I think there may be a lot of countries skipping this one.
Russia Olympic ban: Russian athletes set to miss Rio Games with ban due to be upheld
Russia Olympic ban: Russian athletes set to miss Rio Games with ban due to be upheld
Brazil Olympics 2016
- Thread starter Walter
- Start date
I would hope that our Canadian athletes are among those who won't be attending, Walter. I understand how hard that would be on the athletes who have been training hard for their competitions but Canada invests heavily in supporting our men and women in order for them to be at a competitive level. Why send them off to a godforsaken, poverty ridden, cesspool that still ranks high in violent crimes.
Glad to hear the ban on those lying, cheating, steroid-eating Ruskies was upheld.
Glad to hear the ban on those lying, cheating, steroid-eating Ruskies was upheld.
Difference being that Canadians cleaned up their act awhile ago, BL. Difference being that Canada never went to the lengths that the Russians have in their doping. Sneaking piss out of a lab through a hole in the wall. Substituting samples. It goes on and on, BL. It is apparent now that the entire Russian sports federation is nothing less than a culture of cheating any way they can.
More bad news from Rio. The lab that does the drug testing has been suspended by WADA.
Rio Olympics Anti-Doping Lab Suspended by WADA: Details and Reaction | Bleacher Report
Rio Olympics Anti-Doping Lab Suspended by WADA: Details and Reaction | Bleacher Report
Rio’s Leader Warns That The Olympics Could Be A ‘Failure’
With just a few weeks left until the start of the 2016 Olympics, Brazil is still suffering from serious economic problems.
The acting governor of Rio de Janeiro warned that the games could be a “failure” if his state doesn’t get its finances in order.
“I am optimistic about the games, but I have to show the reality. We can make a great Olympics, but if some steps are not taken, it can be a big failure,” Fransisco Dornelles told O Globo, according to CNN.
Brazil hasn’t followed through on a promise to provide Rio with extra funding for security and transportation, according to Dornelles. Police officers in the city aren’t being fully paid and may not even have enough money for gas.
The missing funds are just the tip of Brazil’s iceberg of turmoil.
Crime
A functioning police force and transportation system are necessary, given the rising crime in Rio. Murder and robbery are up 15 percent and 30 percent, respectively, since last year, NPR reports. The city is trying to get new buses off the ground to help tourists avoid the favelas — areas vulnerable to violence, theft and gang activity.
“How are people going to feel protected in a city without security?” Dornelles said.
Political Unrest
After months of protest from angry Brazilians, the Senate last month voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff over allegations that she lied about the country’s economic issues.
Rousseff and several members of her cabinet are also accused of making billions off of the state-run oil company Petrobras.
Wealth Gap
Economic inequality has long been an issue in Brazil. Recent figures indicate that the unemployment rate topped 11 percent last month. Wages are also down. Meanwhile, those involved in the Petrobras scandal are said to have made over $5 billion from bribes, kickbacks and money-laundering.
The Worst Recession In Decades
Brazil is facing one of the worst recessions the country has ever faced. The economy shrank 5.4 percent in the first three months of the year, the government said. Additionally, as FT points out, export prices have shrunk, household debt has increased, and inflation has risen even more than expected.
Zika Fears
The recent outbreak of the Zika virus has lead to athletes, journalists and other travelers vowing to skip the August games.
Although the symptoms of Zika aren’t serious, the virus can lead to severe birth defects if contracted by a pregnant woman.
“Female athletes should not be forced to make a decision that could sacrifice the health of a child,” soccer star Hope Solo said.
There are currently no effective treatments or vaccinations.
Rio's Leader Warns That The Olympics Could Be A 'Failure'
With just a few weeks left until the start of the 2016 Olympics, Brazil is still suffering from serious economic problems.
The acting governor of Rio de Janeiro warned that the games could be a “failure” if his state doesn’t get its finances in order.
“I am optimistic about the games, but I have to show the reality. We can make a great Olympics, but if some steps are not taken, it can be a big failure,” Fransisco Dornelles told O Globo, according to CNN.
Brazil hasn’t followed through on a promise to provide Rio with extra funding for security and transportation, according to Dornelles. Police officers in the city aren’t being fully paid and may not even have enough money for gas.
The missing funds are just the tip of Brazil’s iceberg of turmoil.
