The Paralympics are to go ahead in Rio next month, but organizers on Friday said that deep budget cuts mean a venue will close down, facilities will be dismantled and the workforce will be reduced.
Poor ticket sales have compounded existing financial challenges in recession-battered Brazil, which have already impacted operations at the Olympics, which close today.
Rio has less than three weeks to prepare for the Paralympics, the pinnacle of the disability sport calendar, where organizers hoped to build on progress made at the well-attended games in London four years ago.
Rio organizers reported ticket sales of just more than 290,000 tickets for the Sept. 7-18 Paralympics.
“At this point, it is difficult for us to expect the full venues that we saw in Beijing or London, or expect to see in Tokyo in four years’ time,” International Paralympic Committee (IPC) president Philip Craven said on Friday.
The committee said it had over the past year already sought to reduce costs and the new, deeper “major budget cuts” will affect every team and visitors to the Games.
“Never before in the 56-year history of the Paralympic Games have we faced circumstances like this,” Craven said.
“Since becoming aware of the full scale of the problem, we have focused all of our efforts on finding solutions to the problems,” he added.
The committee has secured an additional 150 million reals (US$46.8 million) in funding from Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes and said the government would bring in up to 100 million reals of sponsorship from state-run companies.
However, the workforce for the Paralympics will still be reduced, transport services cut and media centers closed.
The wheelchair fencing competition will move to a new venue, allowing Deorodo Olympic Park to be closed and dismantled.
Grants of more than US$7 million that Rio organizers were due to make to the 165 participating countries are almost a month overdue.
The first athletes are due to arrive on Aug. 31, although there will be no Russians after the country was suspended from the committee over its state-sponsored doping scheme.
“Currently, we have around 10 countries who, even if the grants are paid, may struggle to cover the cost of their travel to the Games,” Craven said. “The IPC is working with them to find solutions and ensure their participation here in Rio.”
Britain’s Paralympic body expressed concern that Rio’s constrained budgets are setting back the Games.
“London 2012 proudly showed the world what was possible and we want Rio to be the next stage of that positive journey,” the British Paralympic Association said. “The IPC’s announcement makes clear that there is major risk to that.”
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