Rio 2016 Begins Final Year of Operation

(ATR) Rio 2016 says they will keep about 300 staff members through the 2017 IOC session.

With the Olympics finished, Rio 2016 communications director Mario Andrada tells Around the Rings three main groups continue to work at the committee in post-Olympics mode.

The first group is working on the "dissolution mode" of the committee, creating a road map for the final year of operations. The second group is working to dismantle the Olympic venues, and the final group will prepare necessary reports to the IOC.

"[The committee] will run in a smaller scale, firstly here in the headquarters, then we will move somewhere else," Andrada says. "The reports will be delivered in Lima, at the IOC session; until then the committee will exist."

Around 600 staff members currently remain at the committee, a number that will be cut in half after moving out of the Rio 2016 offices. Andrada estimates the move will happen next month, after which the temporary building will be dismantled. Discussions for who will own the site post-Rio 2016 are ongoing.

In November, Tokyo 2020 will host the IOC, International Paralympic Committee and Rio 2016 in a transfer of knowledge. Andrada said that the committee has completed all pre-reports for the transfer and they are "ready to be delivered".

The 2016 budget remains on track to be finished this year and audited in January 2017. Andrada said retaining staff through the 2017 IOC session will not create any major surprises for the budget. Rio 2016 chief executive Sidney Levy said after the Paralympics that the final budget will be balanced at $2.8 billion. To complete the budget, Rio 2016 will receive up to $28.01 million in public funds from city hall, as well as just over $30 million in sponsorship from state run companies.

"We have a pretty solid idea of what to pay everybody," Andrada said. "Once you dismantle all the venues, work to donate all the material, you have a pretty solid knowledge of how much money you have."

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro.

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