The Paralympic Games will go ahead despite facing “major budget cuts”, the International Paralympic Committee has announced.
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It emerged last week that Rio 2016 organisers had failed to pay grants of up to $8m to allow countries to travel to the Games, bringing the funding crisis into the public arena.
The Rio 2016 Paralympics is to be downsized amid the most challenging circumstances faced in its 56-year history, with venues being closed and services cut.
The IPC said it has already been imposing cuts over the a year ago and the fresh ones are set to affect every team and visitors to the games.
This news follows weeks of increasingly feverish speculation that Rio 2016’s organising committee had run out of money, which has been spent fixing problems at the Olympics, and the Paralympics may even be cancelled. “It’s going to be an awesome spectacle of elite sport and we can not wait to bring all the action and the excitement from Rio to viewers in the United Kingdom”.
Craven did admit that 10 nations were now unable to afford to travel to Rio but promised to find a way to get them there.
The other problem is Brazil’s lackluster economy; according to Fortune the poverty stricken country has sunk an estimated 15 billion dollars on infrastructure for the Rio games.
“This is the number one priority for the organisation of the Games”, said Craven.
The Paralympic Games, set to kick off next month in Rio de Janeiro, will not be as grand as originally planned.
“The opportunity we have here to make Rio, Brazil, Latin America and the world a more equitable place for all does not come around very often, so we have to grab it with both hands”.
“Captain of the Australian women’s wheelchair basketball team at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics, Donna Ritchie said “Paralympians don’t have the time to worry about what doesn’t work, they just maximise what does”, he said.
“At this point it is hard for us to expect the full venues we saw in Beijing or London, or expect to see in Tokyo in four years’ time”.
The 15th summer Paralympic Games are scheduled to take place from 7 September to 18 September.
“They have dedicated their lives to reaching these Games and we will do our upmost to try and maintain the service levels and scope that they expect at a Paralympic Games”.
“Currently we have around 10 countries who, even if the grants are paid, may struggle to cover the cost of their travel to the Games”.
“Our job is to get out there and do exactly what we’ve been training to do for years”.
Months ago in Lausanne, Switzerland, officials said that roughly 25 per cent of tickets had been sold.
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Speaking to ITV News, Colbourne, who retired in 2013 after winning a gold and two silvers at London 2012, said: “We’re trying to promote the paralympic movement here, we’re trying to up-skill and upscale what we do as athletes. People power could really determine the outcome of these Games”.
