Three more young athletes from West Africa will not be able to compete in the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games due to the perceived risk of transmission of Ebola, it emerged on Friday. 

Nigeria and Sierra Leone have already pulled out of the Games, citing discrimination and warnings from Chinese authorities.

“Based on health authority guidelines it has been decided that athletes from affected areas will not compete in combat sports,” the IOC said in a “joint communique” with the organising committee.

It was also decided that no athletes from the region would compete in aquatics, based on “the inability to completely exclude the risk of potential infection”.

According to the joint communique, two athletes in combat sports and one swimmer will be unable to compete. According to the Nanjing 2014 website, Liberia’s Momodu Sombai was due to compete in swimming, alongside Alhoussene Sylla of Guinea. Mamadama Bangoura, also of Guinea, was set to compete in Judo. 

The remaining West African athletes will be “subject to regular temperature and physical assessment throughout the period.”

On Wednesday it emerged that Nigeria and Sierra Leone were withdrawing their entire teams from the Youth Olympic Games.  

"Nigerian athletes were quarantined, isolated and barred from training alongside athletes from other countries since they arrived the competition venue over news of Ebola virus in Nigeria. Following this discrimination, we have resolved to pull out from the Games," said Gbenga Elegbeleye, director general of the National Sports Commission. 

According to Patrick Coker, the president of the National Olympic Committee of Sierra Leone, their Chinese Embassy had warned them that they "might find themselves in a troubled and awkward situation once they get to China's port of entry."

But according to the IOC, no teams have been excluded from the Games. “The organizing committee has made it clear that all delegations are welcome to the Games and each country is free to take their own decision on attendance,” the joint communique said.

“We regret that due to this issue some young athletes may have suffered twice, both from the anguish caused by the outbreak in their home countries and by not being able to compete in the Youth Olympic Games.”

The IOC and organising committee will invite the athletes to compete at a future event in Nanjing “to experience the welcoming atmosphere and spirit of the city and Jiangsu province.”

They have also offered to include the national flags of the affected countries in the opening ceremony, which takes place on Saturday 16th December and promises to be as spectacular as Beijing’s in 2008.

Samsung has been a part of IOC Worldwide TOP Programme since the 1998 Nagano Winter Games and the extension means the South Korean firm will now feature as a supporter of the Rio de Janeiro, PyeongChang and Tokyo Games as well as the Youth Olympic Games through to 2020.

IOC President Thomas Bach said: “We are delighted to be able to continue our partnership with Samsung. The funding generated by the TOP Programme directly supports the staging of every Olympic Games, as well as every one of the National Olympic Committees, enabling athletes from all over the world to prepare for and compete at each Games.

Samsung will be the official Worldwide Olympic Partner in the Wireless Communication Equipment and Computing Equipment category and has previously provided the Olympic Games with its wireless communications platform and mobile phones, most recently at the Sochi 2014 Winter Games.

The expanded product category includes smartphones, tablets, laptops, personal computers and other computing equipment as well as desktop printers.

“Samsung also supports the operations of each Games by providing leading wireless telecommunications and technology equipment,” said Bach. “In addition, Samsung’s technologies and global marketing reach will engage fans around the world with the Olympic values and the Olympic Movement.”

Samsung said in a statement: “As mobile technologies have become an inseparable part of our daily lives, Samsung believes its continued support will play a significant role in bringing further innovation to the staging of the Olympic Games.”

The new deal means all of the existing Olympic TOP partners have committed to the programme through to 2020. Other companies to sign up to the IOC’s Worldwide TOP Programme include Coca-Cola, Atos and Panasonic who have similar deals, with each covering their own area of expertise. 

As venue construction finally starts to shift up a gear in Rio, the president of the Rio 2016 organising committee has pointed out that the wider developments in the city will have a bigger impact on Rio than any other Olympic city in history. 

Speaking on the two year countdown to the Games, Carlos Nuzman said “The Games will leave a huge legacy for both Rio and Brazil, and are starting to take shape. No other host city will have had such big transformational benefits from the Games as Rio.”

Carlos Nuzman is the latest of many distinguished speakers confirmed to speak at HOST CITY’s Bid to Win conference on 28th October in London, where he will give an exclusive presentation. 

