After 18 months of analysis and repairs the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro is about to reopen its doors. But there’s more work to be done ahead of the 2016 Olympics.

In March last year Estádio Olímpico João Havelange was closed for safety reasons after disturbing signs of roof movement were noticed. The steel structure was prone to bending when hit by wind and rust was covering significant portions of it despite young age.

© Dodoedo (cc: by)

Now, after 18 months of analysis and repair works the stadium is about to reopen. Mayor Eduardo Paes announced it should be ready to welcome back players and fans of Botafogo in “November or December”.

However, there’s still a lot of work ahead of the stadium before it may become the central arena of 2016 Olympics. Roughly 15,000 temporary seats will be mounted behind both goals. This expansion was envisaged in the initial project and shouldn’t become problematic enough to force closing the stadium further.