Month: March 2024

International Olympic Committee news

Three schools have opened this week and another two are set to be inaugurated next month, fulfilling pre-Games plans for the long-term use of arenas that featured the world’s best athletes at the Olympic and Paralympic Games Rio 2016.

The inaugurations mean that key aspects of the Rio 2016 legacy plans are now materialising, following governance issues during the years after the Games.

“Finally, we will deliver to the population of Rio the legacy of the Olympic Games Rio 2016 from the perspective of sports venues,” said Mayor Eduardo Paes.

Carioca Arena 3

Built as a permanent venue in the Olympic Park that hosted Olympic taekwondo and fencing, and Paralympic judo, Carioca Arena 3 has been converted into a special sports education institution, and was ready for the start of the 2024 school year.

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The concept for these institutions was introduced by the city government in 2012 in order to capitalise on the momentum of the Games’ preparation and to support the practice of sports by students in public education. The enhanced sports curriculum has been offered to over 5,000 students across 11 of these schools.

Not only will the converted Carioca Arena 3 be an addition to this roster, it will also be the largest school in Rio’s municipal education network, with its 18,000 square metres, 24 classrooms and sports infrastructure for some 900 students. It has been named after Olympian and Brazilian volleyball legend Isabel Salgado, who died in 2022.

Carioca Arenas 1 and 2

During the ceremony to unveil the new school at Carioca Arena 3, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also officially kicked off the work to transform Carioca Arena 2, which was the Rio 2016 venue for Olympic judo and wrestling and Paralympic boccia, and has been under Federal Government management since the Games, into a branch of the Federal Institute of Technical Education. Once ready next year, it will serve 1,400 young people from local communities.

Carioca Arena 1, the largest of the permanent arenas in the Olympic Park and host of Olympic basketball and Paralympic wheelchair rugby and wheelchair basketball in 2016, has remained a multisport venue, frequently used for national and international events.

Arena of the Future

Another concept introduced in the Rio 2016 venue planning was nomadic infrastructure – structures which, after they have served their initial purpose, can be converted for another use. This was built into the project for the 12,000-seat Arena of the Future, which hosted Olympic handball and Paralympic goalball at the Olympic Park, and was always intended to be dismantled and turned into four schools for almost 2,000 students in Rio de Janeiro.

Two of these schools were unveiled this week in low social development neighbourhoods of the city’s West zone, a region that will also host the other two schools due to open in March. They will all adopt a new model of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics) education schools introduced by the city government.

Olympic Aquatics Stadium

Also originally planned as a temporary venue in the Rio 2016 Olympic Park, the Olympic Aquatics Stadium has been fully dismantled after featuring athletes from Olympic swimming and water polo, and Para swimming events. The Rio city government has announced that one of its swimming pools will form part of a new 234,000-square metre public park also to be built in the West zone.

The three other temporary swimming pools used at the Games (two for training at the Athletes’ Park and one for water polo preliminaries warm-up at the permanent Maria Lenk Aquatic Centre in the Olympic Park) were already disassembled and donated a few years ago.

These have become available for high-performance and recreational use in the Brazilian states of Amazonas, Bahia and São Paulo.

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Rio Olympic Velodrome

In addition to providing 2,000 local community residents a month with access to over 20 different sports and recreational activities, and hosting national and international competitions at the Olympic Park, the Rio Olympic Velodrome is being prepared to house the Rio Olympic Museum. The newly created exhibition centre will tell the story of the Rio 2016 Games through technology and interactive displays. Work is underway and expected to be completed this year.

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Olympic Way

The Olympic Way, a pedestrian thoroughfare that connected the main entrance gate to the live site at the far end of the Olympic Park, and provided access to the venues during the Games, has been open to the public since the Games finished. Along with a wider part of the original park, it has been the venue for the renowned Rock in Rio festival since 2017.

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It is now being turned into a public park that will benefit local communities, with 465 public tables and seats, sports courts, squares, a skate park, playgrounds, gymnastics equipment and bicycle racks. It will also have over 900 trees and 16,000 bushes planted throughout its 36,000 square metres.

Las Vegas Sands

As part of Women’s History Month 2024, Sands is featuring women who help drive the company’s success and exemplify its culture of professional growth and advancement. After holding a variety of corporate, civic and nonprofit leadership positions, Tracey Edwards joined Sands New York this past year and is the region’s newly appointed senior vice president/corporate social responsibility officer.

Prior to joining Sands New York, Edwards served as Commissioner of the New York State Public Service Commission, which ensures secure and reliable access to electric, gas, steam, telecommunications and water services for New York State’s residential and business consumers while protecting the natural environment.

Edwards spent a significant portion of her career in at Verizon where she held a variety of leadership positions. As region president, Edwards led a team of 4,000 employees responsible for field operations of voice, broadband and video services across the state of New York. Prior to her region president role, she led staffing and diversity for Verizon, responsible for ethics, hiring, recruitment, diversity councils and human resource policies. Edwards also served as president of the Empire City Subway Company, a subsidiary of Verizon that specializes in subsurface engineering and construction services.

After many years as a corporate executive, Edwards started her own consulting company focused on branding; diversity, equity and inclusion; and organizational, workforce and economic development.

She currently serves on the boards of directors for the NAACP, New Hour for Women and Children, and the Scott J. Beigel Memorial Fund, and is the Long Island regional director of the NAACP New York State Conference. Edwards is a former board member of the United Way of Long Island, former executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Suffolk and past president of the Melville Lions Club.

Outline your career path and current role with Sands New York.

“After over a 30-year career in the public and private sector, I was honored to join Sands in October 2023 as senior vice president, corporate social responsibility officer. My role is to integrate our strategic plan and initiatives for our planned integrated resort operation in New York.”

What skills, trainings, mentors or experiences have helped you build a successful career?

“I was blessed to have a circle of women who worked in multiple departments that I could call on for advice, counsel and assistance. I, in turn, did the same for them. You need to realize that it is easier if you depend on and help each other along the way. I also had male and female champions who helped me with my journey.

“My drive was to make sure that no one (male or female) could out-work me, but I also recognized that as women we try to be all things to everyone, which is not possible all the time. We need to pace ourselves and stay healthy while we work hard.

“After surviving breast cancer, I cherished naps! After work, I would lay down for 20 minutes, and then power back up to handle the rest of my family stuff or complete work I took home.”

What are your ideas for evolving workplace to better support and empower women?

“Joining the EmpowHER Team Member resource group for women is a good start. Also, have executives lead a program of mentoring moments where you layout situational exercises and have those in power provide advice.”

What advice do you have for women or anyone who wants to advance in their careers?

“Volunteer for tough assignments and move around the business laterally so that you can learn about the many functions within the corporation.

“Once you learn more and more about the business, promotional opportunities will come. The focus should be about growing the business and exceeding the objectives through innovation.

“I also wanted to perform the jobs that no one else wanted to do, which made my position and brand more valuable.”