29 April 2014

Rio preparations are 'worst ever'


The BBC has an article about the upcoming Olympics:
Preparations for the 2016 Rio Olympics are the "worst" ever seen, according to International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president John Coates. The Australian said the IOC has taken "unprecedented" action by placing experts in the local organizing committee to ensure the Games go ahead. "The situation is critical on the ground," he said.  The news comes as Brazil faces a race to be ready in time for the Fifa World Cup, which starts in 44 days.
Coates, who has been involved in the Olympics for nearly forty years, has made six trips to Rio as part of the commission responsible for overseeing the preparations. He added that one of the experts embedded in the local committee was a construction project manager. "The IOC has adopted a more hands-on role," said Coates. "It is unprecedented for the IOC, but there is no Plan B. We are going to Rio." He said that, in his opinion, this was "a worse situation" than in 2004, when there were concerns about preparations for the Athens Games. "It's the worst that I've experienced," he added. "We have become very concerned. They are not ready in many, many ways. We have to make it happen and that is the IOC approach. You can't walk away from this."
Rio is not alone in these struggles. Organizers of the 2004 Athens Games were warned several times by the IOC about their preparations, with then-IOC president Juan Samaranch even threatening to take the Olympics away at one stage. Preparations for the Athens Games were marred by delays in construction and service delivery, but the venues and infrastructure was ultimately delivered in time.
Coates said that construction has not even started on some venues in Rio, which will host South America's first Olympics, while infrastructure is significantly delayed and the city has "social issues that need to be addressed". He added that Rio organizers have the same number of staff, six hundred, as London did at the same stage in their preparations for 2012, but did not have the necessary experience.
Coates, who was involved in the organization of the 2000 Sydney Games as head of the Australian Olympic Committee. said it was proving difficult for the IOC to get the answers they needed. "No one is able to give answers at the moment," he said. "Can they use the car parks in the village for recovery centers? What will be the time it will take to get from this venue to this venue? All of those things, they're being fobbed off." Coates also claimed that only two people were working in Rio's test event department, with tournaments scheduled to start this year.
Rico says having Third World countries, even one as rich as Brazil, host the Olympics is probably a mistake, and one they likely won't make again, especially if they screw up the much-beloved-in-the-Third-World World Cup:

Brazil may not be "totally ready" for the start of the 2014 World Cup because of building delays, admits Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke.
Two stadiums, one in Porto Alegre and one in Sao Paulo, are still not finished (photo), with the tournament due to start on 12 June 2014.
Valcke insisted there is "no way" that the Cup will be postponed. "If you want me to summarize, we are not ready," said the Frenchman. "We have two stadiums where there is still work to do."
Preparations for the World Cup have been beset by problems. A construction worker fell to his death last week at Sao Paulo's Arena Corinthians, which is due to host the opening match between Brazil and Croatia. That took the number of fatalities at the site to three, after two people died in November of 2013 following a partial collapse of the stadium. A total of eight men have already died working on World Cup stadiums.
Porto Alegre's mayor had said the city may drop out if additional funding was not found to build facilities for media, sponsors and fans. The city's Beira Rio stadium is due to host five matches during the tournament.
But Valcke, who visited Brazil last week, insisted financing was available. "Maybe there will be things which will not be totally ready at the beginning of the World Cup, but the most important thing for the thirty-two teams is the training camp and fields," he added. "All of this will be there to ensure you have football."

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