Rio 2016 faces economic meltdown, building delays, ticket sale slumps, pollution and a Zika epidemic
Games rocked by a 'perfect storm' of factors
RIO’s 2016 Olympics is reeling from a “perfect storm” of an economic meltdown, building delays, pollution, a ticket sale slump and the terrifying Zika epidemic.
The worst recession to hit the South American nation for a century has decimated games spending and left builders racing against time to finish vital construction work.
Little more than half of Olympic tickets have been sold and a paltry 12 per cent have been bought for Paralympic events.
A poorly built cliffside cycle path built to link venues sparked more fears last week when it collapsed into the sea, killing two people and leaving three missing feared drowned.
And the head-shrinking Zika Virus was continuing to spark terror across the sprawling Samba city just four months before the curtain rises.
A games source said: “With so much going wrong at the same time only a miracle will save the Rio Olympics from being a disaster now.”
Pregnant women have been warned to stay away from the games over fears the mosquito-borne virus could leave their babies with shrunken heads and brains or paralysis.
More than 220,000 troops have been drafted in to battle the plague by spraying swamps and ponds teeming with infected insects.
Mosquito repellent was rushed to 400,000 pregnant women as health minister Marcelo Castro warned that the country was “badly losing” the Zika battle.
The alert came after Brazil’s once booming economy was poleaxed by a financial crisis which has led to bodies piling up outside Rio hospital morgues and government staff going unpaid.
Public alarm over the collapse led to huge street protests and an extraordinary vote to impeach left wing president Dilma Vana Rousseff earlier this month.
Olympic chiefs have had £350 million slashed from their £1.25 billion budget. amid rising public fury over the cost of the sporting showpiece.
Thousands of seats have been slashed from the swimming venue. 4,000 temporary grandstand seats from the rowing venue have gone and tents will replace some buildings.
A crucial 10 mile metro extension to take fans to the Olympic Park has now fallen so far behind schedule it is scheduled to open just a month before the games.
Electricity and water was cut off at the new Estádio Nilton Santos track and field venue owing to unpaid bills.
Cutbacks have also hit the athletes’ apartments in the Olympic Village which will have only basic furnishings and no televisions.
A plan to axe air conditioning was shelved after an outcry from furious competitors who had been warned they may have to buy and install it themselves.
But Rio 2012 sources yesterday denied claims that the opening show budget had been slashed to just a 10th of the sum spent on Danny Boyle’s jaw-dropping London curtain raiser.
Printing competition results on paper has also been slashed to save money and the number of volunteers has been cut from 70,000 to 60,000.
Ticket sales for the Olympic Games have been slow with just 2.7 million of 4.5 million available in Brazil sold so far.
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Sponsor Panasonic has been forced to step in to save the cash-strapped opening and closing ceremonies.
Organisers are now considering buying up rafts of unsold tickets and giving them away to schoolchildren to fill venues.
By comparison, seats for London 2012 events were snapped up so quickly that websites crashed four years ago.
Brazilian enthusiasm for the games has waned as the nation enters its second year of recession after its powerhouse economy blew a gasket.
Rio de Janeiro state government has been hardest hit and has ordered huge cuts to health and public services.
Horror stories have included bodies being stacked outside morgues after refrigeration units broke down at hospitals forced to close their doors to all but emergency patients.
The state has even run out of cash to pay employees and pensions.
But it is still having to find cash to clean up heavily polluted Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon and Guanabara Bay where Olympic rowing and sailing will be held.
Latest figures show efforts are failing to reduce raw sewage level measure 1.7 MILLION times what normally be considered hazardous.
Swimmers and sailors in some events will be negotiating vast pools of raw sewage as they compete which could lead to violent illness.
September’s Paralympic Games has been hardest hit by Brazil’s games malaise..
A combination of poor promotion, the economic crisis, apathy and backward attitudes to disability is being blamed for the sale of just 12 per cent of 3 million available tickets.
Stars like swimmer Ellie Simmonds, blade runner Jonnie Peacock and wheelchair racer David Weir found fame and broke social barriers as well as records at packed London 2012 venues.
But disabled athletes who battled adversity to compete on the world’s greatest sporting stage have spoken for the first time of their fears of competing in near empty venues.