The civic developments include a massive facelift of the historic port area, major transport upgrades, sanitation improvements, anti-flood measures as well as new educational facilities. These projects are being accelerated through 27 government initiatives in the areas of infrastructure, the environment and social improvement. 

The future of the Olympic sports facilities are also being taken into consideration as part of the legacy plans. The Olympic Park’s three sports halls – the Maria Lenk Aquatic Centre, the Rio Olympic Velodrome and the Olympic Tennis Centre – will remain in use after the Games, collectively forming Brazil’s first Olympic Training Centre (OTC) for high-performance athletes.

The fourth Olympic hall, which will host handball matches during the Games – will be repurposed into four schools. “Converting the Rio 2016 handball arena into four schools after the Games is an excellent example of Rio’s commitment to ensuring the 2016 Games leave tangible benefits for the local community,” said Nuzman.

“The ‘nomadic architecture’ concept defined by our government partners is a first for the Games and we are proud that 2,000 Brazilian schoolchildren will benefit from it for many years to come.”

Transport overhaul

Sports events in 2016 will take place in widely dispersed areas in Rio. The Maracanã stadium is 13km north of Copacabana and Ipanema; the Barra Olympic Park is about 25km west of central Rio; while the Deodoro cluster is in a similarly distant part of town with little in the way of hospitality services.

Barra is already connected to the international airport via the Transcarioca BRT, which was built in time for World Cup, complementing another BRT service to Barra that opened in 2012. 

A 32km Transbrasil bus rapid-transit (BRT) scheme will connect Deodoro to central Rio, benefitting 900,000 passengers daily. However, Transbrasil’s tender date has been delayed and work will not start until October at earliest. 

A new 26km Transolímpica, due to open in January 2016, will link the competition centres in Barra and Deodoro and is expected to be used by 400,000 people per day.

The major transport upgrades also include the creation of a light rail transit (LRT) service in the city centre and the extension of the underground metro system. A new 16km underground line, Linha 4, is due to open early in 2016, linking central Rio to Barra with a predicted journey time of 34 minutes.

To find out more, attend HOST CITY: Bid to Win (www.bidtowin-hostcity.net) and experience the exclusive update from Rio 2016 President Carlos Nuzman

The scale of Rio 2016’s infrastructure projects is immense and partnership with experienced suppliers from London 2012 will be crucial for success – but budgets must be carefully monitored. 

This was the message given by Rio 2016’s head of procurement, Fernando Cotrim, in an exclusive interview with HOST CITY at the South American Sport Events Seminar, organised by UK Trade and Investment during the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

“If you consider that you have the greatest combination of needs in terms of materials and services in one event, you can imagine the size of challenge,” Cotrim told HOST CITY. “We are looking for around 2,500 suppliers to be in place for 2016.”

Cotrim’s major area of focus is temporary construction. “The hardest part is to get the right suppliers at the right time and to build a temporary and sustainable supply chain, he said.

“That’s the challenge – the temporary part is the most important.”

London 2012 has set the template of a mega event where the majority of infrastructure is temporary. “We are taking a similar approach. Probably around 60 per cent of constructions will be temporary.”

Not only is the concept similar to London 2012; Rio 2016 is targeting the same companies. “We will use similar suppliers. The ideal for us is to bring the same suppliers but they come to Brazil, partner with local companies and help our country to grow in this business.”

Cotrim cited Arena Group, who provided temporary venues for London 2012 and Glasgow 2014, as an example of a company with expertise in this area. Other notable suppliers include ES Global, also present at the UKTI event.

Asked what his biggest concern was, Cotrim replied “Always to be monitoring – to have the best suppliers and to stay on budget. That’s a real concern. What we’ve learned from other Games is that if you don’t manage the budget you can go to infinity.

“So you have to be very cautious about the budget. We are always seeking innovative solutions, but at the same time low cost and sustainable.”

Rio 2016 has been under fire for severe delays to its construction projects, particularly the Deodoro Park cluster of venues. Cotrim says the tide of opinion is changing in the wake of a largely successful FIFA World Cup. 

“What people saw, what the media saw in the World Cup changed this mindset. Deodoro was a concern, but the suppliers are starting to work and so I think this mindset has changed a little bit. The last comment from the IOC is that we have got back on track and we are in a good shape.”

