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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / The Rio Olympics: Not Our Circus, Only Some of Our Monkeys*

The Rio Olympics: Not Our Circus, Only Some of Our Monkeys*

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So sweet, so hopeful, so… not looking great, right now. Sean Newell, at Vice Sports, with a quick roundup. “The Olympics are One Month Away, Here’s What’s Still a Mess“:

The Olympics begin in Rio on August 5 and let’s just say, it’s going to be an interesting month. Zika, pollution, financial instability, construction delays and more have all conspired to create a sense of unease and uncertainty as the city gets down to the final push to the games. There’s still a lot to address before they start, and some of the issues, like polluted water, don’t have a particular “fix,” so they will just be a part of the Olympics.

Zika is the big wild card, with many athletes opting to skip these Olympics because of it. Whether they have legitimate concerns, or have just found a convenient excuse, the fear of infection is hanging over the Games and there’s nothing to really do except roll the dice, or skip out.

Similarly, water pollution at the venues for rowing, sailing, and other water sports is a huge concern for many athletes. In Rio’s 2009 bid for the Olympics, organizers included a seven-year plan to clean up the polluted and contaminated waters in places like Guanabara Bay, where raw sewage, trash, and dead fish flow. That plan has failed spectacularly—authorities are investigating whether federal funding was illegally diverted from the project—and a recent report found that Rio’s waters contained “viruses up to 1.7 million more times hazardous than a beach in the U.S.”…

The Olympic Velodrome, used for cycling events, has had a tumultuous path to existence, but it appears to finally be (mostly) completed. Construction was delayed on May 30th, when the initial contractor went bankrupt. The job was given to another company and while the arena is almost ready to go, it is also still only almost ready to go…

A wide-ranging investigation into corruption surrounding the construction of many Olympic venues revealed much of these issues are related to corruption and graft. Coupled with Brazil’s worst recession since the 1930s, and it’s a recipe for disaster. The governor of Rio de Janeiro recently declared a “state of calamity,” announcing that Rio was bankrupt and unable to meet financial obligations ahead of the games. It is expected that the federal government will find a way to keep Rio afloat for the Olympics, but it’s less clear what happens after that…

Yeah, probably not too different from most of the recent Olympic venues. Then also, this, from Matt Miller at Esquire:

… With the Olympic games less than a month away, Rio police are speaking out in protest of the government. Claiming they haven’t been paid in months, a group of officers stood outside of the Rio airport holding a sign that read: “Welcome to Hell. Police and firefighters don’t get paid, whoever comes to Rio de Janeiro will not be safe.”

Last week, Rio de Janeiro state, which controls the military police force, took an $850 million bailout to pay officers their bonuses and overtime. The funds are expected to be distributed this week, but police say that’s not enough…

Brazil has one of the highest homicide rates in the world, and in May, 40 people were killed by on-duty officers—more than twice than during the same time last year…

Nearly 85,000 police and soldiers will be deployed during the games August 5-21, which are expected to draw 350,000 to 500,000 tourists to the city of 12 million people. Meanwhile, as Rio attempts to pull through its worst recession in decades, police helicopters and patrol cars have been grounded, as forces struggle to pay for basic supplies like toilet paper and pens….

But there’s good stories, too!…

*(from the Polish idiom)

Reader Interactions

52Comments

  1. 1.

    rikyrah

    Randall Cunningham’s daughter becomes the youngest US track and field Olympian in 36 years

    By: Turron Davenport | July 4, 2016 1:22 pm ET
    Former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Randall Cunningham was once a standout track and field athlete in at Santa Barbara High School in Santa Barbara, California. He competed in the high jump

    Cunningham’s son Randall II is a high jumper for USC. He is a NCAA Outdoor Track Champion and 2-time All-American. Cunningham’s daughter Vashti took the family’s high jump achievements to another level.

    At 18 years old, Vashti Cunningham became the youngest athlete since 1980 to make the United States Olympic track and field team for the Olympics. She cleared 1.97 meters in the finals as the second-place qualifier.

    “I’m very appreciative, just to be able to go to the Olympics this year,” Cunningham said, per USA Today. “So I’m more thankful than disappointed. It was a relief to qualify and just know that I was top three. At the same time, I still wanted to win. I always want to win.”

  4. 4.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Dan Pfeiffer ✔ @danpfeiffer

    Obama today made an incredibly strong case against Trump, Trump is right now making an even stronger case against a Trump presidency

    4:55 PM – 5 Jul 2016

    328 Retweets
    532 Favorites

  12. 12.

