Take your marks: Athletes’ Village to open its doors
Kiwis athletes on podium in London
Ready or not, the Rio Olympics are opening their doors. The Games begin in just over two weeks, but the Athletes’ Village opens officially on Monday (local time), meaning 10,500 athletes and another 7000 staff members will start trickling into the luxurious layout, with the pace picking up daily until the August 6 opening ceremony.
The 31-building compound should pamper the world’s best. It’s set among tennis courts, soccer fields, seven swimming pools – with mountains and the sea as a backdrop – and topped off by a massive dining-kitchen compound that’s as large as three football fields.
‘‘I want to help all the athletes have a wonderful welcome to Brazil,’’ said Priscilla Antonello, a residence centre deputy manager whose job is to help athletes find their accommodations.
Will she be star-struck by so many Olympians?
‘‘I couldn’t be in this job if I behaved like that,’’ she replied, standing on the 13th floor of one of buildings, gazing out over cycling paths, bubbling fountains and lots of green.
Some delegations had already arrived earlier this week, easy to spot with banners or flags hanging off the sides of buildings.
Slovenia had the best banner. In green and white it says: ‘‘I Feel sloveenia.’’ The LOVE portion was set off in white type, making sure the message got across.
Another read: ‘‘All for Denmark’’.
Banners or flags from Canada, Britain, Portugal, Finland and Sweden were among those spotted. A tiny red and yellow Chinese flag was pinned near the top of one of the compounds.
Everything about the village is massive, though fairly standard for recent Summer Olympics.
Organisers say the compound has 10,160 rooms; 18,000 beds; seven laundries; an enormous, hospital-like clinic and a massive gym.
In addition, organisers are providing 450,000 condoms, three times more than London did four years ago.
Among them will be 100,000 female condoms.
Organisers said this is to encourage safe sex. Tom Walsh and Eliza Mccartney wrapped up their build-up to the Rio Olympics with podium finishes in the London Anniversary Games yesterday.
Walsh finished second in a deep shot put field at the Diamond League event, throwing 21.54m – fourth longest of his career – but needed another 50cm to match American rival Joe Kovacs.
Canterbury’s world indoor champion managed three throws beyond 21m and led the competition until the fifth and penultimate attempt.
Walsh opened with a 20.64m effort, before hitting 21.54m with his second turn inside the circle.
German David Storl, the 2011 and 2013 world champion, was third with 21.39m, while defending Olympic champion Tomasz Majewski, from Poland, finished sixth with 20.33m.
Mccartney, who finished fifth in the pole vault in her Diamond League debut in Monaco earlier this month, went two places better in London.
The 19-year-old Aucklander made a shaky start but went on to clear 4.62m to finish third.
She needed all three attempts to clear 4.62m, but couldn’t scale the next height (4.72m).
Cantabrian Angie Petty finished sixth in the 800m, stopping the clock in 2min 0.92sec, her second fastest time of her European campaign this year.
Great Britain’s Shelayna Clarkeoskan won in 1min 59.46sec.
Meanwhile, James Preston set a New Zealand under-20 record in the 800m at the World Junior Championships in Poland.
The 19-year-old Wellingtonian clocked 1min 48.06sec on his way to breaking Jason Stewart’s (1min 48.73sec) old mark and seventh place finish in the semifinal.