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IOC: Talk of moving Rio Olympics is 'premature'

10 April 2014 04:03 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. With sports federations demanding a "Plan B" because of the chronic delays in Rio de Janeiro, the International Olympic Committee said Wednesday it was "premature" to speculate about taking the 2016 Games away from Brazil, APA reports quoting Associated Press.

IOC president Thomas Bach and other Olympic officials said the construction holdups and political paralysis have reached a critical point, requiring the IOC to take special measures to save the games.

"It is about time for action," Bach said following an unprecedented public outpouring of criticism and complaints from international sports leaders about the lack of progress in Rio.

Several sports federations asked about contingency plans for their venues and one — handball — asked if there was a backup for the games themselves if Rio won't be ready on time.

Asked whether there had been discussion of moving the games out of Brazil, IOC spokesman Mark Adams stopped short of ruling it out.

"At this stage, that would be far too premature," he said. "We're not talking about Plan B. We're still talking about delivery of the games."

"The IOC has outlined its concerns for some time now — that time is running out," Adams said after Rio organizers spoke to the executive board by video conference. "We believe that Rio 2016 can still deliver good games if appropriate action is taken immediately. The clock is ticking. Every day is crucial, but they can still deliver."

With two years to go, relocating the games would be a last resort, and finding an alternate site on such short notice would be virtually impossible. However, raising alarms about Rio's state of readiness serves to ramp up the pressure on the Brazilians.