A bike lane is missing a section after it collapsed Thursday onto the beach below in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Part of an elevated bike lane built ahead of the Olympic Games collapsed, killing at least two people who were on it when it collapsed.

RIO DE JANEIRO — At the flame-lighting in the ruins of Ancient Olympia, Brazil's sport minister Ricardo Leyser tried to assure the world about the troubled Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Hours later Thursday back in Rio, a 150-foot section of a bike path built high above the sea — opened just three months ago as a legacy project for the games — crashed into the water below with at least two dead.

It's another black mark for Rio. And it comes on a day rich with Olympic ritual and also in a week when Olympic sports federations said they were concerned about the work remaining with the games opening in 3½ months.

“It will be a big party and people will forget the other problems and just focus on the games,” Leyser said.

Carlos Nuzman, who heads the Rio organizing committee, said in Greece the Olympics “can and will unite our dear Brazil.”

This will not be easy.

The bike path will not host Olympic events. But it was built along a winding road that's part of the route for road cycling and links Ipanema and Copacabana beaches to the western suburb of Barra da Tijuca, site of the Olympic Park.

At the opening earlier this year, Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes called it “the most beautiful bike path in the world.” A city hall document described it as an Olympic legacy project.

The collapse raises questions about building standards, adding to a long list of other worries. It also resembles an overpass that collapsed and killed two in Belo Horizonte, located 280 miles northwest of Rio de Janeiro, during the 2014 World Cup. It was also part of readying the city for the World Cup.

“Our thoughts and sympathies are with the people and their families and friends affected by the tragic accident,” the Rio organizing committee said in a statement.

Organizers say 98 percent of the construction for the games is completed.

However, this week a top gymnastics official said power outages disrupted a recent test event.

Francesco Ricci Bitti, the head of a body representing Olympic sports federations, said Rio organizers “miss some very important details in each field of play.”

Several other venues are behind schedule, including the velodrome for indoor cycling.

The biggest laggard is the extension of the subway line, the largest project to ready the city for South America's first games.