Ready or Not: Rio Olympics open doors at Athletes Village

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 Sunday, meaning 10,500 athletes and another 7,000 staff members will start trickling into the luxurious layout, with the pace picking up daily until the August 5 opening ceremony at the Maracana Stadium.

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 center 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 yesterday, standing on the 13th floor of one of buildings, gazing out over cycling paths, bubbling fountains and lots of green. She already knows which countries will be where, but she’s not allowed to say.

Some delegations had already arrived on Saturday, 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; a massive gym. In addition, the organisers are providing 450,000 condoms.