article_snippet: Rio de Janeiro's mayor unveiled Rio de Janeiro's's controversial Olympic golf course on Wednesday and laid out an ardent defence of a project that has been criticised by environmental activists and is at the centre of legal wranglings.
article_snippet: the city's controversial Olympic golf course, part of which has been carved out of a nature reserve, had been kept strictly under wraps during a construction phase that is nearly complete after more than a year's work.
article_snippet: the city's controversial Olympic golf course was unveiled on Wednesday .
article_snippet: Rio de Janeiro's mayor walks the city's controversial Olympic golf course .
article_snippet: A worker cuts the grass on the city's controversial Olympic golf course that until now has been kept largely under wraps .
article_snippet: The bucolic setting has been embroiled in a controversy stretching back years that has overshadowed what was meant to mark golf's triumphant return to the 2016 Olympics after a 112-year absence.
article_snippet: Rio de Janeiro's mayor dismissed the allegations, insisting in an agitated, two-hour-long presentation that the city's controversial Olympic golf course has been built in strict accordance with the law. '
article_snippet: it's a fallacy,' Rio de Janeiro's mayor said, as Rio de Janeiro's mayor delivered a barrage of facts, figures, photos and images of documents about the city's controversial Olympic golf course. '
article_snippet: Rio de Janeiro's mayor also insisted that while some land from the nature reserve was bulldozed to make way for the course's grassy knolls, because the lion's share of the terrain used to be a sand quarry, the city's controversial Olympic golf course has actually increased the amount of native plant life in the area. '
article_snippet: Rio de Janeiro's mayor exclaimed, arms akimbo, as Rio de Janeiro's mayor led reporters over the city's controversial Olympic golf course's spongy grass.
article_snippet: Earlier, Rio de Janeiro's mayor projected aerial photos from the 1980s apparently showing what's now the city's controversial Olympic golf course dotted with concrete structures.
article_snippet: The owner of one of the courses has said The owner of one of the courses wrote to authorities to offer it up for the Olympics but never heard back.
highlights_snippet: Rio de Janeiro's mayor unveiled the 2016 Olympic golf course .
  
highlights_snippet: Course has been built at Reserva de Marapendi in Barra da Tijuca .
  