Paes: Brazil Crises Spares Olympics

(ATR) Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes says the city has the infrastructure in place to spare the Olympic Games from any crisis.

The final month of 2015 was rough for Rio de Janeiro as a lack of state government funds led to the closing of hospitals in the city, an unexpected crisis. The city of Rio came to the rescue with re-open the hospitals.

In addition, the continuing decline of the Brazilian economy has led to a 40 percent drop in the value of the real in 2015. Delays in payments to infrastructure projects in Rio like the metro line 4 are another consequence.

But the mayor is upbeat about these final months to the 2016 Olympics, an inveterate optimist.

"We have enough money to do everything that is supposed to be delivered as you see here," Paes said at the opening of Carioca Arena 1 in the Olympic Park.

"This is not going to be an Olympics of wasting money what you are going to see in Rio is the field of play is going to be perfect, the audience is going to be perfect, but what you are not going to see here are [white elephants]."

Organizers have faced criticisms for budget cuts that have dominated planning the last six months, but Paes says that criticism is unwarranted.

"We are not China; we are not London; we are not a rich country, so every time we can cut some of the budget for the Olympics we will do it," Paes added.

While opening the first of the three Carioca Arenas, Paes and Rio 2016 chief Carlos Nuzman both commented on the quality of the structure, calling it nearly as good as any arena in the NBA. The venue will host basketball, wheelchair basketball, and wheelchair rugby during the Olympics and Paralympics, and was the second venue inaugurated in the Olympic Park.

"It is fantastic it is spectacular we have emotion to be here and we will have much more emotion when the best basketball teams men and women playing here," Nuzman said to Around the Rings. "This will be one of the main sports that we have during the Games. I think even with less than 7 months to the Games we are on the right track."

Ticket Sales Slump Not a Worry

Rio 2016 President Carlos Nuzman says that ticket sales are where organizers expected them to be seven months out.

Just under half of domestic tickets in Brazil have been sold, despite the ability for residents to purchase available tickets online directly. Nuzman confirmed to ATR there have been no discussions to change ticket prices to encourage Brazilians to buy tickets.

"For the Pan American games a few months before the event we needed to sell tickets, and in the end we had all the ticket sold," Nuzman said.

"It is the same now, and I am very confident. We have the same prices to respect everyone around the world, and I think the prices are very cheap, the least expensive all time for all the Games."

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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