In this Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014 photo, the Olympic Rings are seen back dropped by the Velodrome in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London. London continues to bask in the success of the most recent Summer Games, but the Olympic legacy is difficult to determine. The flagship venue, renamed the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, is being converted into a massive park as big as London’s famous Hyde Park, complete with wildlife habitats, woods and sports facilities. The first part of the ambitious project will begin to open to the public in April. The 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium at the center of the park has been troubled by controversy since even before the games, and its post-games use was the subject of months of legal wrangling. The stadium is now being converted into a soccer venue and the home of the West Ham soccer club, with an expected price tag of $323 million. Many argue taxpayers should not have to fund a Premier League club, though officials insist that the stadium will continue to host other majorLefteris Pitarakis/Associated Press

IOC Advanced Money to 2016 Rio Olympics Organizers Due to Financial Troubles

Adam WellsJun 3, 2016

The troubles in Rio de Janeiro have not yet subsided nearly two months before the 2016 Olympics, as the International Olympic Committee has been providing financial relief to Brazilian organizers to cover some of their financial woes.

Per the Associated Press, the IOC said on Friday it has been advancing money to Brazil after having already announced it would contribute $1.5 billion through television and sponsorship revenue.

The AP noted Brazil is "in the midst of its worst recession since the 1930s," and Olympic organizers in Rio "have been forced to cut budgets." It also stated revenue payments are typically handed out "over time, with some of the money paid out after the Games."

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IOC President Thomas Bach said the IOC is "working in solidarity with the organizing committee...which includes advanced payments," per the AP.

Per Patrick Gillespie of CNN, the Brazilian government released figures showing the country's economy shrank 5.4 percent during the first quarter of 2016 and that unemployment was up 11.2 percent from April 2015 through February 2016.

Gillespie noted the two biggest reasons for the recession were the price of commodities crashing and the "corruption scandal at the state-run oil company, Petrobras, engulfed politicians of all stripes and many business owners."

There is also tremendous political unrest in Brazil, as President Dilma Rousseff was suspended in May "after the Senate voted to begin an impeachment trial," per Jonathan Watts of the Guardian.

In addition to those problems, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a Level 2 alert because of the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil.

The 2016 Olympics are scheduled to open August 5 and run through August 21.