What Does AP’s Rio Bureau Have Against The Olympic Golf Course Project?

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Since the early days of the land dispute related to the Olympic course in Rio, the Associated Press has taken an aggressive approach to reporting the pending demise of the golf course project with every twist and turn. My ties to architect Gil Hanse undoubtedly make me interested in every word written about the project, but it's been hard to take the AP's Rio stories seriously when getting to hear the other side of the story or noticing the many odd injections of opinion from writers who clearly know little about golf or course construction.

This is not to say the project has been smooth sailing or that Rio's preparation, politics and vision for the 2016 Olympics has been even remotely solid. It's a mess and a shame. However...

The land dispute coverage from writer Tales Azzoni often emphasized the side of the (eventual) losing party disputing the ownership. And every dispute over environmental issues since, usually authored by Azzoni and/or Stephen Wade, has produced stories suggesting the course’s demise is potentially imminent.

But quite possibly the most disappointing story to date appeared on the wires Wednesday.

Filed by Jenny Barchfield with assistance from Wade, the AP story extensively quotes Rio de Janeiro public prosecutor named Marcus Leal who, either contacted by AP or who approached AP with his dire predictions in the midst of negotiations over the latest environmental dispute for the permitted course, suggests that the decision to continue to grass the course, could be, in the AP’s words, a “costly mistake.”

Remember, the judge considering the latest dispute has given the ok for construction and grassing to continue while negotiations over course changes take place, but the AP has taken the stance that this could be a mistake because a prosecutor tells them so, with no coverage from the opposing side or comment from the judge on the prosecutor's assertion.

Also interesting is the mention of the developer as Fiori Emprendimentos. I have three sources involved with the project who are not familiar with this name, yet AP identified Emprendimentos as the developer. A Google search does not turn up the name as spelled by AP, as a golf course developer in Rio or anywhere else.

Stephen Wade, who contributed to the latest story and who has filed other stories on the project, Tweeted a link to the piece oddly choosing to emphasize a point he previously reported: that the “Golf fed has already said: course won’t be what might have been.”

This notion of the course not being what it could be was based on a passing comment, taken out of context, from July’s International Golf Federation news conference at Hoylake. And has little to do with today's news.


In an earlier Tweet of the latest story, Wade put out the sensational notion of “no grass for Olympics” in this tweet. Yes it's Twitter and yes it gets attention without being accurate, but it seems so un-AP-like.


Wade twice Tweeted this photo on September 13th and again on the 16th suggesting he had spotted a “little caiman” in the marsh next to the site of the Olympic course. I'm not sure of his precise suggestion but I'm guessing it's of the "golf course threatens habitat" variety. 

Of course, what Wade Tweets and where he claims to be Tweeting from should be taken with a grain of salt since he posted photos in July suggesting the 2nd hole's construction was not progressing as suggested by the project. There was one problem. The photo wasn't of the second hole. 


The photo was of a location off the golf course property, the "2" marking site of a building. The Washington Post erroneously picked up the Tweets and had to run a correction: 

Rio’s Olympic golf course features helipad, very little grass (CORRECTION: It’s the site of future apartment buildings)

Previously, Wade and Tales Azzoni have reported every twist and turn in the saga, with a seemingly disproportionate number of quotes from the public prosecutor’s office or the losing side in the land dispute situation. But that may just be a matter of who returns their calls, as the IOC has restricted parties involved with the project from sharing information.

Ultimately though, it's the strange editorializing in stories that raises more serious questions, like this comment from a Wade and Azzoni bylined story from September 17th:

Some have questioned the need to build a new course for the Olympics. At least one other venue in the Rio area, the Itanhanga Golf Club, could have been suitable. It has hosted the European Tour, and a U.S. LPGA Tour event and club officials were optimistic a few years ago they would land the Olympics.

Itanhanga is 6,178 6,439 yards from the tips, about 1400 yards shy of where it’d need to be for the modern game. If they'd picked up the phone to any golf expert they would have known this, but that might have gotten in the way of a good story.