With an International Olympic Committee member calling the Rio committee's prep the worst ever seen, the whispers have started that the Brazilian capital may not be fit to host the 2016 Olympics.
According to a story in the London Evening Standard, Olympic officials have secretly reached out to London wondering if the English capital would host the '16 Games if Rio is found an unfit host.
“At a comparable planning stage in 2004 Athens had done 40 per cent of preparations on infrastructure, stadiums and so on," a source said to the Standard. "London had done 60 per cent. Brazil has done 10 per cent — and they have just two years left. So the IOC is thinking, ‘What’s our plan B?’
Though the odds of a venue change were considered "infinitesimally small," there still seems to be some thinking about it.
On the golf front, Rio is certainly behind as delay after delay in acquiring the land and starting development put the Gil Hanse design behind the proverbial 8-ball in getting to the finish line in time to host a promised test event prior to the Games. Now that said test event appears impossible to host, a fairly immature golf course will host the first Olympic golf tournament in 112 years without an opportunity to gauge how it plays among high-level competitors and potentially make minor changes before the Olympics.
Were the unfathomable to happen and the Games move to London, it would seem there'd have to be some consideration in The Grove hosting the Olympic return instead.
Opened in 2003, the Kyle Phillips-designed Grove was host to the 2006 WGC-American Express Championship, won by Tiger Woods.
Add Comment