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 Australia's team chef de mission Kitty Chiller told News Ltd media
on Sunday that their Olympians would be barred from going to the
urban slums, even on official tours, in accordance with advice from
a security expert.
"There is still much unfamiliarity about Rio and Brazil," Paes told
Brazilian media.
"There is a certain dramatization. And between us, the Australian
committee has been a source of aggressions to Brazil."
Rio's favelas are among the most violent and crime-ridden areas of
the city.
Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) president John Coates, a member
of the International Olympic Committee's coordination commission,
said in April 2014 that Rio's Games preparations were the worst he
had ever seen and critically behind schedule.
Coates was more generous in a January assessment, however, saying he
felt "very positive" about the delivery of the Games.
AOC spokesman Mike Tancred was also upbeat about the preparations in
a statement on Wednesday but reiterated that the favelas remained
off-limits.
"We have a team of 450 athletes, there is no way we could manage, or
police, visits to the favelas by our athletes," Tancred said.
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"(Our security expert) has advised that it would be impossible for
us to allow our athletes to visit the favelas because we could not
control visits involving a large number of athletes going to
different places at different times."
Tancred said Australian athletes would "certainly engage with the
residents of Rio and they will join in the fun on Copa beach".
"But the favelas are areas we cannot control and the personal safety
of our athletes must come first," he said.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by John O'Brien)
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