Sailing ramp damage no concern for competition - IOC
By Karolos Grohmann
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - The collapse of a temporary ramp at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic sailing venue is not expected to affect competition or training during the Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Sunday.
The main ramp at the Marina da Gloria, which allows boats to get into the water, was damaged by high tides and big waves on Saturday afternoon, organisers said.
The IOC said it was confident the damage would not affect preparations for the sailing competition with repairs to be completed in a few days.
"In the run-up to the games things happen," IOC spokesman Mark Adams said. "It would be wrong to make a great deal out of it.
"It won't affect training, or competition. They've got a 25-person team working on it at the moment. And as I say, they're (the sailing federation) not overly concerned."
Brazilian sailing team chief Daniel Santiago said repairs should be completed by Friday, the day of the Games opening ceremony.
"The delivery promise is Friday. It was what they said at the meeting with the heads. For now, it does not hurt at all. The boats are using the concrete ramp."
There was, however, more damage on Sunday caused by big waves as they pounded television studios along Copacabana.
Workers stacked sandbags around the studios and tractors shovelled sand into protective heaps around the ramp as waves from high tides threatened the structure.
"This is the season of high tides," said Rio mayor Eduardo Paes. "We always knew there was the possibility of high tides.
"These are problems that can happen and we have the ability to react. Thank God it happened five, six days before the Games. We will be able to recover."
Brazil, which is facing political and economic crises, has suffered repeated stumbles in the run-up to hosting the world's biggest sporting event, including having less than a week to test the extended metro's operations and racing to complete venues.
(Additional reporting by Reuters TV, editing by Ed Osmond and Clare Fallon)