International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach believes Rio de Janeiro deserves more time to develop a positive legacy from last summer's Games because of Brazil's financial and political turmoil.
The South American country is in the midst of its worst economic downturn and nearly lost its second president to corruption charges inside a year this week.
These issues, and Rio's own cash crisis, have combined to leave many Olympic and Paralympic venues locked up and falling into disrepair.
To compound the sorry picture, the velodrome reopened last month only to catch fire when a Chinese lantern landed on the building, burning the roof and damaging the track.
These negative headlines, however, have not just caused embarrassment in Brazil. They have also been a huge headache for Bach, fuelling the perception that the Olympics has grown too large, costs too much and causes hosts nothing but trouble.
This anti-Olympic sentiment is largely why Bach has been forced to give the only two remaining 2024 candidates - Paris and Los Angeles - a Games each, with the latter agreeing to wait until 2028 in return for a bigger slice of the revenues.
Speaking in London ahead of the World Athletics Championships, Bach denied there would be no legacy for Brazil or Rio from hosting the Games, saying it would just take longer to emerge.
"You have to take the extremely difficult situation in Brazil into account - it's the worst crisis the country has gone through, so not all the legacy plans are coming to fruition in the time they were planned," he said.
"It's to be expected and we have to be fair about it. The park here in London was closed for more than a year after the Games to do the refurbishment.
"You have to give Rio that opportunity and, for reasons of fairness, give them an extension because of the emergencies. We have to be fair."
The first anniversary of Rio's Olympic ceremony is on Saturday.
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