Sports fans will be offered 3,500 free tickets for every session of an Olympic track and field test event starting on Saturday, according to Rio 2016 organizers.

The three-day event at the Olympic stadium - known locally as the Engenhao - will double as the Iberian-American athletics championship.

It will feature 400 athletes, mainly from Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries.

"The competition will test organizers' ability to manage large crowds safely and efficiently while at the same time running a major sporting event," the official Rio 2016 website said.

Among the athletes present will be Dominican runner Luguelin Santos, who won silver in the 400m at the London 2012 Games and Brazilian Fabiana Murer, gold medallist in the pole vault at the 2011 world championships.

Other high profile names include Uruguayan hurdler Andres Silva,  Colombian middle-distance runner Rafith Rodriguez and Portuguese shotputter Marco Fortes.

Located in Rio's north, the Engenhao was built for the 2007 Pan American Games at a cost of 192 million US dollars.

Temporary stands will increase the stadium's capacity from 46, 000 to 60,000 for the Olympics, which begin on August 5.

The stadium was closed from March 2013 to February 2015 after it was found the roof could collapse due to structural defects.

Source:
courtesy of XINHUA NEWS AGENCY

by Xinhua News Agency

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