by Our Sports Desk

Cuts, cuts and more cuts. That was the situation facing international sports federations yesterday, with just over six months to go before the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazilian organisers will be meeting next month with federation leaders and World Rowing executive director Matt Smith already knows what to expect — bracing for news that 4,000 temporary grandstand seats at the rowing Olympic venue won’t be built.

At the swimming venue, several thousand seats have already been slashed. And the world governing body for sailing learned more than a year ago that the bleachers it wanted had been ruled out.

Television viewers won’t notice when South America’s first Olympics open on August 5 but Rio organisers are scaling down everywhere to eliminate about £350 million to balance the operating budget of 7.4 billion reals (£12bn).

“I’ve been around since Los Angeles in 1984 and we haven’t been in such a situation where a country that is staging the games is in such a vulnerable situation,” said Smith.

Brazil was booming in 2008 when it was awarded the Games. Now it’s buffeted by the worst recession since the 1930s. The currency has plunged almost 50 per cent against the US dollar and inflation is over 10 per cent and rising.

In addition, President Dilma Rousseff is facing an impeachment bid fuelled by peeved rightwingers who have failed to stop her progressive policies democratically.

“We haven’t had to face anything like this,” Smith said. “It was a bold move to go to an emerging country. The IOC deciding to go to South America was a really important, strategic issue — but with all the associated risks.”

Hit by cash-flow problems, Rio is reducing the use of unpaid volunteers. Transportation is being rejigged. Few competition results will be available on paper, and Olympic sponsor Panasonic has stepped in to give unprecedented financial help to run the opening and closing ceremonies.