Rio de Janeiro will benefit from hosting the Olympic Games, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach said as Brazil struggles to cope with its worst recession in decades.
Questions were raised over the cost of hosting the event, which is estimated to have risen by 400 million Brazilian reais ($115 million) since August as critics argued the money could have been better spent during a time of financial crisis.
“If you look at the new port, if you look at the new hotels and shops which have been created and will be created by this enhancement of the tourism industry,” said Bach, who was speaking at the unveiling ceremony of the 2016 Olympic medals.
“I think you can really say there will be a much better Rio de Janeiro after the Olympic Games.”
Despite the construction contract for the Olympic Tennis Centre and Velodrome being cancelled earlier this year, Bach was confident everything would be in place by the time the Rio games begin on August 5.

No influence on IAAF decision on Russia, IOC tells DLV
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach has answered an open letter from the German athletics federation DLV, saying the IOC has no influence on whether the Russian athletics team will be banned from the Rio Games.
DLV president Clemens Prokop revealed Wednesday that Bach had replied by saying “that the decision on the right of Russian athletes to compete at the Rio Games lies in the hands of the world governing (athletics) body IAAF”.
“He writes that the IOC has no influence over the decision but is anticipating it.”
Prokop added that Bach reiterated that the IOC protects clean athletes. In the open letter to Bach/the IOC last week, Prokop said not only had athletes been cheated but the IOC and Olympic ideals “have been deceived.
“I ask you to please take the concerns of the athletes seriously and exhaust all possibilities for a credible and equal opportunity competition in Rio,” Prokop wrote.

Work resumes on Rio’s beach volleyball arena
Work restarted on the Olympic beach volleyball arena yesterday, four days after it was halted because of a missing permit, officials in host city Rio de Janeiro said.
Construction on the temporary structure ground to a halt on Saturday but resumed after new paperwork was filed, according to the city’s Environment Secretariat.
Although the environmental licenses are still being reviewed, officials guaranteed the venue on Rio’s Copacabana beach will be finished in time for the start of South America’s first Olympic Games on August 5.