2016 Summer Olympics in Rio

[waltky]

Olympics on the cheap...

Rio de Janeiro Olympics facing deep cuts unseen in decades
January 15, 2016 | Cuts, cuts and more cuts. That's the situation facing international sports federations, with just over six months to go before the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazilian organizers will be meeting next month with federation leaders, and World Rowing executive director Matt Smith already knows what to expect: He's bracing for news that 4,000 temporary grandstand seats at the rowing Olympic venue won't be built. At the swimming venue, several thousand seats have already been slashed. And the world governing body for sailing learned more than a year ago that bleachers it wanted had been ruled out. Television viewers won't notice when South America's first Olympics open on Aug. 5, but Rio organizers are scaling down everywhere to eliminate about $500 million to balance the operating budget of 7.4 billion reals ($1.85 billion). "I've been around since Los Angeles in 1984 and we haven't been in such a situation where a country that is staging the games is in such a vulnerable situation," Smith said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Brazil was booming when it was awarded the games in 2009. Now it's buffeted by the worst recession since the 1930s. The currency has plunged almost 50 percent against the dollar, and inflation is over 10 percent and rising. In addition, President Dilma Rousseff is facing impeachment, partly driven by a billion-dollar bribery scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras. "We haven't had to face anything like this," Smith said. "It was a bold move to go to an emerging country. The IOC deciding to go to South America was a really important, strategic issue — but with all the associated risks." Hit by cash-flow problems, Rio is reducing the use of unpaid volunteers. Transportation is being rejigged. Few competition results will be available on paper, and Olympic sponsor Panasonic has stepped in to give unprecedented financial help to run the opening and closing ceremonies.

Organizers backed away from plans to have athletes pay for air conditioning in their rooms, but rooms in the Olympic Village won't have televisions. The International Olympic Committee is trying to find a positive angle, talking up austerity after the overall $51 billion figure associated with the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics scared away many potential bid cities. "We are looking into each and every budget item," Christophe Dubi, the Olympic Games Executive Director, told the AP this week in Rio. "I think this is setting a new benchmark. The result is heading in the right direction. They (organizers) have found efficiencies, and I wouldn't call it cuts."

MORE

 

[saveliberty]

Even four years ago it was going to be a miracle for Brazil to get ready in time.

 

[AceRothstein]

I wish I would have waited two years to visit Brazil, would have saved a few grand with the drop of the Real since we went in 2014.

 

[Wyatt earp]

Olympics on the cheap...

Rio de Janeiro Olympics facing deep cuts unseen in decades
January 15, 2016 | Cuts, cuts and more cuts. That's the situation facing international sports federations, with just over six months to go before the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazilian organizers will be meeting next month with federation leaders, and World Rowing executive director Matt Smith already knows what to expect: He's bracing for news that 4,000 temporary grandstand seats at the rowing Olympic venue won't be built. At the swimming venue, several thousand seats have already been slashed. And the world governing body for sailing learned more than a year ago that bleachers it wanted had been ruled out. Television viewers won't notice when South America's first Olympics open on Aug. 5, but Rio organizers are scaling down everywhere to eliminate about $500 million to balance the operating budget of 7.4 billion reals ($1.85 billion). "I've been around since Los Angeles in 1984 and we haven't been in such a situation where a country that is staging the games is in such a vulnerable situation," Smith said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Brazil was booming when it was awarded the games in 2009. Now it's buffeted by the worst recession since the 1930s. The currency has plunged almost 50 percent against the dollar, and inflation is over 10 percent and rising. In addition, President Dilma Rousseff is facing impeachment, partly driven by a billion-dollar bribery scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras. "We haven't had to face anything like this," Smith said. "It was a bold move to go to an emerging country. The IOC deciding to go to South America was a really important, strategic issue — but with all the associated risks." Hit by cash-flow problems, Rio is reducing the use of unpaid volunteers. Transportation is being rejigged. Few competition results will be available on paper, and Olympic sponsor Panasonic has stepped in to give unprecedented financial help to run the opening and closing ceremonies.

