Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes has responded to the high number of complaints about the city's preparations for the 2016 Olympics by saying that "sports federations are making too many unnecessary demands," according to the AAP. Paes said the federations are asking for too many "large things" that will not be used by the city after the Olympics, so he will keep fighting to provide only what will be absolutely necessary to guarantee successful Games in two years. Earlier this month, "in an unprecedented display of criticism against an Olympic host, 18 sports federations made public their widespread concerns over Rio's preparations." The complaints prompted the IOC "to send a senior troubleshooter to Brazil." IOC Exec Dir Gilbert Felli "is already in Rio participating in closed meetings with local organisers." Paes: "Probably these federations will keep complaining about me until the day the Olympics start, because sometimes they want us to do things that are too large. They are making demands about the stadiums, but I will not accept them" (AAP, 4/26).
