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When Rio de Janeiro was awarded the Summer Olympics a few years ago, Brazil was on a high. It had a growing middle class and a currency that was gaining strength. Things are a lot different today. With less than seven months to go before the big event, NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro reports.
LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, BYLINE: Instead of the Summer Games, you might as well call these the gloomy games. Marcelo Barreto is a famous Brazilian TV sports journalist, and he's covered mega-sporting events for 20 years all over the world. In 2009, when his home city of Rio won the 2016 Olympics, the atmosphere, he says, was electric.
MARCELO BARRETO: It was a very optimistic moment for Brazil, and I think the Olympics were another message that we were being accepted by the developed world. It wasn't about the events themselves. It was about Brazil.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: A rising nation finally meeting its potential. Fast-forward to today. There's a crashing economy, impeachment proceedings against the president, a huge corruption scandal, panic over a mosquito-borne virus linked to brain damage in infants. Despite that, he says...
BARRETO: We are going to deliver good games.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: There is a race, as always, to get things done in time. Things won't work exactly as planned, but the 2016 games will go on.
BARRETO: But I don't think it matters so much right now. There's a feeling of disappointment in the air. People are concerned with more pressing, urgent things right now.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Like a health care crisis in Rio. Rio state government gets much of its revenue from oil production, as this the main hub of the country's oil wealth. Except the price of a barrel is very low, leaving the state practically bankrupt. The most visible sign has been at state hospitals.
I'm outside the Hospital Albert Schweitzer. This is a state hospital, and there are literally dozens of people crowding the entrance trying to get into the hospital. It's extremely chaotic.
CRISTIANI SILVA: (Foreign language spoken).
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Cristiani Silva was waiting outside the hospital to see her husband who's being treated inside. She says, "it's a huge contradiction that we are hosting these games and we have this health crisis - spending money we just don't have," she says.
Over the past month in Rio, one woman gave birth on the sidewalk because a hospital wasn't admitting patients due to funding issues. The main doctors union said this week that the health system in Rio isn't capable of dealing with the influx of tourists for the games. Roberto Maltchik is the Olympics editor at Rio's biggest daily, O Globo.
ROBERTO MALTCHIK: (Foreign language spoken).
GARCIA-NAVARRO: "The crisis has completely impacted the Olympic Games," he says. "They have no money. They can't incur any last-minute costs," he says. "Budgets have been slashed across the board, from the opening games to the closing ceremony," he says.
Right now, one of the Olympic stadiums which will be used for athletics just had its water and light cut off because of unpaid bills. The builder for another two venues, the tennis and equestrian centers, has had to lay off workers and hasn't paid suppliers.
DAVILANI CRUZ: (Foreign language spoken).
GARCIA-NAVARRO: The athletes are also being affected. We reached Davilani Cruz by phone. He is part of Brazil's national taekwondo team. He says a monthly stipend provided by Brazil's Ministry of Sport hasn't been paid in five months.
CRUZ: (Foreign language spoken).
GARCIA-NAVARRO: "I think this isn't something that should be happening in an Olympic year," he says. "We athletes depend on the stipend to travel to competitions, and we don't have a lot of other support so we end up lagging behind because of this." he says.
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GARCIA-NAVARRO: At an event this week marking the opening of another Olympic athletic stadium, Rio's Mayor Eduardo Paes was pummeled with questions about the hospital crisis and the budget cuts.
EDUARDO PAES: So we have enough money to do everything that's supposed to be delivered. As you can see here, we are not China. We are not England. We are not a rich country. So every time we can cut some of the budget of the Olympics, we will do it. This is not going to be Olympics of wasting money.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: So the mayor is selling the crisis as a good thing. Marcelo Barreto the TV host says what's happened to Brazil might serve as a lesson to other countries who are considering hosting the games.
BARRETO: It's too much money to be spent in a three-week sports event, and if a Third World country could deliver this message or help deliver this message, I think it would be a very positive role in the history of Olympics. I'll be more than glad.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: So a very slim silver lining. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, NPR News, Rio de Janeiro.