Organizers backed away from plans to have athletes pay for air conditioning in their rooms, but rooms in the Olympic Village won't have televisions. The International Olympic Committee is trying to find a positive angle, talking up austerity after the overall $51 billion figure associated with the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics scared away many potential bid cities. "We are looking into each and every budget item," Christophe Dubi, the Olympic Games Executive Director, told the AP this week in Rio. "I think this is setting a new benchmark. The result is heading in the right direction. They (organizers) have found efficiencies, and I wouldn't call it cuts."

MORE

Was just reading the New article, I don't know who would want to go down there with the New mosquito plaug and who would want to compete on that water?

 

[waltky]

Better safe than sorry...

Health Expert: Olympics Should Be Postponed Due to Zika
May 11, 2016 — With the opening ceremony in Rio de Janeiro less than three months away, a Canadian professor has called for the Olympics to be postponed or moved because of the Zika outbreak, warning the influx of visitors to Brazil will result in the avoidable birth of malformed babies.

“But for the games, would anyone recommend sending an extra half a million visitors into Brazil right now?” University of Ottawa professor Amir Attaran, who specializes in public health, said in an article published this week in the Harvard Public Health Review. Brazil is by far the country most affected by Zika, a mosquito-borne virus which has now been scientifically proven to cause a range of disturbing birth defects, including babies born with abnormally small heads and neurological problems. In February, the World Health Organization declared the epidemic to be a global health emergency. The WHO says there are no restrictions on travel or trade with countries affected by Zika outbreaks but advises pregnant women not to travel to those regions. Attaran's position is not shared by Olympic and global health authorities, who insist the August 5-21 games will not be derailed by the virus.
The International Olympic Committee, which follows the WHO's advice, said it has no plans to relocate or postpone the games. “The clear statements from WHO that there should be no restrictions on travel and trade means there is no justification for canceling or delaying or postponing or moving the Rio Games,” Dr. Richard Budgett, the IOC's medical director, told The Associated Press. “The IOC will continue to monitor the situation very closely and work with the WHO, and we're confident as we've been advised by the experts that the situation will improve over the next three months.”

ealth workers stands in the Sambadrome spraying insecticide to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits the Zika virus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Sambadrome will be used for the Archery competition​

The Olympics are expected to draw about 500,000 visitors from abroad, a prospect that Attaran fears could spark new outbreaks elsewhere in the world and result in an increase in the number of brain-damaged babies born to infected pregnant women that might otherwise not have traveled to Brazil. He doesn't want the games to be canceled, but argues they should be delayed or moved. “If the IOC and the World Health Organization do not have the generosity of heart to delay the games to prevent children being born and disabled their whole lives, then they're among the cruelest institutions in the world,” Attaran, an outspoken critic of WHO, said in a telephone interview with the AP. “What I'm asking for is a bit of delayed gratification so that babies aren't born permanently disabled.”
The Zika outbreak is just one of the challenges facing Brazil in the buildup to South America's first Olympics. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is facing impeachment, the economy is in deep recession and the country is gripped by a vast corruption scandal centered on state-controlled oil giant Petrobras.
Others agree

 

[waltky]

WHO rejects call to postpone Rio Olympics...

UN health agency rejects call to postpone Rio Olympics
May 28,`16 -- The World Health Organization on Saturday rejected a call from 150 health experts to consider postponing or moving the Rio Summer Olympics due to the Zika virus in hard-hit Brazil, arguing that the shift would make no significant difference to the spread of the virus.

The U.N. health agency, which declared the spread of Zika in the Americas a global emergency in February, said in a statement there is "no public health justification" for postponing or canceling the 2016 games, which run from Aug. 5-21. Hundreds of thousands of people from around the world are expected to travel to Rio de Janeiro and other Brazilian destinations this summer to see some 10,000 athletes compete at the games.

