because it could change the perception of the Olympics in having a benefit of at least adding four additional schools for the local community. ... It’s not that the city or the world has to change, but the Olympic family has to change."

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