Crime
A functioning police force and transportation system are necessary, given the rising crime in Rio. Murder and robbery are up 15 percent and 30 percent, respectively, since last year, NPR reports. The city is trying to get new buses off the ground to help tourists avoid the favelas — areas vulnerable to violence, theft and gang activity.
“How are people going to feel protected in a city without security?” Dornelles said.
Political Unrest
After months of protest from angry Brazilians, the Senate last month voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff over allegations that she lied about the country’s economic issues.
Rousseff and several members of her cabinet are also accused of making billions off of the state-run oil company Petrobras.
Wealth Gap
Economic inequality has long been an issue in Brazil. Recent figures indicate that the unemployment rate topped 11 percent last month. Wages are also down. Meanwhile, those involved in the Petrobras scandal are said to have made over $5 billion from bribes, kickbacks and money-laundering.
The Worst Recession In Decades
Brazil is facing one of the worst recessions the country has ever faced. The economy shrank 5.4 percent in the first three months of the year, the government said. Additionally, as FT points out, export prices have shrunk, household debt has increased, and inflation has risen even more than expected.
Zika Fears
The recent outbreak of the Zika virus has lead to athletes, journalists and other travelers vowing to skip the August games.
Although the symptoms of Zika aren’t serious, the virus can lead to severe birth defects if contracted by a pregnant woman.
“Female athletes should not be forced to make a decision that could sacrifice the health of a child,” soccer star Hope Solo said.
There are currently no effective treatments or vaccinations.
Rio's Leader Warns That The Olympics Could Be A 'Failure'
Why not? Other teams, like West Germany in 1954, have taken performance-enhancing drugs to win major tournaments, so the Three Lions should do the same.
I'm good with it. It's the only way Engerland could beat the San Marino under-15s.
We heard all this before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, when people were talking about its high crime rate and murder rate and wondering whether it's safe for players and fans to go there. In the end, it ended up being a successful tournament (especially for Spain, who won it for the first time).
Olympic Rowers Will Compete In Poop-Filled Water Without Protection
Do we really need the Rio Olympics to happen?
The 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are just over a month away from starting, and they’ve been barreling toward disaster for months. The games have already impacted Rio in a multitude of negative ways, including its politics, economy, health, policing, housing and, perhaps above all, its environment.
The city’s problems will soon be problems for the tourists, spectators, media and onsite sponsors to work through. Conversely, the Olympic Village will do its best to protect Olympians inside a Zika- and riot-free bubble. But some athletes need to step out of the Village and into Rio’s natural surroundings to compete in their sport. We’ve already seen volleyball players potentially dealing with beached body parts. Those who must enter Rio’s feces-filled Olympic waterways may be in grave danger.
The U.S. rowing team is trying to take precautions ahead of competing in ****ty conditions. Its athletes’ Olympian immune systems are the first defense, of course. But tangibly, hand-washing stations will be set up for rowers to immediately disinfect when they get out of the water, the team’s assistant manager told Wired in a story published Friday.
They’ve also acquired special apparel for the games, which will physically protect athletes from infected water, wick any moisture away and kill some bacteria through an antimicrobial chemical coating, reports Wired.
The rowing team’s preventative measures are proactive, but potentially futile. The special bacteria-killing suit can’t destroy certain bacterias quickly enough, and in the heat of a competition, rowers are certain to have water splashed onto their face, into their eyes, nostrils and mouth. It’s part of the sport.
These dangers are, of course, no fault of the U.S. rowing team. It’s Rio’s own Olympic waters. Testing done by the Associated Press in a December 2015 report on the water found that raw sewage flows into Olympic waterways through infected rivers and storm drains. It’s not a small amount either. AP’s report concluded that disease-causing viruses linked to human sewage are in the water at levels 1.7 million times what would be considered “alarming” in the U.S. or Europe.
On top of the feces- and baceteria-tainted water, concerns about the strain of the Zika virus present in Brazil has caused 125 health experts to call upon the World Health Organization to push for the game’s postponement or relocation.
For the safety of everyone headed off to Rio next month, these experts may have the right idea.
Olympic Rowers Will Compete In Poop-Filled Water Without Protection
Do we really need the Rio Olympics to happen?
The 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are just over a month away from starting, and they’ve been barreling toward disaster for months. The games have already impacted Rio in a multitude of negative ways, including its politics, economy, health, policing, housing and, perhaps above all, its environment.
