When Poliana Okimoto stepped onto the podium with a 10km open water Olympic bronze medal around her neck she thought her life was about to change forever.
Gleefully accepting Brazil’s first ever swimming medal, the 34-year-old allowed herself to get caught up in euphoria sweeping the country.
Fast forward 12 months, though, and things feel very different.
After the athletes left Rio, so too did the optimism as political scandals, including millions of pounds of public money allegedly stolen in bribes for Olympic constructions projects, plunged the country into economic chaos.
Rio de Janeiro itself declared itself bankrupt just days after the Olympics closing ceremony, with no more money to pay suppliers to the Games, while hospitals, schools and the police have born the brunt of drastic cuts to public services.
Dreams dashed: The legacy of the Rio Olympics has been stained by political scandals, including millions of pounds of public money allegedly stolen in bribes for construction projects, which have plunged the country into economic chaos. Pictured: Brazilian athlete Poliana Okimoto who won bronze in the 10km open water race
Done and dusted: The city of Rio de Janeiro declared itself bankrupt days after the Games ended, having no more money to pay suppliers to the Games. Pictured: The deserted Olympic park
Derelict: Millions of Brazilians, including the athletes representing the nation on home soil, allowed themselves to get caught up in euphoria which swept the country after hosting a successful games. But fast forward 12 months and things feel very different. Pictured: One of Brazil’s abandoned Olympic venues
Decaying: As the lights and the excitement faded, athletes like Poliana who believed the Olympics would mark a turning point for Rio were soon feeling cruelly let down. Pictured: Rio’s derelict Olympic Aquatics Stadium
Losing out: Some Brazilian Olympic heroes even complained that they have not been paid the prize money for getting a podium place in Rio
For athletes like Poliana who believed the Olympics would mark a turning point for Rio, they were soon feeling cruelly let down.
‘They were two sensational weeks,’ said the long distance swimmer, whose only sponsor dropped her after the Games. ‘For a time, we athletes really believed things had changed, that Brazil would never undervalue our sports again.
‘After years of hard work, I thought becoming an Olympic medalist would make my life better, easier. But today I don’t see a single improvement. If anything, things have got worse.’
Some Brazilian Olympic heroes even complained that they hadn’t been paid the prize money for getting a podium place in Rio.
Maicon Andrade, 23, claims he didn’t receive a promised £3,000 bonus for winning bronze in taekwondo and is still waiting to receive travel expenses for the Games.
Diogo Hubner, 34, who won a medal with Brazil’s handball squad, lost his sponsor, Puma.
‘I hoped the Olympics would bring great things to Brazil, although I feared it might not. Today everything I see confirms my worst fears.
‘The Olympic party was so big that it covered up everything that would ruin it, the corruption and backhanders. Companies that sponsored us left, nobody wants to know anymore.
‘Sadly our lives are the same as before, with the same problems of finding money. All that we hoped for never happened.’
If the stars of Rio feel let down, what of people living in the city? They were sold the Games of their dreams. A lasting legacy of better transport, safer streets, new schools, cleaner water and safer streets.
Broken promises: Maicon Andrade (left), 23, claims he didn’t receive a promised £3,000 bonus for winning bronze in taekwondo and Diogo Hubner (right), 34, lost Puma as his sponsor despite winning a handball medal
Ghost town: A year after its glorious closing ceremony, the only sign The Games were even in Rio are two purpose-built Olympic parks, one of which lies in the wealthy Barra district in southern Rio. Pictured: The tennis stadium
Useless: The other Olympic park lies in the in the poor Deodoro district (pictured) where multi-million pound venues, some of which hosted only a handful of events during the Games, lie empty
Draining money: Of the original 27 stadiums, a dozen have not been used even once in the last year, and yet taxpayers are still having to foot the cost of preserving the venues
Wasted: For example, the air condition required to preserve the velodrome’s wooden cycling track – used just once in the past 12 months – reportedly costs £840,000 a year
Astronomical fees: The Public Olympic Authority claimed the cost of keeping the Olympic park running could reach £31million by 2041
Vacant: And while the picturesque stadiums lie empty, the city council is believed to be spending millions every month renting the 3,604 empty apartments in the Athletes’ Village
A year on, the only sign The Games were even in Rio are two purpose-built Olympic parks. One in the wealthy Barra district in the city’s south zone. The other in the poor, Deodoro district where multi-million pound venues, some of which hosted only a handful of events during the Games, lie empty.
Of the original 27 stadiums, a dozen have not been used even once in the last year.
But the hardest thing for taxpayers to stomach is the cost of running the venues.
The Velodrome´s air conditioning – to preserve the wooden cycling track at a venue used once in the past 12 months – reportedly costs £840,000 a year. Earlier this month a fire caused by a flying lantern burned the roof, badly damaging the track.
