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Modern Pentathlon arena to be venue for 2016 Sevens

psychic duck

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Unfortunately for Sevens, it has been deemed a minor sport at the 2016 Olympics and will be using the Modern Pentathlon Arena (small and mainly temporary seating).

The arena is located in Western Rio, far from the famous tourist areas of the city and where the main events of the Olympics is held. And Sevens has been grouped in the category of runt sports (BMX, Shooting, Equestrian etc).

Sevens was originally considered to be played in the main stadium, or a football stadium. But many criticised the fact that Brazil built a venue just for Modern Pentathlon as too little investment, so they solved their problem by dumping Sevens alongside.

http://www.portaldorugby.com.br/noticia/25-brasil/6767-decidido-deodoro-recebera-o-rugby-no-rio-2016

Below is a picture of the venue with it's Modern Pentathlon arrangement.

oli_centronacionalpentatlomoderno_RIO2016BCMF_Arquitetos_625.jpg
 
According to the article the arena will only have 20.000 seats. Given that the Sevens World Tour draws many more fans - especially on the final day - during most legs, that seems a pretty low capacity. However, there's also a positive note; say that Rugby Sevens would only be able to draw around 20.000 fans at the Olympics (it's a new sport, in a non-traditional rugby country) it will look much better here than in a 50.000 seater stadium.

Remember that most people visiting Brazil for the Olympics won't just go there to watch rugby, but many more sports. Rugby might not be the first thing on their list when deciding to buy tickets to the events. It's not like it's going to be an established Sevens tournament like Dubai or Hong Kong and it's not organised by a traditional rugby country like England or New Zealand.
 

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