Organizers said that the Olympic velodrome "will be ready for athletes to train there this month," with the most delayed project of the Games "still to be completed two months before the start," according to Karolos Grohmann of REUTERS. Rio de Janeiro's city government said earlier this week that "it had canceled its contract with the company constructing the velodrome." Rio 2016 President Carlos Nuzman: "That is one of the points we explained to the IOC. The Rio mayor was there (via video link) to provide these answers. At the end of June it will be in condition for athletes to train there." The construction of the venue "has now been handed over to Engetecnica, a Brazilian company that has been working on the project as a sub-contractor since February." He also played down any impact from the political crisis in the country with the impeachment of suspended President Dilma Rousseff and her trial scheduled to run during the Games. Nuzman: "In these seven years working for the organization of the Games a lot of things can happen. Nothing interferes with our organization." Nuzman also said that the mosquito-born zika virus, linked to birth defects, "would not be a threat for the Games" (REUTERS, 6/2).
