{"id":2418,"date":"2015-12-04T09:06:30","date_gmt":"2015-12-04T17:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/air-conditioning-in-athletes-village-hit-by-rio-budget-cuts\/"},"modified":"2015-12-04T09:06:30","modified_gmt":"2015-12-04T17:06:30","slug":"air-conditioning-in-athletes-village-hit-by-rio-budget-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/air-conditioning-in-athletes-village-hit-by-rio-budget-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Air conditioning in athletes village hit by Rio budget cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

RIO DE JANEIRO \u2014 <\/strong>The 10,500 athletes at next year\u2019s Olympics will feel first-hand the deep budget cuts buffeting the Rio de Janeiro Games: they won\u2019t have air conditioning in their bedrooms unless someone pays for it.<\/p>\n

Charging for air conditioning is part of what games organizers call finding \u201cfat\u201d and cutting it.<\/p>\n

Mario Andrada, spokesman for the Rio Games, said in an interview that organizers have found up to 2 billion reals ($520 million) that needed to be cut as part of balancing the operating budget of 7.4 billion reals ($1.9 billion).<\/p>\n

Asked specifically about the need for AC in the bedrooms, Andrada replied: \u201cWe don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to be critical (to have air conditioning) there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the games take place in the South American winter \u2014 Aug. 5-21, 2016 \u2014 it could still be hot. This year on Aug. 19 the temperature soared to 35.4 degrees C (95.7 degrees F).<\/p>\n

Andrada said national federations might pay for some athletes, though it\u2019s unclear if poorer federations could handle the added costs.<\/p>\n

Rio Olympic organizers are being hit by a deep recession, a steep fall in the value of the local currency against the dollar, and 10 percent inflation. There is also a spreading corruption scandal involving state-run oil giant Petrobras that has been part of triggering impeachment proceedings against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t the mood in 2009 when Rio won the bid, setting off wild celebrations on Copacabana beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are discussing with our partners, especially the IOC, what kind of levels of service we can reduce,\u201d Andrada said.<\/p>\n

Rio officials say most of the cuts involve \u201cbehind-the-scenes\u201d facilities, unseen on television or by ticket-paying customers. This could involve organizers buying cheaper products and services, reducing signage, or using more temporary structures.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt (cutting) hasn\u2019t been painful so far,\u201d Andrada said. \u201cIt will be painful from now on because we need to finish the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

The games were to have 5,000 employees when they open in eight months. That\u2019s been scaled back by 500.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them are going to be unhappy,\u201d Andrada said. \u201cThat\u2019s normal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cuts will be welcomed by those asking why Brazil, with poor schools, under-funded hospitals and high taxes, has spent more than $20 billion to organize last year\u2019s World Cup and the Olympics.<\/p>\n

The image of thrift suits International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, who has tried to change a perception the games are too expensive and benefit only a few.<\/p>\n

In a reply to an email, the IOC congratulated organizers \u201cfor working toward a balanced budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IOC contributes about $1.5 billion to the operating budget.<\/p>\n

Fernando Meirelles, the famous Brazilian filmmaker of \u201cCity of God\u201d who is working on the opening ceremony, accepts the austerity.<\/p>\n

\u201cA country that doesn\u2019t have basic sanitation can\u2019t spend the fortune that was spent in London or Beijing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Andrada said the cuts would not affect the sports themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as we don\u2019t compromise the games, the quality of the competitions, the experience of the public \u2014 then we have to look for efficiencies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The operating budget is for running the games themselves with income from the IOC, marketing, tickets sales and local sponsorship sales.<\/p>\n

A separate capital budget of about 39 billion reals ($10 billion), a mix of public and private money, is being used to build sports venues, roads and other facilities needed to stage the games.<\/p>\n

Andrada said a $700 million \u201ccontingency fund\u201d backed by the federal government in the original bid document could still be used as a bailout.<\/p>\n

The IOC requires host countries to make up for any budget shortfalls.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t been told that they (government) won\u2019t put up the money,\u201d Andrada said. \u201cThe $700 million is a commitment the government made in the contract, so it\u2019s for the government to decide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unrelated to budget cuts, Andrada said organizers had yet to sign a contract with a private energy company to supply electricity for the games, meaning that power may come only from temporary generators.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do have a concrete plan,\u201d Andrada said. \u201cThe plan is being executed but we haven\u2019t got the final solution for the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrada termed using only generators the \u201cB Plan\u201d and said the responsibility to provide energy belonged to the national government.<\/p>\n

The IOC said \u201cwe expect the Brazilian organizers to deliver\u201d on energy provision.<\/p>\n

Andrada acknowledged delays were tied to Brazil\u2019s bureaucracy, particularly with the politics and corruption scandals upstaging the Olympics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a problem that should have been fixed a while ago,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will have energy. Don\u2019t get scared.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Stephen Wade on Twitter: http:\/\/twitter.com\/StephenWadeAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RIO DE JANEIRO \u2014 The 10,500 athletes at next year\u2019s Olympics will feel first-hand the deep budget cuts buffeting the Rio de Janeiro Games: they won\u2019t have air conditioning in their bedrooms unless someone pays for it. Charging for air conditioning is part of what games organizers call finding \u201cfat\u201d and cutting it. Mario Andrada, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-2418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2418\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2418"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=2418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}