Maracana Stadium holds test games ahead of August Olympics

As Brazil prepares for the Olympic Games in August, a test event has been held at the Maracana Olympic Stadium.

The test event also doubled as the Ibero-American Championships, a bi-annual event held for Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries around the world.

The 3-day event is part of a long list of activities planned to test the various facilities for the Olympics before it officially begins in 3 months time.

Events held on Saturday at the Maracana Stadium included 800m race for men and women, high jump and hammer throw.

Brazil’s David Kleberson won the men’s 800m event.

Carol Rodriguez of Team Puerto Rico was impressed with the transformation of the stadium.

“I like the facility a lot. It’s really nice. The track feels really good. The warm-up facility is really good. This should be great for the Olympics,” she said.

The 78 thousand plus capacity stadium hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2014 World Cup.

It was then redesigned to host the Olympic and Paralympic games in August this year.

Before the main events though, the Maracana Stadium will host its final test event, which is the Paralympic International Open from May 18-21.

Reuters