Felli was appointed by IOC President Thomas Bach last month to closely monitor preparations, and he paid the first of what is expected to be many visits to Brazil last week to report on progress.

Following this, he responded to questions on progress at Deodoro, where seven Olympic and three Paralympic sports will be held during the Games, with the answer: "Of course there are delays, Deodoro is two years late, but we are working together to deliver the Games on time".

He added that work had not even begun at the venue, and that delays in revealing the full budget for the Games, which was completed only on April 16 this year, had also contributed to problems. 

He also insisted Games organisers have not created a satisfactory social legacy in the area.

"It was a political will to put stadiums in a poor area of ​​Rio," he said when speaking at a conference on hosting mega-events organised by the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) in Lausanne.

"We always said: do not put there just the stadiums without posing a [social] programme.

"However, these programmes do not exist today because the sports federations did not work, they have not taken the social part."

New transport projects linking Deodoro to other parts of Rio was one legacy project muted for the region ©AFP/Getty Images



Felli also speculated that there will be no chance of significantly improving this legacy because it "cannot be improvised" and needs concerted planning by authorities and organisers, which has not occurred in the case of Rio.

This marks the latest in a wave of criticism over various elements of preparations, especially construction delays, in recent weeks.