Construction For 2016 Rio Olympic Games Golf Course Underway

With World Cup fever "spreading and all eyes on the twelve host cities' preparations, construction for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio has been progressing positively yet under the radar for the most part," according to Robbie Blakeley of the RIO TIMES. The Olympic golf course is being built at Marapendi Reserve in Barra da Tijuca, "one of four zones which will serve as home of the majority of Olympic Games." Rio 2016 President Carlos Arthur Nuzman described "the monumental importance of the new venue." Nuzman: "As it marks the return of golf to the Olympic Games after over a century of absence, this course represents the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the sport." Jeremy Lovelace, a British expatriate living in Rio and a keen golfer, said, "I think there is an opportunity. With the rise in purchasing power of the middle income groups in Brazil, previously out of reach leisure activities are likely to grow in popularity. Golf is no exception" (RIO TIMES, 12/17).