A day after describing preparations for the Rio 2016 Olympics as “the worst I have experienced,” International Olympic Committee vice president John Coates backtracked on the criticism and said he was confident Brazilian organisers will deliver a great event.

Coates, who has visited Rio six times as part of the IOC coordination commission which monitors preparations, said in a statement dated April 30 that organisers “recently took a number of measures designed to make sure that we can together deliver a great Games (and) a lasting legacy for the people of Rio and Brazil.”

“Following my statements yesterday about the upcoming Games in Rio I want to underline that I still believe that (the) Rio organising committee and the people of Brazil can indeed deliver excellent Games in 2016,” he said.

Coates launched an unusually blunt warning during an Olympic forum in Sydney on Tuesday, saying the IOC had “become very concerned” because the Brazilians are behind “in many, many ways” and are in worse shape than Greek organisers were in preparing for the 2004 Olympics.

“And this is against a city that’s got social issues that also have to be addressed — a country that’s also trying to deal with the Fifa World Cup coming up in a few months,” Coates told the forum, highlighting the problem-plagued preparations for the World Cup that kicks off in June.

Two years away from the Rio Olympics, the situation on the construction of games venues is just as bleak.

Work hasn’t begun at Deodoro, a complex for eight Olympics sports venues, and the course that will host golf’s return to the Olympic programme for the first time in more than a century doesn’t have grass yet.