- Title: OLYMPICS-RIO/BACH IOC President plays beach soccer with Olympic athletes
- Date: 5th August 2015
- Summary: BACH SHAKING HANDS WITH ATHLETES BACH BEING PRESENTED WITH A NAMED BRAZIL SHIRT BACH HOLDING UP SHIRT FOR CAMERAS BACH RECEIVING BALL WITH A HEADER
- Embargoed: 20th August 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Brazil
- Country: Brazil
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA9W3B2C2LR6BV6QLBRNXIGWTWD
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach held a friendly kick about with Olympic athletes on the beach in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday (August 4) after flying in for celebrations this week marking one year to go until the Olympic Games.
Bach was presented with a personalised Brazil jersey at sundown, before knocking some headers and a kick towards goal in a show of keen spirits if not mean soccer skills.
"This was a great start to the one year to go celebrations. After a 24-hour flight, having a bit of sport and with so many athletes, this is how it should be. I think the Games are very important for the cariocas (the people of Rio), and for Brazil because they will leave a great, great legacy. There will be a Rio de Janeiro before the Olympic Games, and there will be a Rio de Janeiro, a better one after the Olympic Games," Bach told reporters.
A year ahead of the Games, the Olympic village is 84 percent complete, and the swimming pool, media centre and the three arenas that will host six indoor events are all more than two-thirds ready, according to numbers released by the Foreign Ministry.
Among the venues where most work is needed are the velodrome and the hockey pitches, which are only half-way completed.
Work on temporary venues for the rugby and beach volleyball is still to begin, as are final alterations to the track and field stadium and the Maracana, where the opening and closing ceremonies and the soccer finals will take place.
A new metro line out to Barra da Tijuca, where many of the events will take place, is on schedule, as are new bus lanes, officials claim.
The biggest issues now surround water and possibly money. The waters off the Atlantic coast have been filthy for decades and Rio promised to reduce pollution by 80 percent in the bay where sailing, triathlon and open water swimming will take place.
But independent studies released last week showed dangerously high levels of viruses and bacteria and officials admit they will not meet that target.
"For the Games what is important is that we will have good conditions for the athletes, there in the waters where the competitions are taking place, and there you have seen with the Triathlon test event that everything is going in the right direction. It has to be monitored closely, it will be monitored closely, and then in one year from now I think we will see great competitions," said Bach.
Money, meanwhile, is not yet an issue but could be as Brazil's economy stalls. Accentuating matters is a huge corruption investigation known by the code name 'Car Wash' that has put some of the country's biggest construction bosses in jail.
At least five of the companies are working on Olympic projects and credit lines have dried up as uncertainty swirls around their future. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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