Rio Olympic village ready to host thousands of athletes

The Rio Olympic Village is ready to welcome it’s first batch of athletes expected to arrive on Sunday.

Considered the largest in history, the Olympic Village has 31 buildings and more than 3,600 apartments.

It has an array of sports facilities including tennis courts and swimming pools as well beauty centers, a multi-faith center and a state of the art medical center.

The medical center or polyclinic which sits on 3500 square meters of land according to the Rio 2016 medical director, Marcelo Patricio “practically works like a hospital”.

“The only difference is that we do not have a surgical centre, but all patients, all athletes that need that type of treatment (surgical) will be sent to the appropriate hospitals” Patricio added.

With the Zika outbreak in Brazil being a thorny issue which has forced some athletes to cancel their participation in the games, condom dispensers have been made available following caution from health officials to athletes to practice safe sex to avert a further spread of the virus.

The village also has a big gym to help athletes train and stay in shape for the games. There is also a physiotherapy center to cater to athletes who might pick up injuries or need some treatment.

The Olympic Village will be used by some 18,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes and their technical teams who will participate in the games in August and September respectively.

A 15-hour restaurant has also been opened in the village to cater to the nutritional needs of the athletes.

“During the Olympics it (restaurant) will be the largest functioning restaurant in the world” said Flavia Albuquerque the Rio 2016 nutritionist, “but we will be feeding athletes, so we have to take full care with the quality of the food and the nutrition that we will be offering.”

She however said the heavy traditional Brazilian bean and meat stew, feijoada will not be on the menu.

More than 10,000 athletes from over 200 member nations of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will compete in about 39 sports including athletics, boxing and swimming as well as golf which is making a comeback to the Olympics after 112 years.

The 2016 Olympic games opens on August 5 and ends on August 21.