However, the IOC is still keeping a very watchful eye on Rio 2016 projects. IOC Vice President Craig Reedie confirmed to HOST CITY that the IOC’s head of Olympic Games, Gilbert Felli, will be focused 100 per cent on ensuring a successful Games in 2016.

Under the capital city’s proposals, Berlin would utilise its Olympiastadion – the centrepiece when it last hosted the Games in 1936. Elsewhere, plans focus on the use of land at the still-operational Tegel airport, which will close down when Berlin’s new international airport opens.

Tefel is about a 15-minute drive from the north-west of Berlin city centre, while land at the centrally located and defunct Tempelhof airport would be used alongside a selection of existing sports venues.

Hamburg’s proposal focuses on the Kleiner Grasbrook area, roughly a 10-minute walking distance from the city centre. A newly-built Olympic stadium would be downsized to a 20,000 capacity after the Games and the Athlete’s Village would serve to address Hamburg’s housing shortage.

DOSB president Alfons Hörmann said that the decision to pursue the Olympic Games would have to accommodate any possible bid by the German Football Association (DFB) to host the Uefa Euro 2024 national team championship.

“Following the discussion process we will decide if we apply with Berlin or Hamburg and, where appropriate, at what time for the Olympic Games,” he said. “This will be done in close coordination with our affiliates, for example because of the possible application of the DFB for the European Championship in 2024. It is important to again be aware that we are at the beginning of a long process, whose clear aim is to bring the Olympic Games to Germany. But the crucial prerequisite for this is clear approval of the affected citizens and all social groups.” 

A bid from Germany would join a potentially strong field for the 2024 Olympic Games, with Paris, Rome, Baku, Doha, Dubai and Istanbul primed to enter the race alongside a South African bid. The US Olympic Committee is set to put forward one of Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco or Washington D.C. from its candidate cities.

Munich hosted Germany’s last summer Olympics in 1972, with Berlin having previously hosted in 1936. Berlin entered a bid for the 2000 Games, but was eliminated in the second round of voting with Sydney eventually awarded the event. Hamburg had put itself forward for the 2012 Games only for Leipzig to be chosen as Germany’s candidate. Leipzig was then defeated as the event went to London.

The DOSB has yet to announce a deadline over a decision on which city to back or if Germany will target the 2024 Games or the next edition in 2028.

The company was selected following an international tender process.

Under its partnership with Rio 2016, Eventim will provide a ticketing platform for Brazilian and international customers. The company has previous Olympic experience having served the 2006 and 2014 winter Games, in Turin, Italy and Sochi, Russia, respectively. 

Rio 2016 runs from August 5-21, with the Paralympic Games following from September 7-18. A total of nine million tickets are expected to be issued across the event’s sporting programme.

Eventim said: “In its partnership with Rio 2016, Eventim will continue to contribute to the Olympic and Paralympic movement by providing a robust, state-of-the-art ticketing platform, building on those which have been delivered for Torino 2006 and Sochi 2014 and embracing technological and operational know-how.

“Through their cooperation, Eventim and Rio 2016 shall ensure the delivery of a fair and transparent system for the distribution of tickets for Brazilian and international customers.”

Rio 2016 last month marked the two-year countdown to the opening of the Olympic Games by vowing that the delays and cost overruns which hit preparations for the 2014 Fifa World Cup will not be repeated.

Brazil’s staging of the World Cup was widely judged to be a major success, but the build-up saw significant delays in the delivery of stadia and price increases in preparing the venues.

This led to fears over Rio 2016, but local organising committee chief executive, Sidney Levy, told the Bloomberg news agency: “The time has come for the Brazilian people to deliver something on time, on budget, with full transparency. We can always fail, but that’s what we are willing to do.” 

Rio 2016 said construction across the four competition zones stood at 55 per cent completion on August 5.

In advance of his presentation at HOST CITY: Bid to Win, Carlos Nuzman says Rio’s regeneration will outshine that of any previous host city.

For more information about attending HOST CITY: Bid to Win, visit www.bidtowin-hostcity.net

The mayor of Rio de Janeiro on Thursday announced opportunities for construction companies on the Deodoro Sports Complex, admitting there is no time to spare.

