Olympics under threat Rio 2016 faces economic meltdown, building delays, ticket sale slumps, pollution and a Zika epidemic

Two Brazilian mothers hold babies affected by Microcephaly, a birth defect linked to the Zika virus. Health experts recently called for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games to be postponed or cancelled

RIO’s 2016 Olympics is reeling from a “perfect storm” of an economic meltdown, building delays, pollution, a ticket sale slump and the terrifying Zika epidemic.

It is a race against time to complete all the venues for the Rio Olympic Games

The worst recession to hit the South American nation for a century has decimated games spending and left builders racing against time to finish vital construction work. Little more than half of Olympic tickets have been sold and a paltry 12 per cent have been bought for Paralympic events.

Health workers ready to spray insecticide to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that transmits the Zika virus, under the bleachers of the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro

A poorly built cliffside cycle path built to link venues sparked more fears last week when it collapsed into the sea, killing two people and leaving three missing feared drowned.

Structure for the Arena Olimpica beach court in Copacaban beach where the Beach volleyball tournament is scheduled to take place

And the head-shrinking Zika Virus was continuing to spark terror across the sprawling Samba city just four months before the curtain rises. A games source said: “With so much going wrong at the same time only a miracle will save the Rio Olympics from being a disaster now.”

Andy Murray is one of the Olympic stars who is seeking medical advice ahead of travelling to Brazil for fear of the health crisis in the region

Pregnant women have been warned to stay away from the games over fears the mosquito-borne virus could leave their babies with shrunken heads and brains or paralysis.

Men work on the renovations of the Rio Olympic Stadium during its presentation ahead of the 2016 Olympics

More than 220,000 troops have been drafted in to battle the plague by spraying swamps and ponds teeming with infected insects.
Mosquito repellent was rushed to 400,000 pregnant women as health minister Marcelo Castro warned that the country was “badly losing” the Zika battle.

The alert came after Brazil’s once booming economy was poleaxed by a financial crisis which has led to bodies piling up outside Rio hospital morgues and government staff going unpaid.

Public alarm over the collapse led to huge street protests and an extraordinary vote to impeach left wing president Dilma Vana Rousseff earlier this month. Olympic chiefs have had £350 million slashed from their £1.25 billion budget. amid rising public fury over the cost of the sporting showpiece.

Thousands of seats have been slashed from the swimming venue. 4,000 temporary grandstand seats from the rowing venue have gone and tents will replace some buildings.

A crucial 10 mile metro extension to take fans to the Olympic Park has now fallen so far behind schedule it is scheduled to open just a month before the games. Electricity and water was cut off at the new Estádio Nilton Santos track and field venue owing to unpaid bills.

Cutbacks have also hit the athletes’ apartments in the Olympic Village which will have only basic furnishings and no televisions. A plan to axe air conditioning was shelved after an outcry from furious competitors who had been warned they may have to buy and install it themselves.

But Rio 2012 sources yesterday denied claims that the opening show budget had been slashed to just a 10th of the sum spent on Danny Boyle’s jaw-dropping London curtain raiser.

Printing competition results on paper has also been slashed to save money and the number of volunteers has been cut from 70,000 to 60,000. Ticket sales for the Olympic Games have been slow with just 2.7 million of 4.5 million available in Brazil sold so far.