IOC: Rio set for outstanding Olympics

Rio de Janeiro is set to stage an "outstanding" Olympics -- if it can sort out "millions" of details, the head of an IOC fact-finding mission said Wednesday.

"Brazil is showing the entire world that it can deliver a great Olympic Games," Nawal El Moutawakel, head of the International Olympic Committee's Coordination Commission, said in Rio.

She said that warm-up events to test the infrastructure had so far shown no "major problems."

But now it's "about dealing in a timely manner with millions of operational details," she told a press conference.

El Moutawakel dismissed concerns over heavily polluted water in the areas of the Olympic rowing and sailing events.

"We will dive (in) together," she joked with an IOC colleague.

IOC officials also insisted that impoverished Brazilians would not be left behind by the global mega-event, which comes just as their country is sliding into recession.

The 2016 Games will be the first held in South America.
Source: AFP