Rio Olympic Park Races Towards Completion

The 2016 Rio Olympics games are almost here and organisers are racing to complete the Olympic park.

As usual, there are a slew of media reports claiming they aren't going to make it but, if the photos below are any guide, they are no further behind than many previous Olympics.

London-based AECOM was selected in 2013 to design the masterplan for the Rio Olympics after its success with London’s 2012 Olympic park master plan and they have learned from the mistakes of previous hosts.

The design emphasises the temporary nature of sporting venues in order to avoid Rio being lumped with massive unused sporting arenas like former host cities including Athens and Beijing.

The setting for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio is a lagoon-side peninsula with 15 sports venues dotted along a network of colourful snaking pathways.

The Plan[/caption] How it looks now[/caption]Located on a flat triangular site in the city's Barra da Tijuca district, the main Olympic park centres itself around a trio of existing stadiums leftover from the 2007 Pan-American Games, extending the life of those stadiums.

Tennis Centre Now[/caption]Seven new stadiums are being constructed on the site with London studio AndArchitects collaborating with Rio office Lopes, Santos & Ferreira Gomes on the handball arena, which will be dismantled after the games and used to build four new schools.

UK firm 3DReid is teaming up with Rio studio BLAC Architects to renovate the existing Velodrome, while the Maria Lenk Aquatic Centre will be reused for swimming and diving events.