Report highlights 'white elephant' venues of Rio 2016

A damning report by a Brazilian Federal prosecutor has labelled many of the venues used during the Rio 2016 Olympics as 'white elephants', slamming their development with no thought having been given to their use post-Games.

Federal prosecutor Leandro Mitidieri issued the report on Monday and criticised Rio Olympic Games organisers for their lack of foresight when building venues for last summer’s Games.

Since the Paralympics, some of the venues have closed and Mitidieri says plans must be put in place to ensure facilities are utilised again in the future.

As quoted by the Associated Press news agency, Mitidieri stated "there was no planning when they put out the bid to host the Games. No planning.

“They are white elephants today. What we are trying to look at here is to how to turn this into something usable.”

According to the AP, Rio’s Olympic Park is currently empty, with clutter from the Games having not yet been removed. There are plans to reopen a cluster of venues in Deodoro as a public park but it remains closed. In addition, the city’s iconic Maracan Stadium, redeveloped for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the venue for the Rio 2016 Opening and Closing ceremonies sits used, with Rio’s football clubs unable to afford its usage costs.

Responding to the report, Patricia Amorim, Rio de Janeiro’s Undersecretary for Sports, said there are also plans in place for the handball arena used during the Games to be demolished and replaced by schools.

Amorin told AP “It will be dismantled.

“We are just waiting to know whether we will actually have resources to build these schools on other sites, or whether we will dismantle it and wait for the resources to come. Our schools need to be reformed and that’s our priority, not new schools.”

In related news, an aide of Brazilian President Michal Temer, Tadeu Filippelli, was yesterday (Tuesday 23rd May) arrested along with two ex-State Governors as part of an investigation into renovation work at Brasilia’s Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha, according to the Reuters news agency.

The Stadium hosted games during the FIFA World Cup in 2014. The three individuals are said to have been arrested amid allegations from an auditing court that the renovation project included significant overbilling.

Image: Rio's Maracana Stadium stands abandoned and unused in the aftermath of the 2016 Olympics.

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