Rio de Janeiro's Maracana Stadium – which will host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2016 Olympic Games, as well as the men's and women's football finals – has been officially re-opened, following extensive renovations.

IOC President Jacques Rogge and Sandro Rosell, President of FC Barcelona, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne. The signing marks the beginning of an official partnership between the IOC and the Foundation of one of the most successful football clubs in Europe, supporting the setting up of joint projects that promote development through sport.

In little under a year, the world's finest winter sports stars will gather in Sochi for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Mike Rowbottom, chief feature writer for insidethegames.biz, visited the Russian resort for the Olympic Review and reports on the city's remarkable transformation as it prepares for the greatest show on snow and ice.

Zagreb, 24th April - the annual Croatian Olympic Festival for preschool children was launched today in the city of Gospic, with the motto "I will be an Olympian," and will cover 43 Croatian cities in the course of the month of May, bringing together around 14,500 preschool children from 386 kindergartens across the nation, who will play soccer, run a 50 meter sprint, compete in a 4x25 meter relay, play at throwing balls and show off their talents as long jumpers.

KAZAN/KRASNOYARSK - On 17 April, Yakutians bid a fond farewell to the 27th Summer Universiade Flame Relay at North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) where the Torch has been stored for three weeks. It arrived in Yakutsk on 28 March. More than 35,000 people saw the Torch while it stayed in the Republic of Sakha.