Rio reduces capacity at Olympic venues

Spectator capacity at this year's Olympic rowing and volleyball venues will be reduced as part of ongoing spending cuts, officials said on Tuesday.

Brazil is in the midst of its worst recession in decades and organizers have been seeking ways to ensure the Games do not go over budget.

Rio 2016 spokesperson Mario Andrada told reporters that the number of volunteers had also been slashed to 50,000 from around 70,000. An original estimate of 5,000 cars for the event has been trimmed to 4,000.

"We have cut some services and made some important corrections," Andrada said.

"We have a balanced budget, with some creative solutions. Many of the future games will be inspired by what we do today."

Andrada did not say how many seats would be lost in the downsize, which is not expected to affect ticketing.

The beach volleyball arena on Copacabana beach had been earmarked to hold 12,000 spectators.

Capacity for the rowing and kayak sprint events at Rodrigo de Freitas Lake was originally set at 14,000.

There will also be savings from a reduction in backstage facilities like rooms for security personnel and officials.

"If you save on walls at almost all the venues, two or three walls at each means a big saving," Andrada said. "One of the places we made a big saving is in the move-in dates, when we move in and take control of an installation.

"We were planning to take control of the Olympic village in January but we are now only taking control in March. We negotiated and we have limited access now but we have not taken full control and so haven't taken on full costs."

The Rio 2016 committee is seeking to prune over 500 million US dollars in costs to maintain its 1.9 billion-dollar operating budget.

A spending review of the organization in October called for cuts of up to 30% in some departments.

Andrada said the reduction would not affect the construction of permanent venues, security and power supply, which are part of another budget. Endit