A miserable month for Rio 2016 has continued with a stinging letter calling for the resignation of President Carlos Nuzman, claiming he is personally responsible for all the problems affecting the future host.

The letter, entitled: "On Rio, or more accurately, blame it on Nuzman" is written by Eric Walther Maleson, a Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympic bobsledder who was founding President of the Brazilian Ice Sports Federation from 1996 to 2012 and a Brazilian Olympic Committee (BOC) Board member between 1999 and 2012.

After admitting his personal animosity to Nuzman which led to him being the only National Federation President to oppose the 72-year-old's re-election as BOC President in 2012 - after which he lost much of his personal power - Maleson insists Nuzman is fully culpable.

Maleson continues by insisting that: "If the International Olympic Committee [IOC] wants to save the Games in Rio, the IOC image and the high financial investment made by their sponsors, they better act now and demand the resignation of Carlos Nuzman."

He adds: "The constant delays in the preparation for the Games in Rio are very simple to understand: the Government of Brazil does not want to work with Nuzman and his group."


In the open letter Maleson outlines how "the latest news about the successive delays that resulted on the present 'chaos' regarding the preparations are no surprise to me and should not be a surprise to the IOC".

"The IOC was informed well in advance by me and other Brazilian sports authorities about the lack of integrity, skills and know-how of the Brazilian Olympic Committee and the Organising Committee of Rio 2016, with both entities presided over by Nuzman," he adds.

"We provided the IOC in 2012, hard evidence of corruption, numerous breaches of the IOC bylaws, election fraud, but unfortunately the IOC did not act in any capacity to investigate these serious issues.

"Why is there a different treatment to Brazil, considering that the IOC acted quickly to punish the Olympic Committee of India among allegations of corruption and election fraud?

"Because of his actions and proven inability to command Rio 2016, Nuzman should resign immediately, but unfortunately he doesn't walk his talk...his long speeches about 'meritocracy' only apply to others."

These words are another blow to the Organising Committee after an embarrassing week at the SportAccord International Convention in Belek, during which the Brazilian Government was blasted by the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) for further delays in preparations for the Games.

This was followed by 18 of the ASOIF member federations raising "serious concerns" to the IOC in relation to venue construction, transport planning, accommodation, financial backing and other support from the three levels of Government.

Strikes have also been going on at Olympic sites, delaying already behind schedule construction plans, while the belated holding of a twice delayed meeting between Brazilian Government officials has so far failed to bring about any concrete changes.

Amid all of this, Rio 2016 have announced the full schedule of test events due to be held over the next two years.

But with the first to take place in August on a sailing course at Guanabara Bay strongly criticised for high pollution levels, this seems hardly likely to enable an upturn in fortunes.

Although they continued a trend in place since Athens 2004 by resisting any public criticism of Rio in Turkey, the IOC have introduced various measures to combat the fears, including the introduction of three task forces, a special advisor and more regular inspections by IOC executive director Gilbert Felli.

In a statement released today, ASOIF President Francesco Ricci Bitti welcomed these changes as a sign of strong "immediate action" by the IOC.

He added that "the International Federations are determined to provide full support, cooperation and flexibility to the IOC and the Organising Committee in Rio to deliver excellent Games".  

"Time is in very short supply now and any delay will put elements of the Games at risk," he added.

"This means that we will have to start considering options, sport-by-sport and venue-by-venue."

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