Copacabana Stadium, Olympic beach stadium in Copacabana, Brazil.
Copacabana Stadium was a temporary venue built directly on the beach for volleyball competitions. The complex featured a main court with seating for spectators and additional practice areas arranged across the sandy space.
The site hosted beach volleyball, triathlon and aquatic marathon at the 2007 Pan American Games and again at the 2011 Military World Games, using temporary facilities. The Olympic arena was built on the sand from 28 April 2016, designed by architect Luísa Xavier with the Rohr-Fast consortium; work was briefly halted by the city in June. It opened on 26 July 2016, held 13 days of competition, and was fully dismantled by 5 October 2016.
The arena's name lives on from the 2007 Pan American Games, when beach volleyball was played at the Copacabana Arena at Posto 2. In 2016 the site drew 408,000 spectators over 13 competition days, with 96 athletes entered in the Olympic beach volleyball tournament. The women's final on 17 August 2016 was won by Germany, ahead of Brazil and the United States; Brazil took men's gold the next day, with Italy second and the Netherlands third.
The arena no longer exists: it was dismantled by 5 October 2016, so there is nothing to visit on the sand today. The site is the open beach between Postos 2 and 6, where the temporary structure once stood.
The arena stood 21 metres tall and covered 62,000 square metres of beach infrastructure, built in 100 days, used for 13 days of competition and taken down in 45. It drew 408,000 spectators and 96 athletes from many countries.
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