Rio 2016 turns 10: a decade of legacy from South America’s first Olympic Games
Ten years after Rio de Janeiro hosted the first Olympic Games held in South America, their legacy can be seen across the city – in regenerated neighbourhoods and an expanded transport network, in venues used for sport, education and community life, and in education programmes that continue to reach schools across Brazil.
Key facts
- All 27 permanent competition venues remain in use today, together with one temporary venue, supporting elite training, professional sport, local clubs, education and community recreation.
- The reopening of the main Rio 2016 swimming pool at Parque Oeste Ana Gonzaga in December 2025 completed the reuse plan for the Games’ temporary pools.
- Rio de Janeiro hosted the Olympic Games from 5 to 21 August 2016, the first Olympic Games ever held in South America.
- Rio 2016 saw the debut of the first IOC Refugee Olympic Team: 10 athletes in 2016, growing to 37 at Paris 2024.
As Rio 2016 marks its 10th anniversary on 5 August 2026, the Games remain vivid in Olympic memory.
The Opening Ceremony at the Maracanã celebrated Brazilian music, culture and nature, while Copacabana Beach staged beach volleyball, triathlon and marathon swimming in the heart of the city.
On the field of play:
Usain Bolt completed a third consecutive Olympic double in the 100m and 200m and also won gold in the 4x100m relay.
Brazil claimed its first Olympic title in men’s football.
In a video message recorded for the anniversary, IOC President Kirsty Coventry reflected on her own connection to Rio 2016.
For me, Rio will always have a special place in my heart. It was my final Olympic Games as an athlete, and I had the honour of carrying the Zimbabwean flag at the Opening Ceremony.
Beyond sport, the Games were planned as an accelerator for the city’s development plans. A decade on, their legacy can be seen not only in sporting venues, but also in public transport, regenerated neighbourhoods, schools, parks and cultural spaces.
A city transformed
One of the most significant legacies of Rio 2016 was the way the Games provided a fixed deadline and impetus for urban regeneration and transport projects that formed part of the city’s wider development plans.
Porto Maravilha transformed five million square metres of Rio’s Downtown and Port Area, creating new public spaces and cultural attractions, including the Museum of Tomorrow.
The redevelopment helped bring residents and visitors back to parts of central Rio that had experienced decades of decline.
Expanding public transport
The wider development programme included:
- more than 150 kilometres of Bus Rapid Transit corridors;
- the construction of Metro Line 4;
- the VLT light-rail network; and
- upgrades to suburban trains and airports.
Together, these projects improved connections between different areas of the city.
Rio Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere described the transformation of the city as the greatest legacy of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, pointing to revitalised neighbourhoods, a more connected transport network, and venues repurposed as schools, parks, cultural spaces and sports facilities.
Wherever you go in Rio, you can still see, experience and benefit from the Games. For the young generation, Rio 2016 is much more than a memory. It is the certainty that sport can transform lives and an entire city.
Venue legacy delivered in stages
While some venue projects took longer than planned due to governance, economic and political challenges in the years after the Games, the legacy of Rio 2016 has continued to be delivered in stages.
- The canoe slalom venue at Deodoro reopened to the public just weeks after the Games.
- Training pools from the temporary Olympic Aquatics Stadium were relocated to Guaratinguetá, Salvador and Manaus between 2017 and 2019.
- Carioca Arena 3 became the Isabel Salgado Olympic Educational Gymnasium, the largest school in Rio’s city education network.
- Materials from the dismantled Future Arena, part of the Games’ “nomadic architecture” concept, were reused to build four public schools in the city’s West Zone.
- Rita Lee Park opened on the former Olympic Way in 2024.
- The renovated BMX track in Deodoro followed in 2025.
- The Rio Olympic Museum opened inside the velodrome in August 2025, on the ninth anniversary of the Games.
The final pool relocation
The final relocation in the temporary-pool reuse plan was completed in December 2025, when the main competition pool from the Olympic Aquatics Stadium reopened at Parque Oeste Ana Gonzaga, a new public park in Rio’s West Zone.
The pool had been dismantled from the temporary Games-time venue and reinstalled at the park.
Managed by the Municipal Sports Office, it provides free swimming and hydrogymnastics classes for people of all ages, with strong demand from local residents.
At the inauguration, then Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes described the pool as the last remaining Olympic legacy project to be delivered: “All the facilities – the X Park, the Rita Lee Park, the schools built in the West Zone – everything that was built for the Olympics was put to use afterward,” he said. “We are very proud to bring this Olympic legacy to the West Zone.”
Ten years on, all 27 permanent competition venues used at Rio 2016 remain in use, together with one temporary venue. Other temporary venues and their components have been dismantled, relocated or reused in new forms.
Examples include:
- Maracanã: Managed by Flamengo and Fluminense, the stadium hosts regular football matches and welcomed more than three million fans in 2025.
- Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre: The Team Brazil Training Centre supports around 200 athletes across 12 disciplines and houses the Olympic Laboratory sports science facility.
- Deodoro canoe slalom course: The venue continues to host national and international training and competitions, while its warm-up channel operates as a public swimming area for the local community.
- Olympic Golf Course: The course is open to players of all levels and offers free lessons at weekends.
Rio 2016 also used sport as a tool for education.
The Transforma programme reached more than eight million students in almost 16,000 schools across Brazil between 2013 and 2016.
Its work continues through:
- the Brazilian Olympic Committee’s post-Games programme;
- the non-profit Impulsiona, which by 2024 had engaged more than 77,000 schools; and
- Rio’s 12 Olympic Educational Gymnasiums, which provide full-time schooling combining academic study with sports training.
A legacy for the Olympic Movement
Rio 2016 also left its mark on the broader Olympic Movement. The Games saw the debut of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team, with 10 athletes competing under the Olympic flag. Their participation led to the creation of the Olympic Refuge Foundation. The team has been part of every Olympic Games since, totalling 37 athletes at Paris 2024.
“Legacy is not defined only by the months immediately after the Games,” said Arram Kim, IOC Head of Olympic Games Impact and Legacy. “It is shaped over years, by whether venues and projects continue to be adapted and brought into use for communities. Rio 2016 is a powerful example of that."
Ten years on, we can see venues turned into schools, a temporary pool now serving families in the West Zone, and a Refugee Olympic Team that began in Rio and has been part of every Olympic Games since. That is what long-term legacy looks like.
Ten years on
The 10th anniversary of Rio 2016 is being marked with a series of events across the city:
- An exhibition celebrating 10 years of Olympic legacy opens on 5 August at the Museum of Tomorrow.
- A special programme on 1 and 2 August will bring children from Rio’s Olympic schools to Olympic venues across the city.
- Five pairs of Olympic and Paralympic spectaculars will be unveiled across the Games clusters.
Ten years on, Rio 2016’s legacy is not defined by a single project. It can be seen in the way the city continues to use and adapt what the Games helped accelerate – from transport and urban regeneration to schools, parks, sports facilities and programmes serving communities across Rio and Brazil.