Confident IOC says Rio safe for athletes

THE RIO Games will be safe for athletes despite concerns over polluted water, the head of the International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday.

Biologists said in 2014 that rivers leading into Rio's Guanabara bay contained superbacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and can cause urinary, gastrointestinal and pulmonary infections. The cleaning of its polluted waters was a key part of Rio's bid pledge to host the Summer Games and has long been a goal of successive local governments.

“We are very confident that the competition area for the athletes will offer safe and fair conditions,” IOC president Thomas Bach said. “The city, the state and the organising committee are undertaking many efforts and what we see now is that 60 percent of the surface is clean. Without the Games it would be zero.”

When Rio bid to host the 2016 Olympics, the city said it would cut the amount of raw sewage flowingintothebayby80percent but has since confirmed it will not meet that target. “The last stretch is always the most difficult one and also there are challenges, but ... we’re very confident (they) will be excellent Games,” Bach said.

Final flame rehearsal takes place in Olympia

Fire spurted from a concave mirror Wednesday as a priestess, kneelinginherlong,pleateddress before a ruined Greek temple, focusedtheblazingsun'sraysonher metal torch.

Come rain or shine on Thursday's official lighting ceremony, Rio de Janeiro has now secured its Olympic flame, which will burn in the Brazilian host city throughout the August 5-21 games. About 2,500 people attended Wednesday’s dress rehearsal for the meticulously-choreographed ceremony in Ancient Olympia,southerngreece,where the Olympics of antiquity were held for more than 1,000 years.