Olympics: Rio de Janeiro faces tough times but IOC upbeat about preparations

People walk next to a banner that reads "Coup Never Again" during a protest against the impeachment proceedings against Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015.

"There are challenges", he said after Rio Games organizers delivered a progress report at the IOC Executive board meeting. They noted that the city's human rights violations, particularly among its most economically disadvantaged residents, didn't originate with the Olympics.

The local organizing committee (OC) aims to slash 500 million dollars from the 1.9 billion dollar budget for the Games given the current financial difficulties in Brazil in what is the worst recession in decades.

Rio Games chief Carlos Nuzman said that the overall situation was presented to the International Olympic Committee in a transparent way.

He says some of that time was travel, but remembers spending many more hours visiting with athletes as they trained, helping prepare them for Olympic experience, letting them know what to expect and that they could count on his staff for moral and logistical support.

"The sports department found a solution that could allow us to have the air conditioning", said Andrada, via NBC Sports. A few days later, however, organizers said they would provide free air conditioning after all. Included in our report from December 3rd was the fact that Rio organizers have yet to sign a contract with a private energy supplier.

The IOC also asked Brazilian organizers about the severe water pollution in Rio that affects the sailing, rowing and canoeing venues.

The IOC is also involved in talks to recognize a single governing body for skateboarding, one of the five sports proposed for addition to the Tokyo program, along with baseball-softball, surfing, karate and sport climbing.

The IOC will review a dispute that has put Mexico's participation in the Rio Olympics in question.

That's the sobering claim of a report released on Tuesday as part of a campaign from Switzerland-based children's rights group Terre des Hommes International Federation.

Efforts to resolve the Mexican situation are under way, and officials said there was no imminent threat of sanctions.