Rio de Janeiro chases legacy of 2016 Olympic Games

With the Olympics about to start in Tokyo, the previous host city is struggling to make good on legacy promises: Brazil's government is providing assurances that Rio de Janeiro's Olympic Park venues won't be abandoned, while City Hall rebuilds a beleaguered bus system and is again pledging to create schools from the dismantled Arena of the Future.

Recreational spaces in areas that previously had none were welcome, as was Rio's revamped port area with new tunnels and museums, even if it didn't lure hoped-for residents or companies.

And demolition of an elevated highway allowed for sweeping views of the Guanabara Bay where sailing competitions took place, but its waters weren't cleaned of sewage, as had been promised.

The postcard city's bid for the Olympics drew inspiration from Barcelona's urban renewal with the 1992 games.

There are reasons Rio's golden dream didn't fully pan out, some justifiable: the nation suffered its worst recession in a century. Others are indefensible. Prosecutors found corruption in subway works; the Olympics-era governor is in jail for that and other offences.

Even if Rio resuscitates its legacy, it will be too late to convince the International Olympic Committee to return to a model in which the Games drive development.

Mayor Eduardo Paes argues that after ''going through an economic crisis, a political crisis and a president's impeachment,'' today's image of the country ''is not the Brazil that had won the Olympic Games in the past ... an arguably much better image.'' Paes was mayor when Rio bid to host in 2009 and during the games in 2016, his final year in office.

Paes insists the Olympics' urban legacy is top-notch, given low expense relative to other hosts and the fact more was delivered than pledged.

Rio's Olympics cost USD 13.5 billion, according to the government's accounting watchdog and using a 2016 exchange rate.

A study by Oxford scholars published in September found average sports-related hosting costs are USD 12 billion, with non-sports costs typically several times more.

Japan expects the Tokyo games to cost at least USD 15 billion without building nearly as much as Rio.

But some academics argue authorities didn't consider the best means to better the lives of Rio's long-suffering residents.

There are no reliable opinion polls on satisfaction with having hosted.

Delmo de Oliveira, 57, who lives next to the Vila Autódromo Cycling Stadium, does not understand why many millions have been spent on the Olympic complex and asks: ''Why didn't they spend that on healthcare? The country has the third-highest COVID-19 death toll after the United States and India.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)