The Esporte Clube Pinheiros complex in São Paulo. (Photo : Facebook)
China has selected Esporte Clube Pinheiros in São Paulo as a training base for its athletes in preparation for this year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The country's athletes will use the club in Brazil's most populous city to train and acclimatize ahead of the games in August, China Daily reported on Thursday.
Located in the affluent neighborhood of Jardim Europa, Esporte Club Pinheiros covers an area totaling 170,000 square meters, equivalent to around 10 soccer fields.
The Chinese delegation is expected to reach a total of 350 people, including athletes, coaches, officials and conditioning staff, the report added.
The announcement comes after 18 months of negotiations between Chinese officials and the club's administrators.
Esporte Clube Pinheiros is expected to post further details of the agreement in the coming days.
To cut down on disruptions to its 38,000 members, the club will enforce a schedule stating when its facilities will be available for exclusive use by Chinese athletes.
"The facilities have already been rented and will be at the disposition of China between July 22 and August 15," the Brazilian Folha de S.Paulo newspaper said on Wednesday.
The paper noted that several Chinese athletes have already started training at the complex.
The club currently houses facilities for 15 sports, including table tennis, gymnastics, swimming, badminton, football, tennis, rugby, water polo, volleyball, fencing, boxing, athletics, synchronized swimming, modern pentathlon and taekwondo.
The Chinese government has also reserved a hotel near the venue, booking most of the rooms available.
Following their preparations in Sao Paulo, the delegation will head northeast to Rio Janeiro, where they will stay in the Olympic Village during the games.
China had the fourth largest squad at the 2012 Olympics in London with 396 athletes. Only the U.K., the U.S. and Russia had more.
The Asian powerhouse bagged the second highest number of podium finishes with 88, including 38 gold medals. The U.S., which was represented by 530 athletes, led the tally with 103 medals, 46 of which were gold.
China is not the sole delegation preparing for the Olympics outside of Rio, as the U.K. has also announced plans to use the Minas Tenis Clube in the eastern Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte as its training base.
