Levy replaced Leonardo Gryner, who becomes the chief operations officer but will main responsibility for key areas of the Organising Committee.

Levy will take control of corporate affairs, human resources, procurement, legal, planning and institutional relationns departments while Gryner will be in charge of commercial, operations, sport and new communications and sustainability departments. 

But Gryner will report to Levy.

Carlos Nuzman, the President of Rio 2016, claimed that the changes had been planned for a while and were not a reaction to the scandal involving members of the Organising Committee who were fired after illegally downloading computer files during London 2012, where they were working as observers. 

"All initiatives are part of the restructuring that begun in June, as the new stage of preparation after the London 2012 Games," said Nuzman.

"This will contribute to planning and delivery with excellence for the Rio 2016 Games.

"Leonardo Gryner has long Olympic experience, having been involved in all Olympic Summer Games since 1976, and having been part of the Rio 2016 bid, and therefore has all the credentials to lead all operational areas of the Games."

Gryner becomes the third person to fill the chief operations role at Rio 2016 in less than five months. 

He replaces Marco Aurelio Costa Vieira, a former military officer who had been hired in July and touted as "a professional with extensive experience in planning" and "an important addition" to the committee.

A month earlier, former chief operations officer Roderlei Generali had been sacked.

Levy is an engineer who was the president of Brazilian company Valid SA until last year. 

He was also President of DLR Lerchundi in Spain and the American Chamber of Commerce in Rio.

Levy also worked in Britain at Thomas de La Rue in different leadership positions between 1981 and 1991

"I would like to thank Carlos Nuzman for the opportunity he has given and Leonardo Gryner for the warm welcome," he said.

"I am sure that I will have lots to learn from their long experience in the Olympic movement and I will bring my experience from the corporate world, which I hope will contribute to the success of one of the most important projects in the history of this country."

Levy will officially start Jan. 1 2013, but will participate in the International Olympic Committee's debriefing of the London Games, which will begin next Saturday (November 17) in Rio de Janeiro.

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