The organizers of the Rio Olympics "have drawn a line in the sand at Copacabana: they will deliver the budget Games," according to Simon King of THE AUSTRALIAN. And "despite this promise and with just 43 weeks to go until the show comes to town, they remain confident they can turn their venues, which currently resemble little more than building sites, into world-class facilities." Rio 2016 Communications Dir Mario Andrada said, "We are committed to organizing the Games without public funds -- so we have to do the Games with what we found in the refrigerator." The Olympic budget for venues had been R$7.4B ($2.6B), but "with the country stuck in a worsening economic crisis," Andrada said that organizers "had a responsibility to tighten the purse-strings." He said, "We’re trying to hit 10 percent (savings), we’d really like it if we hit 12 percent." Such is the commitment, Andrada "hopes it will be the legacy of the Rio Games." Andrada: "The mark we would love to leave is that Brazil was able to organize an efficient games, leaving a tangible legacy and not blowing up the credit card." In "a bold move," those hit by the budget cuts will include the IOC and its long-term partners the Olympic Results & Information Services. The plan "includes going largely digital -- printing only those reports required by referees" -- and merging the offices of the IOC and int'l federations. Andrada said, "We don’t go with these ideas alone, we share them with the IOC as we move along -- the bigwigs don’t like surprises." Within the next week, organizers "will receive a report from the World Health Organisation dictating what action will be needed to clean up the sailing venue, Guanabara Bay." Andrada: "Whatever they’re going to say, we’re going to do, so there will be no crisis there -- if they tell us things are fine providing we test A, B, C bacteria, we go there" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 10/8).