    Viva BrisVegas

    The IOC is a corrupt and self serving organisation that makes FIFA look like a school choir.

    It is burdening third world countries with bloated sponsorship orgies that have less than nothing to do with the original spirit of the Games.

    The whole thing has become a sad farce.

  14. 14.

    Ian

    I think it is a disgrace that the rest of the world is coming to these games. Rio can’t even get clean running water to most of its hospitals and they are spending billions on the Olympics? Human priorities deserve higher consideration than entertainment.

  16. 16.

    pseudonymous in nc

    Anyone remember when Mittens showed up in London and said that he didn’t think the city would be ready for the Olympics? Probably the only good thing Johnson did as London’s mayor was to humiliate him.

    There will be a reality distortion field around the venues in Rio, but that’s how it goes.

  17. 17.

    Gin & Tonic

    Man, “nie mój cyrk, nie moje małpy” is one of my favorite idioms. I’ve even taught some non-Slavs at work, and they’ve fallen in love with it, too.

  18. 18.

    redshirt

    Since the Russian track and field team has been banned entirely, obviously these games already don’t count. So why not a total boycott?

  19. 19.

    MomSense

    Did they manage to redirect the untreated sewage out of the swimming venues? If I were an Olympic athlete I’m not sure I would want to go to a place where j could end up with mosquito born Guillaume Barre.

  21. 21.

    Calouste

    @pseudonymous in nc: Johnson and Cameron are actually descended from royalty (illegitimately). They were not going to let some nouveau riche from the colonies insult them.

  22. 22.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    The Never-ending Begins

    The HillVerified account @ thehill
    JUST IN: Ryan: GOP will hold hearings on FBI’s Clinton decision

  23. 23.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: TheHill is nuts:

    Ballot Box
    Clinton leads Trump by 13 points: poll
    Cyra Master – 07/05/16 08:34 PM EDT
    Hillary Clinton has a 13 point lead over Trump in a new poll.

    Ballot Box
    Poll: Trump within 1 of Clinton nationally
    Mark Hensch – 07/05/16 03:54 PM EDT
    Clinton has 41 percent to Trump’s 40 percent, the poll says.

    Hmmm…

    Let the Teabaggers beat up on Comey and the FBI for a while. That’s sure to be a winning strategery for them. In the meantime, Hillary and Barack can remind voters that there’s still no Zika bill, there’s still no budget, there’s still no gun bill, etc., etc….

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  25. 25.

    Mnemosyne

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    It would crack me the fuck up if Comey said what he did at the press conference to help the Republicans in the fall and they reward him by hauling him in front of Congress and grilling him for days. Frog, meet scorpion.

  28. 28.

    Culture of Truth

    Today I gave blood for the first time in a year (with a bribe for goodies) and for the first time there was a slew of questions about possible exposure to the Zika virus. Luckily I have no travel, or life, so “no” to that, or possible mad cow, or hiv or hepatitis or needles or tattoos or fun in general.

  29. 29.

    eclare

    @Culture of Truth: Possible mad cow here, although my time in the UK was in the 90’s. Banned for life. As a very caring friend who worked at the CDC said, well, they must have their reasons. Sheesh, thanks!

    Hadn’t thought about Zika impact on giving blood here, though. Just another impact out of many to come. Were they solely focused on foreign travel? At some point I expect that will change.

  30. 30.

    Culture of Truth

    @eclare: With all their questions, it’s a wonder anyone qualifies. Among flags are ‘expose to aspirin’ and ‘the smallpox virus’. I’m like, doesn’t everyone have the smallpox virus? They were like, “shrug.”

    Seriously, in a year, it will be, “have you ever been to Florida?” The blood people are really strict.

  34. 34.

    Dog Dawg Damn

    Hearing that it’s going to be Newt, and soon, but not sure about the reliability of the sources. Is anyone else pinching themselves daily as this clusterfuck train wreck of a campaign steams into shit town?

  35. 35.

    Prescott Cactus

    “…Having outbreaks of these two diseases at the same time has never been reported…”

    “… we are investigating two simultaneous mosquito-borne outbreaks, West Nile virus (WNV) and St. Louis Encephalitis (SLE), and are reminding the community to do its part in preventing the spread of mosquitoes. . .”

