Rio de Janeiro is stepping up the pace as it approaches the last lap of its Olympic preparations to ensure there will be no repeat of the last-minute rush seen before last year’s World Cup, but it still has a way to go to prove the 38.2bn reais (£7.9bn) cost is worthwhile.



On the eve of celebrations to mark Wednesday’s one-year countdown, a handful of facilities are already finished, including the Maracanã stadium, which will host the opening ceremony on 5 August. International Olympic Committee officials, who visit this week, will be told that the others should be completed by the end of the year, including the velodrome, hockey grounds and a new Olympic golf course, which has been designed by Gil Hanse, that will host a test tournament from 26-29 November.



The aquatic centre, whitewater channels, mountain bike park and Deodoro stadium (which will host the rugby) are due to follow in the first three months of 2016. Cutting it finer are the equestrian arena and shooting range, which are not set for completion until after April, and the athletics stadium, which will stage its main test event – the Ibero-American championships – in mid-May. The biggest concern is the tennis centre, which was labelled “high risk” earlier this month by a municipal auditing court due to budget overruns. Government officials, however, say everything will be delivered on time. IOC inspectors will make their own judgment when they visit the main sites at Barra and Deodoro next week.

Aerial view of the construction site of Rio 2016’s golf venue. Photograph: Ricardo Moraes/Reuters

On a recent tour of the Olympic Park at Barra, journalists saw evident progress. The three Carioca arenas – which will stage martial arts, fencing, wrestling, basketball and wheelchair rugby – were almost complete, with smooth flooring, functioning lights and seating in place and wrapped in plastic. The structure of other facilities, including the velodrome and aquatics centre, were also at an advanced stage.

City officials say they learned from the London Games, particularly with regard to the legacy issue of how facilities would be used after the competition. Showing slides of abandoned venues after the Atlanta, Athens and Beijing Olympics, Pedro Paulo Carvalho, the secretary of coordination, promised that Rio would not have similar white elephants. Officials said the handball arena would be broken up, relocated and reused as schools, part of the aquatic centre would be moved into a central location, the Carioca arenas would become training centres and classrooms, while the Deodoro site was earmarked for leisure, including hiking trails and “places to contemplate nature”.

The public is sceptical, having heard similar pledges ahead of the Pan-American Games and World Cup that were subsequently broken. The Rio Games also appear to have stirred up mixed emotions. Although an Olympic committee survey in December showed 65% of Rio residents were optimistic about the Games, the demand for tickets has so far been modest.

Organisers expect enthusiasm to pick up once the sport begins – a claim boosted by the noisy support at last weekend’s test triathlon. That is a just a taste of what will come next year. Over 16 days, a worldwide audience of billions will watch the 300-or-so events, including the return of golf and rugby, Usain Bolt’s bid for a third hat-trick of gold medals, and Neymar’s efforts to put last year’s World Cup miseries behind him and lead Brazil to the only major prize in football that has eluded them.

The setting should be spectacular, starting with the opening ceremony which will be directed by a team of collaborators including Fernando Meirelles (director of City of God) followed by the first event: beach volleyball at Copacabana. There will also be breathtaking backdrops to the cycling along the coast and through the forested hillsides, and a marathon that starts and finishes in the Sambadrome, passing favelas and iconic sites such as the Lapa arches and Sugarloaf mountain.



The swimming stage of the women’s triathlon Olympic qualifier begins on Copacabana beach Photograph: Sergio Moraes/Reuters

The city hopes the event will boost development. For every $6 (£3.85) it spends on the Olympics, it says only $1 is on sport and the rest on infrastructure. It also expects the international competition will boost the profile of the Rio.



But the spotlight can be harsh. The runup to the one-year countdown has seen Amnesty release a critical report on the lethal violence of police in Rio. The Associated Press published a highly critical investigation of water quality at Olympic and Paralympic venues, which were described as filled with “basically raw sewage”.



This is far from the image that the city hoped to present ahead of the expected arrival next year of about 10,500 Olympians, 4,400 Paralympians and 480,000 tourists.



But that won’t be the only challenge to the old stereotype of cariocas living a life of sun, sea, samba and alegria. These are grim times for Brazil. The political and business worlds are in turmoil over the lava jato (carwash) investigation into the country’s worst corruption scandal. The economy is slipping into recession (though the fall of the currency will benefit tourists). Football would usually be a source of national solace, but offers scant consolation due to the Fifa bribery inquiry and painful memories of last year’s 7-1 World Cup humiliation by Germany.

The Deodoro sports complex, under construction in Rio de Janeiro. Photograph: Ricardo Moraes/Reuters

Elsewhere, Olympic dreams are also undergoing something of a reality check after a month in which Boston – a city much admired by Rio mayor Eduardo Paes – decided to abandon its bid for the 2024 Games due to cost concerns, while Tokyo announced that it was scaling back plans for the main 2020 stadium because of the expense. For Rio, however, there is no turning back.



Carvalho has insisted the cost of mega-events like the Olympics are justified. “It is valid if the benefits include a transformation of the city. It is not valid if it is just for the sporting event,” he told the Guardian. The municipal government is using the Games to accelerate development of its west zone, by investing heavily in infrastructure, including road, bus and metro links to the Olympic sites.”

Sugar Loaf mountain provides a backdrop for the men’s triathlon Olympic qualifying in Rio. Photograph: Leo Correa/AP

The public still needs to be convinced. Fernanda Sánchez, a professor at the Fluminense Federal University and author of a book on the World Cup, said the mood in Rio today was muted. “With the Games one year away, locals do not seem excited, nor are they wholeheartedly embracing the Olympic spirit,” she said. “I think this is a result of the poor World Cup legacy, Fifa scandals and the political scandal and economic crisis. These all conspire against an atmosphere of optimism in relation to the Games.”

As well as the one-year countdown celebrations, a series of protests are planned in the days ahead, including an Olimpiadas para quem? (Olympics for whom?) demonstration on 5 August and rallies by groups critical of forced evictions, the use of the Israeli security company ISDS, and the environmental damage caused by the golf course and marina development.

Orlando Alves dos Santos, a professor of urban planning at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, said the range of actions highlighted unease about the organisation of the event. “The Olympics are affecting the lives of everyone in the city of Rio de Janeiro. There can’t be indifference,” he said.

This week will be the biggest test yet of public opinion, as well as facilities, security, transport and water quality. Like the triathletes who plunged into the sea on Sunday, organisers will be hoping the tides and currents keep the murkier side of Rio at bay.