In an open letter to the WHO director-general released Friday, experts from over two dozen countries in fields including public health, bioethics and pediatrics - among them former White House science adviser Dr. Philip Rubin - called for the Rio games to be delayed or relocated, though not canceled, "in the name of public health." Friday's letter cited recent scientific evidence that the Zika virus causes severe birth defects , most notably babies born with abnormally small heads. In adults, it can cause neurological problems, including a rare syndrome that can be fatal or result in temporary paralysis. The authors also noted that despite increased efforts to wipe out the mosquitoes that spread Zika, the number of infections in Rio de Janeiro have gone up rather than down.

Health workers get ready to spray insecticide to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that transmits the Zika virus, under the bleachers of the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, which will be used for the Archery competition in the 2016 summer games. More than 145 public health experts signed an open letter to the World Health Organization on Friday, May 27, 2016 asking the U.N. health agency to consider whether the Rio de Janeiro Olympics should be postponed or moved because of the ongoing Zika outbreak. The letter calls for the games to be delayed or relocated “in the name of public health.”​

Several public health academics have previously warned that having so many people travel to the games in Brazil will inevitably lead to the births of more brain-damaged babies and speed up the virus' global spread. WHO, however, said "based on current assessment, cancelling or changing the location of the 2016 Olympics will not significantly alter the international spread of Zika virus." It argued that Brazil is only one of dozens of countries where mosquitoes transmit the Zika virus and says "people continue to travel between these countries and territories for a variety of reasons." "Based on the current assessment of the Zika virus circulating in almost 60 countries globally and 39 in the Americas, there is no public health justification for postponing or cancelling the games," it said. "WHO will continue to monitor the situation and update our advice as necessary."

The agency noted its existing advice urging pregnant women not to travel to areas with Zika transmission, among other recommendations, and says other travelers should avoid the poor, overcrowded parts of Rio. One of the letter's authors wasn't impressed by the U.N. agency's arguments. "The WHO's response is absolutely fanciful," said Amir Attaran, a professor at the University of Ottawa and one of the letter's authors. He called WHO's argument that Zika is already being transmitted by mosquitoes in up to 60 countries "a scientific half-truth." "They're avoiding the question of 'Is it Brazilian Zika in other countries?'" he said. Friday's letter pointed to the particularly high risks from the Zika virus strain seen in Brazil, which has by far the most Zika cases in the world and the most brain-damaged Zika babies.

MORE

 

[waltky]

'Super bacteria' found in Rio's Olympic venues...

Exclusive: Studies find 'super bacteria' in Rio's Olympic venues, top beaches
Jun 10 2016 - Scientists have found dangerous drug-resistant "super bacteria" off beaches in Rio de Janeiro that will host Olympic swimming events and in a lagoon where rowing and canoe athletes will compete when the Games start on Aug. 5.

The findings from two unpublished academic studies seen by Reuters concern Rio's most popular spots for tourists and greatly increase the areas known to be infected by the microbes normally found only in hospitals. They also heighten concerns that Rio's sewage-infested waterways are unsafe. A study published in late 2014 had shown the presence of the super bacteria - classified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an urgent public health threat - off one of the beaches in Guanabara Bay, where sailing and wind-surfing events will be held during the Games. The first of the two new studies, reviewed in September by scientists at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in San Diego, showed the presence of the microbes at five of Rio's showcase beaches, including the ocean-front Copacabana, where open-water and triathlon swimming will take place.

A man runs next to sewage system flowing on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The other four were Ipanema, Leblon, Botafogo and Flamengo. The super bacteria can cause hard-to-treat urinary, gastrointestinal, pulmonary and bloodstream infections, along with meningitis. The CDC says studies show that these bacteria contribute to death in up to half of patients infected. The second new study, by the Brazilian federal government's Oswaldo Cruz Foundation lab, which will be published next month by the American Society for Microbiology, found the genes of super bacteria in the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon in the heart of Rio and in a river that empties into Guanabara Bay. Waste from countless hospitals, in addition to hundreds of thousands of households, pours into storm drains, rivers and streams crisscrossing Rio, allowing the super bacteria to spread outside the city's hospitals in recent years.

