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Brazil’s political and financial turmoil will affect next year’s Rio Olympics but any challenges will have to be overcome, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said.
The country has been hit by a corruption scandal, a recession and impeachment proceedings against its president Dilma Rousseff.
“They have political and economic difficulties,” IOC vice-president Craig Reedie said, ahead of the games next summer. “Inevitably, they will affect the games. There are challenges. I think they and we will have to get through it.
“There has been a massive improvement of the situation in the past months,” he said. “That’s good news. Now you have to determine the service levels that athletes and international federations expect.”
The IOC’s comments came as Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes said there are proposals to cut costs. Organisers want to slice 30 percent from the operating budget of 7.4 billion reals (1.79 billion euros).
“I think the most important thing is that nothing is affected for the athletes, that nothing affects the organisation of the games,” said Rio organising chief Carlo Nuzman. “We have been working for seven years. We can say today we are on the way. For the venues, almost everything is ready.”