After months of pushing the opening date from November and
controversy, the newly built links-style golf course designed by Gil Hanse. is
open for a handful of the local golfers to test the field for the Summer
Olympics in Rio. Although, the golf course is finished and open, there are many
high-rise buildings sitting around the golf course still being developed. If
the high-rises are still under construction in August, the course will shut
them down in order to have the best golf event possible.
For sports fans and professional players, it is a really
large ordeal that the game of golf is introduced into the Olympic games. Five
men and four female golfers took part in the event and are ranked in the top
400-600 world with several hundred volunteers. Most of the volunteers did not
know anything about golf, but still showed up to the event. There is only one
real golf course in Rio and it is not widely discovered. This course is the
first professional-quality public course in Brazil. The lack of higher ranking
golf professionals was concerning for the organizers of the course, but Carlos
Nuzman, the head of the local organizing committee, did not have any doubt the
top players will come.
While creating the course for the Summer Olympics, the golf
course committee has caused controversy with the lack of involvement with
public. Although the golf course committee has gotten grief, the golf course
has actually improved the biodiversity of the site, with an owl sitting on the
fairways. We will see what the Summer Olympics has to offer on this brand new
golf course.
Title: Local Golfers Test Rio’s Olympic Course
Author: Will Connors
Date: March 9, 2016
I find it interesting they are adding a new sport rather than staying traditional. I wonder how this new addition will affect future cities that host the Olympics. Will they have to build a new golf course or update a current one (if they even have a current one)?
ReplyDelete