Now it has been confirmed that the Deodoro venue – which has hosted the rugby sevens, equestrian and part of the modern pentathlon during this month’s Rio 2016 Olympics – will be dismantled and Paralympic events due to be held there moved.
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The awful ticket sales figures, however, will alarm everybody associated with the Paralympics as the experience of the Rio Olympics would suggest only about half of those who have bought tickets, be they sponsors or the general public, actually attend.
The organisers are already almost three weeks late in paying travel grants to national Paralympic committees, which could mean some of the poorer nations do not send teams at all.
An additional 150million Brazilian reais have been secured following discussions with Rio mayor Eduardo Paes, while a further R$100m is set to be provided by sponsorship from state-run companies.
The Rio Games organizing committee can take public money to put on the upcoming Paralympic Games.
Grants of more than $7 million that the Rio organizers were due to make to the 165 participating countries are nearly a month overdue.
“At this point it is hard for us to expect the full venues that we saw in Beijing or London, or expect to see in Tokyo in four years’ time”, International Paralympic Committee President Philip Craven said Friday.
“Never before in the 56-year history of the Paralympic Games have we faced circumstances like this”, Craven said at a news conference. “Since becoming aware of the full scale of the problem, we have focused all of our efforts on finding solutions to the problems”.
Grey-Thompson said: “It does feel that they’re being treated like second-class citizens. We are problem solvers by nature and fight for what we believe in”.
In regard to the travel grants, which many poorer nations depend on to send athletes to a Games, Andrada said there was still “plenty of time to make sure they get paid and athletes can get here and prepare to compete”.
But despite the cuts, the IPC insisted the Games will “act as a catalyst to positive social change in Brazil and Latin America”.
The IPC says it is not expecting the sellout crowds that flocked to the Paralympics at the London 2012 Games.
“We made the concern public several ways in several moments”.
‘But I think the pressure of getting the Olympics right has meant they’re robbing Peter to pay Paul and the upshot of that is what we’re seeing now, when there are budget cuts with Games time delivery’. The first athletes are due to arrive on August 31 ahead of the September 7-18 Paralympics.
“We sold about 12 percent of the tickets for the Paralympic Games”.
Rio 2016’s spokesman Mario Andrada said the majority of these tickets were available for the “absolutely affordable” price of 10 Brazilian Reals, or £2.40, and said a new advertising campaign would help boost sales.
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“The IPC’s announcement makes clear there is a major risk to that”.
