August 15, 2016 (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) – A large bushfire has broken out in the Deodoro parkland in an area housing three Olympic venues. Two of the affected sites are for cycling – mountain biking (MTB) and BMX. The canoe slalom course is also affected. Mountain bikers have reportedly evacuated the area.

Smoke from the fire, driven by winds gusting up to 90kmh, is causing issues for other Olympic venues elsewhere. The winds also caused an overhead “spidercam” to crash into a crowd during a basketball game. It is unclear if this caused injuries.

“Good news heavy rains hitting the area of Rio now! Please cycling Gods be nice !!” Canadian broadcast commentator, Randy Ferguson, tweeted at about 7:50 pm (EST) on Aug. 15, indicating that the fire may now be diminishing.

Stay tuned for further developments…

Australian news report here.

Ferguson’s twitter feed here.