An athlete rows at Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Renata Picao, a professor at Rio's federal university and lead researcher of the first study, said the contamination of Rio's famous beaches was the result of a lack of basic sanitation in the metropolitan area of 12 million people. "These bacteria should not be present in these waters. They should not be present in the sea," said Picao from her lab in northern Rio, itself enveloped by stench from Guanabara Bay. Cleaning the city's waterways was meant to be one of the Games' greatest legacies and a high-profile promise in the official 2009 bid document Rio used to win the right to host South America's first Olympics. That goal has instead transformed into an embarrassing failure, with athletes lamenting the stench of sewage and complaining about debris that bangs into and clings to boats in Guanabara Bay, potential hazards for a fair competition.

SITUATION GETTING WORSE​

 

[skye]

Rio was always cool ....when i was there...and I love Rio

now with zika virus.....you know what... hard to say what will happen there...hmmm

 

[Fiero425]

Rio was always cool ....when i was there...and I love Rio

now with zika virus.....you know what... hard to say what will happen there...hmmm

You have to be crazy to go down there; esp. if a professional athlete making millions already! Any basketball, baseball, or tennis should be certified since an OG medal ain't worth a National Chp. or Major title in the grand scheme of things!

 

[waltky]

Brazil already expecting Olympics to be a financial disaster?...

Brazil's Rio State Declares Financial Disaster Less Than 2 Months Before Olympics
June 17, 2016 — The acting governor of Rio de Janeiro state has declared a state of financial disaster so he has more leeway to manage the state's scarce resources less than two months Brazil hosts the Olympic Games.

Francisco Dornelles announced the decision on Friday. It will allow Rio's state government to change its budgetary priorities without disrespecting Brazil's fiscal laws. The move will let Dornelles adopt exceptional measures to pay costs related to the Games as the state grapples with the country's economic recession. The 2016 Summer Olympic Games will be held in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 5-21.

Dornelles' office said in a statement that the decision was made because a dip in revenues from taxes and oil royalties was "stopping the state of Rio de Janeiro from honoring its commitment to the organization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games." "The financial crisis has brought several difficulties in essential public services and it could cause the total collapse of public security, health care, education, urban mobility and environmental management," the statement said.

Rio's state government is in such dire straits that two of its hospitals were taken over by the Rio de Janeiro city government to allow doctors to keep receiving their paychecks. Some police stations are so underfunded that they have asked neighbors to donate basic items like toilet paper. Public workers and retirees have suffered months-long delays in receiving their money. Dornelles, previously the state's vice governor, became acting top executive when elected Gov. Luiz Fernando Pezao took a leave of absence to undergo cancer treatment.

Brazilian media reported Friday that Dornelles had asked the country's acting President Michel Temer for nearly $900 million in emergency funds for the state government, but a decision was not announced. Some of the key Olympic projects depend heavily on the state government. Along with paying for state police during the Summer Games, Rio de Janeiro state is also committed to paying for construction that will extend the metro to the Olympic Park as well as facilities to clean the waters that sailors will use during the Games.

Brazil's Rio State Declares Financial Disaster Less Than 2 Months Before Olympics

 

[longknife]

Brazil's Rio state declares financial disaster before Games



Sad. This has been rumored for some time. Rioting in the streets over jobs. Political scandals with a senior official facing impeachment. The entire Russian track and field team banned from competing due to doping charges. Will it even start?



RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The acting governor of Rio de Janeiro state has declared a state of financial disaster so he has more leeway to manage the state’s scarce resources less than two months Brazil hosts the Olympic Games.



More w/video @ Brazil's Rio state declares financial disaster before Games

 

[Fiero425]

Brazil's Rio state declares financial disaster before Games



Sad. This has been rumored for some time. Rioting in the streets over jobs. Political scandals with a senior official facing impeachment. The entire Russian track and field team banned from competing due to doping charges. Will it even start?



RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The acting governor of Rio de Janeiro state has declared a state of financial disaster so he has more leeway to manage the state’s scarce resources less than two months Brazil hosts the Olympic Games.



More w/video @ Brazil's Rio state declares financial disaster before Games

Well surprise, surprise, surprise! Giving the Olympics to a corrupt toilet in the middle of nowhere and we're shocked? I won't even be watching! I hope more athletes come to their senses and tell their Federations to "kick rocks; I ain't goin'!"

 

[waltky]

Rio needs to do something about it's crime problem...

Australian Paralympian robbed at gunpoint in Rio
Tue, 21 Jun 2016 - An Australian athlete who has competed in six Paralympic Games is robbed at gunpoint in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.

Liesl Tesch said a man brandishing a gun pushed her off her bicycle and stole it on Sunday. Australian Paralympic team physiotherapist Sarah Ross also lost her bicycle in the attack. The Australian Olympic Committee has said Rio must improve security in the city in the aftermath of the robbery.

Paralympian Liesl Tesch​

Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller said: "We're demanding that the level of security forces, which number about 100,000, is reviewed and also we are also asking that they are deployed earlier prior to Games time, especially around training and competition venues. "It's not an isolated incident. It's got to a point now that steps and measures are taken to ensure that all our team members who go to Rio for the Olympic Games next month are safe."

'Horrific'

Tesch, who has won medals in wheelchair basketball and sailing, said athletes needed to be on their guard. The 47-year-old, who described the incident as "absolutely horrific", said the two men who robbed her and Ms Ross initially demanded money. When Tesch she told the gunman that she didn't have any money, "he just pushed me on the shoulder with his bare hand and I just fell down on the cobblestones," she told Australia's Seven Network. The two women were training near Flamengo Beach. Tesch said several people saw the incident but no-one came to their aid.

Brazilian authorities insist that the Olympic and Paralympic Games in August will be safe for athletes and tourists, with 85,000 soldiers and police officers deployed in Rio. But recent reports have indicated an upswing in crime. Three members of the Spanish Olympics sailing team were robbed at gunpoint while walking through the city in May. Rio State Security Secretary José Beltrame told the Washington Post that a recession and police funding problem had contributed to the issue. Mr Beltrame said the funding issues were being solved and insisted that Rio was ready to host the Olympics. Concerns over the Zika virus have also weighed heavily on Rio's Olympic preparations, but authorities insist proper precautions are in place.

Australian Paralympian robbed at gunpoint in Rio - BBC News

 

[longknife]

I deeply fear these will be the worse games in the history of the Olympic movement.

 

[Fiero425]

I deeply fear these will be the worse games in the history of the Olympic movement.

Outside of tennis, I haven't cared much for the Summer Olympics! It's a joke them allowing wealthy pro athletes to take over; esp. in Hockey, Baseball, Basketball, and Soccer! It's a joke that I can't support; barely watching the final if it means something like Roger back in 2012 on grass! ;-/

 

[candycorn]

Brazil already expecting Olympics to be a financial disaster?...

Brazil's Rio State Declares Financial Disaster Less Than 2 Months Before Olympics
June 17, 2016 — The acting governor of Rio de Janeiro state has declared a state of financial disaster so he has more leeway to manage the state's scarce resources less than two months Brazil hosts the Olympic Games.

Francisco Dornelles announced the decision on Friday. It will allow Rio's state government to change its budgetary priorities without disrespecting Brazil's fiscal laws. The move will let Dornelles adopt exceptional measures to pay costs related to the Games as the state grapples with the country's economic recession. The 2016 Summer Olympic Games will be held in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 5-21.

Dornelles' office said in a statement that the decision was made because a dip in revenues from taxes and oil royalties was "stopping the state of Rio de Janeiro from honoring its commitment to the organization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games." "The financial crisis has brought several difficulties in essential public services and it could cause the total collapse of public security, health care, education, urban mobility and environmental management," the statement said.

