The Rio Olympics are 1 year away

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Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes said “we are literally making a miracle happen here.”

Paes stood Wednesday in an arena being built for the Olympics and said that all the venues for South America’s first games are on track to be ready when the curtain comes up on Aug. 5 next year.

Paes and Carlos Nuzman, an International Olympic Committee member who heads the local organizing committee, gave a presentation on progress at the Olympic venues.

Both men faced questions — first from Rio newspaper O Globo — about the polluted water surrounding Rio. An Associated Press study released last week showed dangerously high levels of viruses in all water-related venues.

The World Health Organization has asked the IOC to pursue virus testing in Rio during the next year. – AP