Waddell, 39, a gold medal winner in the single sculls rowing at Sydney 2000 before featuring in the Team New Zealand Americas Cup team which ultimately finished second behind Team Oracle last September, has recently returned from a scheduled inspection of the Games sites in Rio de Janeiro.

He reported the main Olympic Park in Barra de Tijuca, where ten sports as well as the Olympic Village will be held, is a bare site, while the second main Games cluster at Deodoro also remains in the early stages of construction. 

"You go to Olympic Park and there's not what is supposed to be there," he told Fairfax Media New Zealand.

"There are buildings missing and they're certainly well aware there's a job to be done."

Since November 2012 sports administrators from New Zealand have made a total of 15 site visits to Rio de Janeiro where, among the issues they are particularly concerned about, is water pollution levels at the sailing and rowing venues at Guanabara Bay and Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas respectively, due to the fact the country is particularly strong in these sports.

Last month, International Sailing Federation head of competitions Alastair Fox admitted to insidethegames that the sailing test event, due to be held from August 2 until 8 this summer, would be "difficult" because measures to deal with pollution will not have been completed. 

Pollution levels for the water sport events is one of many concerns ahead of Rio 2016
©Getty Images



But recent weeks have seen a multitude of concerns spanning many issues for Rio de Janeiro, particularly involving slow construction progress at the many Games venues.

Last week Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates, also a vice-president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), claimed  preparations were the "the worst he had experienced" in his long association with the Games.

Although the IOC have insisted that "things are moving in the right direction" they have illustrated their concern by introducing three task forces, as well as more regular visits by IOC Executive Director Gilbert Felli.

The fact these measures had been taken was cited by Waddell as evidence that the problems engulfing Rio are worse than those evident before other recent Games.

"In my experience, having been to a number of Olympics in Atlanta, Sydney and Beijing, there does tend to be concerns about what could go wrong," he told Fairfax Media New Zealand.

"The significance in this case is that the IOC has actually stepped in.

"But we have confidence in the processes that they [IOC] are taking, and it's heartening to see that action has been taken."

"There's a process happening now and it's an ongoing watch, keep monitoring and, hopefully, as we get close to the Games those challenges and opportunities start to be de-risked and narrowed down."

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May 2014: Coates softens stance over Rio 2016 and claims they can "deliver excellent Games"
April 2014: "Things are moving in the right direction" for Rio 2016 claim IOC despite more criticism
April 2014: Rio 2016 preparations "worst I have experienced" admits IOC vice-president
December 2012: Waddell appointed as New Zealand Chef de Mission for Glasgow 2014
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