Meanwhile, the Brazilian authorities have announced a US$10.8bn budget for civic infrastructure works, amid widespread concerns about the city's readiness. Gilbert Felli, director of Olympic Games at the IOC, has introduced an unprecedented level of oversight over preparations.

Speaking to Bloomberg News on Wednesday, Paes said “[The IOC's] presence is very good, because we are going to show them we have no reason for concern.” 

Construction work is now moving forwards quickly. The Mais Rio construction consortium announced on Thursday that a two-week-long strike at the Olympic Park was over. Speaking at a press conference, Paes said “The Olympic Park is going so well that even with the strike, we haven't noticed a deviation [from the timeline]."

The biggest concern is over the Deodoro Sports Complex. “We’re left without any time to lose in Deodoro; we can’t have any errors there,” said Paes. 

The government of Rio de Janeiro formally invited companies to bid for construction work on Deodoro on Thursday. The work is being divided into two blocks. Contracts will be awarded to the lowest bidders and are expected to go for a total of US$358m of public funds. 

Paes said "We ended up without time to burn, but the equipment is much simpler than at the Olympic Park."

Rugby sevens

One of the sports to feature at the delayed Deodoro Sports Complex is rugby sevens, which will take place in a 20,000 temporary venue to be built nearer the time. 

“Following a constructive meeting with the other sports in the Deodoro Zone and Rio 2016 at SportAccord last week, we believe that the location has the potential to deliver a vibrant festival hub and a great experience for athletes and fans,” a spokesperson for the International Rugby Board (IRB) told HOST CITY on Thursday.

“However, for this to be achieved, it is essential that planning and preparations for the Zone and required infrastructure now move forward rapidly.

“As a new sport on the programme, we do not get a second chance to make a first impression. It is important all involved maintain an on-going and fully collaborative dialogue regarding venue planning, schedule integration, logistics and overall fan experience and we will continue to do all we can to support Rio 2016 and the delivery of a spectacular and memorable debut for Rugby Sevens at the Games.”

The IRB’s statement follows their chief executive Brett Gosper’s comments to the Daily Telegraph on Wednesday that “We’re more worried about actual infrastructure, public transport from other parts of Rio, to get teams and spectators out to that Deodoro Zone area.”

Conscious that civic infrastructure also needs to be upgraded quickly, Brazilian authorities have announced an infrastructure budget for the Games of US$10.8bn. The budget is 25 per cent more than originally planned, accounting for a new fourth metro line and other new projects that have pushed costs up for the host city.

Gilbert Felli, the IOC Olympic Games executive director and Jérôme Valcke, the General Secretary of FIFA, are to share the stage with other major figures in sports events to discuss the legacy of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. 

The conference, which is hosted by the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), takes place in French on 6 May at the Expo Beaulieu Lausanne. Other speakers include CIES director and IOC member Denis Oswald, lawyer and former IOC executive director François Carrard and sports architect Miranda Kiuri. 

The meeting comes at a time when both Valcke and Felli have been closely scrutinising the progress of the FIFA 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Both events are experiencing serious delays that have threatened to impact the successful delivery of Brazil’s mega-sports events. Any problems in event delivery would reflect badly on the host nation and have a knock-on effect on legacy plans. 

“The results of such major sporting events are never guaranteed and therefore the legacy is always a theme of discussion, notably because of the costs incurred,” the CIES said in a news release on Thursday. 

“It is true that some countries have been able to deal with legacy better than others and for this reason CIES has decided to host this round table and gather experts just before the FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. This conference will allow everyone to better understand this challenge and its related issues, as well as the real legacy to these two major Brazilian competitions.

More information about the event  is available at http://www.cies.ch/cies/agenda/

Preparations for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games are “the worst I have experienced” and “worse than Athens”, according to IOC Vice President John Coates.

“The situation is critical on the ground,” he said at an Olympic Forum in Sydney on Tuesday.

While the IOC is taking “unprecedented” action in an attempt to resolve “critical” construction delays, there is “no plan B” for the possibility of Rio not being ready to host the Games in 2016.