Rio's state government is in such dire straits that two of its hospitals were taken over by the Rio de Janeiro city government to allow doctors to keep receiving their paychecks. Some police stations are so underfunded that they have asked neighbors to donate basic items like toilet paper. Public workers and retirees have suffered months-long delays in receiving their money. Dornelles, previously the state's vice governor, became acting top executive when elected Gov. Luiz Fernando Pezao took a leave of absence to undergo cancer treatment.

Brazilian media reported Friday that Dornelles had asked the country's acting President Michel Temer for nearly $900 million in emergency funds for the state government, but a decision was not announced. Some of the key Olympic projects depend heavily on the state government. Along with paying for state police during the Summer Games, Rio de Janeiro state is also committed to paying for construction that will extend the metro to the Olympic Park as well as facilities to clean the waters that sailors will use during the Games.

Brazil's Rio State Declares Financial Disaster Less Than 2 Months Before Olympics

A lot of their financial suffering comes from hosting the Wold Cup a couple of years ago.

The nation started off in a hole and its only gotten worse. They’ll pull it together for the month or so during the Olympics and Para Olympics and it’ll be showpiece. Wouldn’t want to be around a year from now when the check comes due though.

NPR had a report on this as well:
Brazil's World Cup Legacy Includes $550M Stadium-Turned-Parking Lot

——
The Olympic Games are important in my view. I have zero athletic ability since I’ve left HS but recognize that to the rest of the world, athletics is important. Its also important to the youth (who are mostly the athletes).

I don’t know if it ever happens but I can envision some swimmer from Morocco who makes her olympic team and is put on a plane for Los Angeles in 1984. She doesn’t know much about the city or the nation but she sees that everyone has cars, the city goes on forever (it seems), its beauty is second to few, and she is treated warmly by the people she encounters at the local restaurants or shops. So when she graduates the university a few years later and gets a job at the multi-national where she works; she becomes aware of a job in Los Angeles. Maybe she takes it. She comes here, starts earning dollars and pays taxes. The type of immigrant we like (and frankly need). Or, on the other side, our swimmer sees Sydney in a new light in 2000, thinks he can make a go of it down there and moves when he gets the chance. In all aspects, the world is made better because the culture of each place is being influenced.

The issue is what the Olympics mean for the communities that host them near-term. Its time that the IOC recognize that there are only a few cities worldwide that should host the games. This would cut off the extravagant bidding process but the IOC needs to recognize that long-term, it is better for them to settle on a group of cities.

 

[IsaacNewton]

Doesn't the host city have 8 years from announcement to get ready?

I think the Olympics in Rio WILL have some major problems. The news today said a body washed up on one of the beaches where the beach volleyball is supposed to take place in a few weeks.

 

[Kristian]

Basketball
Boxing
Tennis
Ping Pong

This at least I will see in TV.

Four best sports in Olympics.

 

[Fiero425]

Doesn't the host city have 8 years from announcement to get ready?

I think the Olympics in Rio WILL have some major problems. The news today said a body washed up on one of the beaches where the beach volleyball is supposed to take place in a few weeks.

Sochi came off when it looked like a disaster too, but OIC made a huge mistake selling the Olympics to such a backward and desolate place! As far as I know, their sewer system in Rio runs right into the river where events will be taking place! More and more athletes will probably tell their countries and the event "F U; I'm not going!" The Zika virus problem should have made them think of an alternative!

 

[longknife]

Fear on the streets of Rio as security deteriorates ahead of Olympics

I've been watching the Olympic trials on NBC and find myself wondering how any of those marvelous athletes could possible place themselves in harms way by going to Rio. It's a mess down there and even first responders are telling people they can't guarantee their safety.

However, police unions have said the current crisis is the worst they have seen for years with unpaid officers even having to resort to paying for food for detainees.

Rio's civil police and firefighters drew attention to their plight with a banner at the city's international airport this week, reading: "Welcome to hell" and warning tourists that they were not safe.

Full story @ Fear on the streets of Rio as security deteriorates ahead of Olympics | Americas | DW.COM | 01.07.2016