‘Time is ticking’ for RiLAUSANNE, Switzerland: Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics organisers were told yesterday they needed to push ahead with their preparations because time was an issue, the International Olympic Committee said.
Rio has not finalised its budget for the Olympics as well as the venues for several sports, including rugby, hockey and golf.
Rio organisers said last month the Sao Januario Stadium, home of soccer club Vasco da Gama, had missed the October 31 deadline and they would therefore revisit plans for the Joao Havelange Stadium to host the rugby sevens tournament instead.
“Our message remains but time is ticking. They (Rio organisers) need to carry on attacking this one with all vigour,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams told reporters.
Brazil is also hosting the 2014 World Cup and organisers for that event have also been urged to speed up preparations by world soccer’s governing body FIFA.
Adams said the IOC Executive Board also asked organisers about the state of the country’s economy with new figures showing lower than expected growth.
Brazil’s economy posted extremely disappointing growth in the third quarter, piling pressure on President Dilma Rousseff to make deeper structural reforms and adding to fears that the global slowdown is hurting big emerging markets.
The economy grew just 0.6 percent from the second quarter, government statistics agency IBGE said on Friday.
Rio, which was awarded the Games in 2009, is the first South American city to be picked to host the Olympics.
Meanwhile, Salt Lake City wants to bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympics, Utah Governor Gary Herbert said yesterday.
Salt Lake City previously hosted the Winter Olympics in 2002 but the Games were marred by allegations of bribery between the successful bidders and members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
“Salt Lake City and the great state of Utah are ready, willing and able to host a future Olympic Games,” Herbert told reporters during a news conference.
“Utah has become the winter sports capital of the USA. By hosting another Winter Games, our commitment to support ongoing Olympic movement initiatives will only be strengthened.”
Several other American cities have also expressed interest in hosting the Games but it is up to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) to decide whether to proceed with a bid.
“At this point we are focused on moving forward with our bid working group that is due to make its first report to the USOC board of directors on December 20th,” a USOC spokesman said.
“We are obviously appreciative that the Olympic movement is strong enough in the US to have cities interested in potentially bidding, however the USOC is focused on determining when it would be the right time to potentially bid for an Olympic Games.”
The IOC is not due to choose the host site for 2026 until 2019 after already awarding 2014 to Sochi, Russia, and 2018 to Pyeonchang, South Korea.
The 2022 host will be decided in 2015. The US has already ruled out making a bid for 2022.
Agencieso 2016 organisers