Coates has been involved in the Olympic movement for 20 years and has made six visits to Rio as a member of the IOC Coordination Commission, overseeing Rio’s preparations.

According to a statement from the Australian Olympic Committee, of which Coates is the president, IOC experts have been embedded in the organising committee, including construction project manager to ensure that works progress at the faster pace needed.

“The IOC has formed a special task force to try and speed up preparations,” said Coates. 

The Rio 2016 organising committee has not responded directly to Coates’ comments, but it has said that it welcomes the intervention from the IOC. 

“Very concerned”

“I’ve become very concerned, to be quite frank,” said Coates. “The last Coordination Commission visit earlier this month showed that they are really not ready in many, many ways. 

“And then we followed that up with a meeting in Turkey two weeks ago when 18 of the federations said the organisers were not ready in respect of their venues, particularly in the case of the eight sports in the second Olympic Park at Deodoro. Really, construction hasn’t commenced there apart from a bit of ground clearance.”

Speaking on the BBC World Service on Tuesday night, Jefferson Puff, a BBC correspondent in Brazil said “If Deodoro was their only concern I think the IOC would be in heaven, because it’s so much more than that.

“The subway in the city was supposed to be extended, and that has been delayed. The bay in which some of the maritime competitions are supposed to take place is completely polluted. Critics say it will be very hard to clean it up in time. 

“The budget for the Olympics is also a concern. You could argue that it’s basically a case of mismanagement of planning, of the money involved.”

“The challenges for sport leaders and team management is that they’re not getting answers to the questions when they go over,” said Coates. 

“Can they use the car parks in the village for recovery centres? What will be the time to take from this venue to this venue? All of those things, they’re being fobbed off. No one is able to give answers at the moment.”

"No plan B"

Despite the very real possibility that Rio might not be ready in time, there has been no mention of any other cities that might be ready to host if necessary.  

“The IOC has adopted a more hands on role. It is unprecedented for the IOC but there is no plan B. We are going to Rio,” Coates said. “From my experience it’s the worst that I have experienced but we just have to make it happen and that’s the IOC’s approach.

“You can’t walk away from this. And if this comes off, the first Games in the South American continent in the magical city in so many ways it will be a wonderful experience for the athletes.”

Comparisons have been drawn between Rio’s Olympic projects and Brazil’s last minute rush to host the 2014 World Cup, which starts on 12 June. 

“I think maybe the organisers of the Olympics are actually betting with destiny, betting with the future – hoping that they can accomplish the same,” said Puff. “Only for the critics, the delays for the Olympics are bigger than for the World Cup already, so one could argue that the game they are playing is quite risky.”

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Wednesday awarded NBCUniversal the US broadcast rights for the Olympic Games through to 2032.

The deal covers all media platforms, including free-to-air television, subscription television, internet and mobile. The agreement will run from 2021 to 2032, extending an agreement in 2011 which gave NBCU the right to broadcast the Olympic Games until 2020. 

NBCU will now broadcast every Olympic Games and Youth Olympic Games through to 2032, regardless of which host cities are elected to host these events.

The deal is valued at US$ 7.65bn with an extra US$100m signing bonus that will be used to promote Olympism and the Olympic values between 2015 and 2020, the IOC said in a statement.

“This agreement is excellent news for the entire Olympic Movement as it helps to ensure its financial security in the long term, in particular future host cities of the Olympic Games, the athletes of the 204 National Olympic Committees and the International Sports Federations,” said IOC President Thomas Bach, who led the negotiations.

“The IOC has worked in close partnership with NBC for many decades, and we are thrilled we will continue to work with them through to 2032. NBC’s expertise in sports broadcasting, as well as their passion for the Olympic values, will mean we shall be able continue to offer first-class broadcast coverage of the Olympic Games to the widest possible American audience for many years to come.”

Steve Burke, CEO, NBCUniversal, said: “The Olympics are part of the fabric of our company, and we couldn’t be more excited that today’s announcement guarantees that this massively popular and profitable programming will continue to air every two years on the broadcast, cable, digital and mobile platforms of NBCUniversal for the next two decades."

NBCU first broadcast the Olympic Games in Tokyo 1964. By 2032, it will have covered a total of 23 editions of the world’s biggest multisport event.