Wheelchair-bound Brazilian powerlifter Marcia Menezes, 48, won gold in a test event at Rio’s new Olympic Park - which was still a building site yesterday.
She triumphed in a gleaming venue surrounded by empty seats as the competition was not open to the public.
But she begged sport fans for support yesterday fearing a morale-sapping repeat of the spectacle in September.
Mum-of-one Marcia from Londrina - who was paralysed by polio in childhood - said: “I came sixth and missed out on a medal on London but will never forget the support there.
“It was wonderful - perfect.
“I’ll try not to let it affect my performance but I’ll be very disappointed if I don’t get people cheering me on when I have the honour of competing in my own country.
“It would be sad to see lots of empty seats.”
Brazilian Paralympic footballers Marcos Ferreira, 37, also poured out his frustration over poor ticket take-up.
Veteran goalkeeper Marcos - who like the rest of his team has cerebral palsy - said at Brazil’s elite athlete base in the Rio hills yesterday: “We’re lucky that we’re footballers in Brazil because the country is obsessed with the game and we will probably be well supported.
“But it’s sad to hear that so few tickets have sold for other events and I feel sorry for the athletes in those situations.”
Rio 2012 organising committee spokesman Mario Andrada said: “"We are a bit worried with the Paralympics. We have to educate - to publicise.
“For some here, Paralympic sport is still shocking."
Insecticide spray teams were fanning out across Rio’s poverty stricken slums yesterday to battle Aedes aegypti mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus.
More will be out in force during the games to keep the biting insects away from Olympic fans.
The bug was all but wiped out in Brazil during the 1950s but the mosquito slowly returned from neighbouring countries over decades.
There was little concern until late last year when researchers linked the insect to a dramatic increase in reported cases of the head-shrinking microcephaly defect in babies.
Four thousand suspected cases of microcephaly have been reported since October last year, compared to fewer than 150 cases in the country in all of 2014.
The alert led British health chief to warn couples not try for a baby for a month if a partner has just returned from 23 affected countries including Brazil.
Public Health England (PHE) said men should wear condoms for 28 days after coming home if their partner was at risk of pregnancy, or already pregnant.
Men who had suffered an unexplained fever while travelling, or who had been diagnosed with the virus, should avoid unprotected sex, or trying for children for six months.
But officials insisted Rio was on course to host a spectacular and safe Olympic party yesterday - pointing out that games will be held in the dry season when mosquito numbers are low.
With so much going wrong at the same time only a miracle will save the Rio Olympics from being a disaster now
A Games source
A Rio 2016 spokesman said yesterday: “Traditionally Brazilians are late buyers so we are confident with seven months to go that as anticipation builds we will sell out.
“Efficiencies are being found in ‘back of house’ infrastructure and we’re looking to make savings behind the scenes.
“We are making intelligent decisions to trim the fat and improve efficiency, setting a good example for future games.
“There is going to be an incredible atmosphere full of Brazilian spirit - Brazilians are known for being great hosts and creating a great party atmosphere.
“The Rio games are going to be spectacular and will be remembered for a lifetime.
“We often see Paralympic games ticket sales get a big uplift from the Olympic Games and I think we’ll see that again Rio.
“We will be working hard to make sure that ticket sales do not become a concern.”
RIO looks certain to be a far cry from London’s incredible games four years ago.
London built its space age Olympic venues on time and under budget and delivered a glitzy extravanganza which wowed the world..
The centre-piece stadium venue in Stratford, East London had the final piece of turf laid 17 months before Danny Boyle’s incredible opening ceremony.
And athletes’ accommodation was turned into luxury housing, the stadium became Premier League club West Ham’s new home and new rail links boosted the run down suburb.
London games mastermind Sebastian Coe and London Mayor Boris Johnson oversaw £9.3 billion of projects.
But the massive plan left behind a huge legacy which boosted the capital’s global reputation.and left a feelgood factor which enlivened the nation for months.
Britain was showcased as a fun-loving, technically brilliant and diverse nation which lapped up the challenge of hosting the world’s biggest sporting party.
Lord Coe, chairman of the Games Organising Committee, said at the closing ceremony: “We lit a flame and we lit up the world.”
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