Shooting World Cup Uses Legacy From Rio 2007

The National Sports Shooting Center, where the shooting competitions were held during the Pan American Games Rio 2007, will host as of next Saturday (March 22) the Shooting World Cup.  Two hundred and fifty four athletes from 44 countries will compete.  Twelve Olympic medalists are in Rio for the event, which will end on March 29.  The National Sports Shooting Center is one of the four permanent facilities in the Deodoro Sports Complex, which is part of the Rio 2016 bid project to host the Olympic Games.  “The carrying out of the Shooting World Cup in these facilities shows the quality we want to offer to the world in 2016,” states Carlos Arthur Nuzman, Brazilian Olympic Committee (BOC) and Rio 2016 Bid Committee president.

In the Pan American Games Rio 2007, the Deodoro Sports Complex hosted five sports:  shooting, equestrian, modern pentathlon, archery and field hockey.  In the Parapan American Games Rio 2007 the venue hosted the five-player and the seven-player soccer competitions.  The Complex comprises four permanent sports centers:  National Sports Shooting Center, National Equestrian Center, Modern Pentathlon Center and Field Hockey Center.  The over 100 thousand square meters of constructed area of the Complex is equipped to host national, South American and world championships of the four sports.

With an area that exceeds 50 thousand square meters, the National Sports Shooting Center, considered the best in Latin America, is equipped to host the shotgun, rifle and pistol events.  The facilities are multi-use, with all the equipment for 10, 25 and 50-meter events.  The ranges are equipped with adequate lighting and acoustic isolation, the 10-meter range being air-conditioned.  The Center’s rectangular shape is unique and provides the project with modernity and visual smoothness.  The ranges are integrated by a long catwalk which is used by the public to go from one event to another.  On the sides, green laminated glasses give the place charm and thermal and acoustic protection as well as additional safety.  The glass structures also allow for integration with the natural landscape that was preserved.

“Passive solar climate design” was also used to allow that building elements use the sun's energy for heating and cooling the living spaces, providing internal thermal comfort and reducing energy consumption and pollutant emission by air conditioners.  The Center’s modern design, its first-quality competition equipment and international standard facilities are an additional legacy from Rio 2007.

The work was one of the 35 selected from 200 projects submitted from around the world and will represent Brazil in the VI Ibero-American Architecture and Urbanism Biennial, which will take place next April, in Lisbon.  The Complex will compete for the Built Works Award in the “Young Architect’s Built Works.”

“The venue is simply great, matched by few in the world.  It was designed to provide athletes with the best possible conditions. Its structure optimizes the training sessions, in particular those for the 25m pistol event,” analyzes the Brazilian shooter Júlio Almeida, who has already qualified for Beijing in pistol events. Stenio Yamamoto, another Brazilian who will compete in Beijing in the 50m pistol and 10m air pistol men events, also praises the National Sports Shooting Center.  “It is excellent, great.  Its lighting is special and all the elements are correctly laid out.  It matches the Bangkok TC, in Thailand, where the final of the World Cup was held last year,” says Stenio.

Foreign athletes have also praised the excellence of the National Sports Shooting Center.  “The facilities are just spectacular, the best in South America,” says Cecília Elena Zeid (Argentina).  Uruguayan Diana Cabrera agrees:  “this shooting range is beautiful.  I wish I had one like it in my Country,” she said.

The national phase of the Sports Shooting World Cup is carried out by the International Sports Shooting Federation – ISSF and the Brazilian Sports Shooting Federation (CBTE), and is sponsored by Petrobras and supported by the Sports Ministry, Brazilian Olympic Committee and Brazilian Army.

Rio 2016 Press Office
Cláudio Motta / Christian Dawes
Phone Numbers: 55-21-2494.2085 / 2494.2086
cobtextual@cob.org.br – http://www.rio2016.org.br/