page_title: Concerns and controversies at the 2016 Summer Olympics
section_title: Infrastructure concerns
hierarchical_section_title: Concerns and controversies at the 2016 Summer Olympics / Preparations / Infrastructure concerns
caption_attribution_description: Português: Rio de Janeiro - Vila dos Atletas, na Barra da Tijuca, zona oeste da cidade (Tomaz Silva/Agência Brasil)
context_page_description: A number of notable controversies and concerns associated with the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, emerged which were the subject of public debate and media commentary.
context_section_description: While the whole city was undergoing major infrastructure improvements, there were concerns that some of the projects would not materialise. On 9 May 2014, the London Evening Standard reported IOC vice-president John Coates calling Brazil's preparations "the worst I’ve experienced" and went on to claim that construction and infrastructure projects were severely behind schedule. "The IOC has formed a special task force to try to speed up preparations but the situation is critical on the ground", the paper quoted him as saying, concluding that such an intervention was "unprecedented". Despite these initial worries, the Rio Olympics Committee reported on 29 December 2015 that most venues were complete except the Rio Olympic Velodrome (76%) and the Youth Arena (75%). Coates' concerns had previously been reported elsewhere in the media.
  On 21 April—the day that the Olympic torch was lit—a 50 metres (164 ft) section of the Tim Maia bike path, crossing the Oscar Niemeyer Avenue in São Conrado neighborhood and a part of the legacy of the games, was hit by a giant wave and collapsed. Two pedestrians fell into the ocean to their deaths, and three were injured. Four days after the incident, Rio's mayor Eduardo Paes announced that the bike path would be repaired before the Olympics, and that the companies responsible for the path will be punished.
  The Rio 2016 Olympic Village has been described as the largest in Olympic history. Some officials deemed the athletes' village as "unlivable" and unsafe because of major plumbing and electrical hazards still present a fortnight before the opening of the Rio Olympics. Blocked toilets, leaking pipes, exposed wiring, unlight stairwells and dirty floors were among the reported problems at some apartments in the complex. The Australian Olympic team boycotted the village after officials deemed their assigned apartment tower blocks uninhabitable. A team of more than 500 employees of the local Olympic committee worked to fix the problems reported by the delegations. The organizers of the Rio Olympics conceded that there were isolated cases of sabotage by employees during the construction of the Rio 2016 Village.
caption: The Rio 2016 Olympic Village
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