Australia reveals Rio 2016 Olympic, Paralympic team base

Australian Olympic Committee

Canberra, Nov 7 (IANS) The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has announced the nation's teams competing at the Rio 2016 Olympics and Paralympics will be based at Espaco Rio during the Games. The venue, which will be called "The Edge", is just 1.3 kilometres away from the Olympic Village and will provide medical, physio, recovery, sport science and nutrition facilities for the squads, reports Xinhua.

It features two small pools, two half-size football fields, a half-size basketball court, three large indoor halls, offices and a commercial kitchen.

Australia will have exclusive use of the facility, after beating bids from the French and Russian Olympic Committees.

The facility will also host Australian Olympic team inductions and once the Olympic Games finish Aug 21, 2016, the AOC will hand the space over to the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC), which will continue working there with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) for the duration of the Paralympics Sep 7 to 18.

"This is another strong example of the AOC, APC and AIS collaborating on Campaign Rio - an initiative aimed at being the 'Best planned; Best prepared; Best performed' Team at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games," the AOC said in a statement.