    “…Most years, there are only about 20 SLE cases in the U.S., typically in July through September…”

    “… Statewide, there are 46 cases of West Nile (41 in Maricopa County) and 12 cases of SLE (10 in Maricopa County)…

    Yeah, Arizona.

    No climate change. No global warning.

    Move along folks.

  36. 36.

    Keith P.

    I’m predicting an evitable – no, literal – shitstorm at this Olympics.

  37. 37.

    Eric U.

    @Dog Dawg Damn: I don’t think the deity loves me enough for it to be Newt. I’m cautiously optimistic that the RNC convention will be a total disaster. GHWBush had a disastrous convention, and apparently it really hurt him. Pat Buchanan calling for a culture war was apparently very scary to some people. The thing is, you can watch the media and think that Trump isn’t that bad, they are trying to hide it. But if the convention is as bad as it’s starting to look, people are going to notice

  39. 39.

    scav

    @eclare: Fellow Mad Cow sufferer here, and I think I was banned for HIV by at least two distinct methods. Before my (apparent) adventures, I just usually failed the anemia tests when they gave them — they must really really not want my blood.

  40. 40.

    Prescott Cactus

    @Keith P.: Whatever 3 letter network that bought the rights (NBC?) will step on dead athletes to get a better camera angle for a canoe race.

    @Viva BrisVegas:

    The IOC is a corrupt and self serving organisation that makes FIFA look like a school choir.

    You left out the NCAA, but you are from afar. Money, power, hookers & blow. That is all this is about.

  42. 42.

    PurpleGirl

    I haven’t watched the Olympics since the 1998 Nagano winter games. IBM was working Internet security for them and my friend was one of 300-odd people IBM had working in Japan for close to a year. Before the games he was in Japan for 3 or 4 months straight. (For those of you who like collectible stuff, he somehow manage to get a full set of the mascots — snowlets named Sukki, Nokki, Lekki and Tsukki — for me. I still have them. I even still have the tags still on them.)

  43. 43.

    Prescott Cactus

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym: FIFA has the medals indictments to prove they are the true leader.

    The NCAA while only destroying the bodies and cognition of US college aged athletes (non-union – duh) must certainly be allowed a seat at the table of shame with the IOC & FIFA.

  44. 44.

    Prescott Cactus

    @PurpleGirl:

    manage to get a full set of the mascots — snowlets named Sukki, Nokki, Lekki and Tsukki — for me. I still have them. I even still have the tags still on them.)

    Remove tags, marinated in sake 2 hours. Rotisserie (w/ Hickory) 2 hours at 325. Rest 15 min. Serve with mango and avocado slaw.

    Needs lots of napkins

  45. 45.

    Keith P.

    Pulling an all-nighter with a Sopranos marathon on one monitor and my server family remoted on another. I decided to bite the bullet and run them all with Win Server Core (just a command prompt). Along with differencing VHDs I’ve got the process of spinning up a new server down pretty pat. It’s a pretty satisfying feeling since my network’s previous iteration was never quite “correct”.

  46. 46.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    The 1984 LA Olympics ran a profit, got some great infrastructure out of it as well. Just sayin’.

  47. 47.

    Elizabelle

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: the Olympics were life changing to Barcelona (1992). Positive. But I think Rio is the other extreme. Shameful to spend that much on a pageant w so many unmet needs and bad water.

    Don’t blame any athlete who declines to attend. I kinda think the powers that be should have postponed or canceled.

  49. 49.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Elizabelle: Seoul was probably closer to Rio(economically at the time) than LA or Barcelona, it worked really well for them. I think that when Rio bid on the games they thought it’d be like Seoul and be their “coming out party”.

  51. 51.

    Barb2

    CBC does the Olymics better than US. Close to the border we are. Way back in the 90s. On the west coast NBC delayed showing live broadcasts until the east coast got first viewing. We got left overs – junk tv. The coastal bias of the Networks is really rude.

    But Canada was broadcasting almost live. So what if the up close and personal was of Canadian athletes. Also the Canadians showed a lot more of the competition – not just a few quick shots. I gave up on NBC and the Olympics. Too much talking. All the athletes work hard to get there – they should be respected. IOC – if not fraud? Some other word.

    Now I don’t have a TV. I’ve never watched any reality-based tv show.

    Would Chicago have done better? Chicago political machine against Rio political machine. Weren’t Chicago and Rio in competition? Am I remembering that correctly?

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