Best and worst of times: Rio Olympic countdown hits 100 days

This April 11, 2016 photo shows Carioca Arena 1 behind palm trees inside Rio 2016 Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The arena will host Olympic basketball matches. Problems still hang over South America's first games. Brazil President Dilma Rousseff is being impeached and is likely to be suspended when the games open Aug. 5, partly fallout from Brazil's worst recession in decades, 10-percent unemployment, and a $3 billion Petrobras corruption scandal. Away from politics, the Zika virus threatens athletes and tourists. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) This April 11, 2016 photo shows Carioca Arena 1 behind palm trees inside Rio 2016 Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The arena will host Olympic basketball matches. Problems still hang over South America's first games. Brazil President Dilma Rousseff is being impeached and is likely to be suspended when the games open Aug. 5, partly fallout from Brazil's worst recession in decades, 10-percent unemployment, and a $3 billion Petrobras corruption scandal. Away from politics, the Zika virus threatens athletes and tourists. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

By Associated Press April 26, 2016 5 min read

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Two years ago, the Australian IOC member John Coates called the preparations for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics “the worst” in recent memory.

A lot has happened since then as the countdown clock reaches 100 days on Wednesday.

The venues that Coates worried about are 98 percent ready, and American television network NBC has just passed $1 billion in advertising sales and will set revenue records.

The Olympic Park in the upscale suburb of Barra da Tijuca looks spectacular. Television cameras will love the aerial shots above Copacabana beach, or views from the famous Christ the Redeemer statue as it peers over Sugar Loaf mountain and Guanabara Bay.

But problems still hang over South America’s first games, the most unsettled in decades.