According to the Public Olympic Authority, the cost of keeping the Olympic park running could reach £31million by 2041.
The city council is believed to spend millions of pounds a month renting 3,604 apartments in the Athletes´ Village, which still lie empty a year on.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the short-changed people of Rio are today left wondering exactly how the Games improved their lives.
In December, Rio´s former governor Sergio Cabral was arrested amid claims he took millions of pounds in bribes from construction firm Odebrect, which built Olympic Park and the Athletes Village.
Meanwhile people feel let down by a string of unkept promises.
The Deodoro was going to be the city’s second largest public park, they said. A radical sports complex – which held Olympic BMX, mountain bike and slalom canoe events – would fling open its doors to 1.5 million young people, they promised.
But today the complex sits closed, its gates padlocked shut with the council claiming they have no money to keep it open. A promised community swimming pool using part of the Olympic slalom canoe course shut in January with no money left to pay for chlorine.
No entry: This radical sports complex which held Olympic BMX, mountain bike and slalom canoe events was supposed to open its doors to 1.5 million young people but it today sits closed
Empty: A promised community swimming pool using part of the Olympic slalom canoe course shut in January with no money left to pay for chlorine.
Corrupt: To add to problems, Rio’s former governor Sergio Cabral was arrested in December amid claims he took millions of pounds in bribes from construction firm Odebrect, which built Olympic Park and the Athletes Village
Our pictures from a drone above show the park is overgrown and abandoned. The bike trails appear cracked and decrepit, while the pool is stagnant – a breeding ground for the mosquito which spreads diseases like dengue fever and Zika.
A soldier guarding the hockey stadium entrance says he was under orders to stop anyone taking photos of the site, but claimed the facility ‘is hardly ever used’.
Nearby, a number of venues built to host other sports such as rugby, basketball and fencing sit empty.
Ten miles across the city, at the upmarket £2 billion Barra Olympic park, people take e a very different view of Rio’s Olympic legacy.
Open to the public at weekends, wealthy families are often seen strolling through the park, which hosts table tennis, judo, boasts new five-a-side football pitches, children´s play areas and skate park.
But it’s the city’s poor who feel betrayed. A commitment to clean up the city’s picturesque bay to improve water in shanty towns is shown to be another let down.
Today, those living along the bay, host to Olympic sailing say it’s more polluted than ever with rubbish strewn across beaches lapped by dirty water.
Bruno Ferreira da Silva, 27, who lost his job as a waiter as a result of the economic crisis and now earns 25pence a kilo collects plastic bottles along the beach.
He says more than 400 bottles a day, adding: ‘I make money from the rubbish, but I would prefer a clean beach and water.
Dirty: The city’s poor feel betrayed after a commitment to clean up the city’s picturesque bay to improve water in shanty town was also unfulfilled
Decrepid: Bruno Ferreira da Silva, 27, who lost his job as a waiter as a result of the economic crisis and now earns 25p a kilo collects plastic bottles along the beach, says more than 400 bottles wash up a day
Dangerous: ‘I make money from the rubbish, but I would prefer a clean beach and water,’ Bruno told MailOnline, while a fisherman said officials have done nothing to fix the pollution problem
‘I believed the Olympics would improve our city and bring more people and jobs. But the opposite happened, and today everyone has forgotten about Rio.
‘The only people who benefited from the Olympics were the politicians who stuffed the money in their own pockets,’ he added.
Antonio Maggi, who worked as a fisherman before the bay became polluted, said: ‘I believed them when they promised to finally clean up the water.
‘But absolutely nothing was done. It was just said to win the Games. They never had any intention of cleaning it up. Now almost everything is worse, health, security, education. There is no Olympic legacy for the people of Rio.’
Perhaps the hardest hit by the Games were the 70,000 people whose homes were bulldozed to make way for venues, roads and car parks – and have still not received compensation.
They include mother of two Jacilia dos Santos, 33, who agreed to leave her home near the Olympic Park in 2013 in exchange for a new house.
Broken lives: Perhaps the hardest hit by the Games were the 70,000 people – including Jacilia dos Santos – whose homes were bulldozed to make way for venues, roads and car parks
Heartbreaking: Jacilia dos Santos, 33, who agreed to leave her home near the Olympic Park in 2013 in exchange for a new house, says she received just three months’ rent
But she says she received just three months´ rent money from the council and still hasn’t received the new home she was promised.
She now rents a cramped single room in a shanty town with her two young children, but is about to be evicted by the landlord after being forced to stop work due to serious health problems.
Wiping away tears, she said: ‘The Olympics were marvelous, but they have left poor people like me even worse off.
‘I believed the hype and their promises that my life would be better. But once they had demolished my house I was forgotten about.
‘The Olympics are long gone but I am still suffering because of them. Next week I have to live under a viaduct with my two children. I have no money and I´ll be kicked out of my home. That´s what the Olympics did for my family.’