This file photo shows the view of Guanabara Bay, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on April 28, 2015. The Rio 2016 Olympic Games will be held from August 5 to 21. (Photo/Xinhua)
Tuesday will mark the start of the one-month countdown to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as seven years of preparations reach their most critical juncture. Xinhua analyzes Rio's progress and identifies key challenges facing organizers ahead of the opening ceremony on August 5.
GAMES ORGANIZATION
Rio 2016 organizers have avoided many of the problems that beset the World Cup in Brazil two years ago, when most of the stadiums were running late amid huge budget overruns.
Last week city officials said that the construction of Rio's Olympic Park had reached 99% completion.
Five of the nine venues at the park are ready: Arena Carioca 1 (basketball), Arena Carioca 2 (judo, wrestling), Arena Carioca 3 (taekwondo, fencing), Future Arena (handball) and the aquatic center (swimming). Work on the athletes' village, media facilities and the Olympic Park hotel has also been completed.
Despite the encouraging progress at most Olympic facilities, not everything has gone to plan. Work is ongoing at the velodrome, a warmup pool at the Maria Lenk Aquatic center and two tennis courts.
City officials have said that the velodrome - the least advanced Rio 2016 venue - will be ready by mid-July, more than six months behind schedule.
POLITICAL CRISIS, RECESSION
In May, Brazil's senate voted to begin an impeachment trial against President Dilma Rousseff for her alleged manipulation of government accounts. A verdict is not expected to be given until after the Olympics, averting the threat of a major distraction from sport's showpiece event.
Political turbulence has coincided with a massive corruption scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras that has tipped Brazil into its worst economic recession in decades.
Rio has been among the states hardest hit by the crisis. Last month, governor Francisco Dornelles declared a state of financial emergency, saying public services faced "total collapse" and warning that commitments for the Games might not be honored.
Rio de Janeiro's city government and Rio 2016 organizers later eased concerns about the Olympics, saying the state's woes would not impact the Games.
CITY INFRASTRUCTURE
While swathes of Rio still resemble vast construction sites, many infrastructure projects slated for the Olympics are almost ready.
Asphalt for new express bus lanes to Olympic venues has been laid while a road featuring Brazil's longest underground tunnel - bypassing the city centre - has also been partially opened.
Refurbishment work at Rio's Tom Jobim international airport will also be concluded within days, officials have said.
But there is still doubt over whether a new metro line connecting the city to Olympic Park in Barra da Tijuca will be ready in time.
Some of the new stations are yet to open and engineers are still conducting tests along the 16km stretch of tracks. The state government has said the line will open on August 1, four days before the Games begin.
Laborers are also scrambling to finish a new tram line linking Rio's domestic airport to its major bus terminal, via the revamped port district.
Infrastructure concerns were heightened in April when an elevated bicycle track collapsed into the sea, killing two people.
