By Nick Butler

Rio 2016 have insisted that much progress is now being made after a lot of unjust criticism ©Getty ImagesInternational Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president John Coates was "ill-informed and wrong" when criticising preparations for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games earlier this year, according to a leading official within the Organising Committee.


Following a wide variety of problems, including the fact construction work at Deodoro Complex was running two-years behind schedule and was yet to start, Coates described preparations as the worst he had experienced in his long association with the Games. 

The Australian, a member of the IOC's Coordination Commission for Rio 2016, a close ally of IOC President Thomas Bach, was voicing fears that many senior figures within the sports world had already been expressing privately for some time.

At the SportAccord International Convention in Belek in April, a number of International Federations raised similar concerns, and the IOC introduced a number of emergency measures, including three task forces and a project manager, in a bid to resolve the problems. 

But, three months later, Rio 2016 communications director Mario Andrada has lambasted Coates for launching these views amid an insistence they are now on course to meet their targets. 

"Coates' message was ill-informed and bluntly wrong," he told the Press Association.

"Yes, he is on the Coordination Commission but he had information that was wrong.

"We are not the worst, and we can prove that beyond any reasonable doubt.

"One of his complaints was about staffing - that was not us being lazy or late but us humbly disputing with the IOC the need for more people at this point."

John Coates, pictured with IOC President Thomas Bach, has been labelled as "ill informed and bluntly wrong" ©Getty ImagesJohn Coates, pictured with IOC President Thomas Bach, has been labelled as "ill informed and bluntly wrong" ©Getty Images







Over recent weeks, construction work has belatedly started on the Deodoro Sports Complex, where 11 sports will take place during the Games, and work at the main Olympic Park in Barra de Tijuca, to the north of Deodoro, has now been extended to 24 hours a day.

The FIFA World Cup in Brazil was heralded as a success, despite taking place amid a backdrop of similar concerns as well as popular discontent at a time of social and economic unrest.

Andrada described the World Cup as "a lesson of confidence" for the Olympic organisers where they learned what they have to do, and realised they were capable of doing it.

"It was the alert that the Government needed," he told the Press Association.

"it was the crack of the whip that was putting Brazil in an alert position and drove us to an incredible amount of progress in the last couple of months.

"It will allow us to face the two-year milestone [in August] looking to the world and saying we have no problems here, we are on track, on time."

Yet, with the two year to go milestone taking place a week today on August 5, many outstanding concerns still remain, and there is certainly still enough to justify the fears expressed by Coates.

One area in particular concerns pollution levels on the Guanabara Bay venue where a sailing test event is due to be held next week to coincide with the anniversary.

Concerns remain high over the pollution levels on the Bay, with Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes admitting last month that initial plans to clean up to 80 per cent of water across the entire Bay will now not be met.

This is despite Andrada himself insisting to insidethegames in March that cleaning these polluted waters would still be a major legacy of the Games and that 70 per cent of these waters would be cleaned, something that it is now clear will not be achieved.