Prague, Oct 21 (CTK) – The park for sport fans that will be open during the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will be located at the Lipno Reservoir and the surrounding area, Czech Olympic Committee (COV) head Jiri Kejval said Wednesday.
“We have chosen the Sumava Mountains and Lipno nad Vltavou,” Kejval said, adding that the South Bohemia Region presented the best offer.
During the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 the park for fans was in the Letna park in a central part of Prague.
“The Olympic park in the Letna park was visited by over 400,000 people and it was very popular among the public,” Kejval said.
Most visitors said a similar park should be created for the Rio Olympics as well and they proposed that the park be outside the capital city, he said.
Prague is not a good place in summer when children are away from the city and mostly foreign tourists are visiting it, Kejval said.
The Lipno project is to cost 65 million crowns.
The centre of the sport park, from which fans can support Czech athletes and participate in sport activities themselves, will be the village of Lipno.
COV marketing director Marek Tesar said almost all municipalities in the Lipno area have their own sport facilities.
“We will not have to invest in the building of the facilities, only in their improvements,” Tesar said.
The Lipno water reservoir, just outside the Sumava National Park, close to the borders with Austria and Germany, is a popular tourist resort.
Smaller Olympic parks will be built in some other towns. The cities of Ostrava, Plzen or Pardubice are being considered.