The city’s problems will soon be problems for the tourists, spectators, media and onsite sponsors to work through. Conversely, the Olympic Village will do its best to protect Olympians inside a Zika- and riot-free bubble. But some athletes need to step out of the Village and into Rio’s natural surroundings to compete in their sport. We’ve already seen volleyball players potentially dealing with beached body parts. Those who must enter Rio’s feces-filled Olympic waterways may be in grave danger.
The U.S. rowing team is trying to take precautions ahead of competing in ****ty conditions. Its athletes’ Olympian immune systems are the first defense, of course. But tangibly, hand-washing stations will be set up for rowers to immediately disinfect when they get out of the water, the team’s assistant manager told Wired in a story published Friday.
They’ve also acquired special apparel for the games, which will physically protect athletes from infected water, wick any moisture away and kill some bacteria through an antimicrobial chemical coating, reports Wired.
The rowing team’s preventative measures are proactive, but potentially futile. The special bacteria-killing suit can’t destroy certain bacterias quickly enough, and in the heat of a competition, rowers are certain to have water splashed onto their face, into their eyes, nostrils and mouth. It’s part of the sport.
These dangers are, of course, no fault of the U.S. rowing team. It’s Rio’s own Olympic waters. Testing done by the Associated Press in a December 2015 report on the water found that raw sewage flows into Olympic waterways through infected rivers and storm drains. It’s not a small amount either. AP’s report concluded that disease-causing viruses linked to human sewage are in the water at levels 1.7 million times what would be considered “alarming” in the U.S. or Europe.
On top of the feces- and baceteria-tainted water, concerns about the strain of the Zika virus present in Brazil has caused 125 health experts to call upon the World Health Organization to push for the game’s postponement or relocation.
For the safety of everyone headed off to Rio next month, these experts may have the right idea.
Olympic Rowers Will Compete In Poop-Filled Water Without Protection
The Summer Games will go on, but at what cost?
When Rio de Janeiro was announced as the winning bid for the 2016 Summer Games, it seemed like an inspired choice.
It would be the first time a South American country hosted the Olympics. At the time the decision was made, in 2009, Brazil was riding an unprecedented wave of economic prosperity, thanks largely to oil revenues. Many saw the Games as an opportunity for the country to unveil its new, modern self to the world.
Today, with the opening of the Games slightly more than a month away, the picture couldn’t be more different. Due in large part to the collapse in oil prices, the country’s once-roaring economy is in shambles. The political and business elite have been caught up in the largest corruption scandal in the country’s history. President Dilma Rousseff was impeached in May over alleged budget improprieties.
Crime is once again soaring.
Leonardo Espindola, a top official in Rio’s state government, was quoted in The New York Times last week as saying, “We are nearing a social collapse.” Recently, Rio declared a state of “public calamity” – acknowledging it is bankrupt and unable to honour its Olympic obligations. (According to reports, so broke is the city that it had to close its morgue because it could not pay for cleaning. Bodies were shipped to other cities.) The federal government stepped in and bailed out the city. In the modern history of the Olympics, it is difficult to think of a country beset with so many seemingly insurmountable challenges on the eve of hosting the Games.
And we haven’t even mentioned pollution and the Zika virus.
In their pitch to the International Olympic Committee, Rio organizers promised that the venue where sailing would be held – the infamously polluted Guanabara Bay – would be cleaned up by the time the Games opened. It won’t be. The Associated Press has reported that disease-causing virus levels linked to human waste in the water are 1.7 million times above acceptable levels. Yes, you read that correctly.
One German sailor practising recently at an Olympic test event was hospitalized with an infection contracted in the water. (In unrelated water news, this week human body parts washed up next to the Games’ beach volleyball venue, reported Reuters.)
Then there is Zika, the mosquito-borne virus that can cause birth defects. So serious are concerns about the threat it poses to Olympic athletes and visitors of child-bearing age that 200 doctors from around the world signed a letter urging the IOC to either postpone or move the Games to another city.
The IOC maintains the position that any risk is slim. That hasn’t stopped some athletes from deciding to take a pass, including two of the world’s top golfers, Northern Ireland’s Rory Mcllroy and Australia’s Jason Day. More athletes are expected to pull the chute before the Games begin.
The word out of Rio has been so consistently bad that the IOC surely must have considered, however fleetingly, postponing or moving the Games. But ultimately an organization as arrogant as the Olympic committee couldn’t fathom such a course of action, so damaging would it be to the organization’s already disgraceful reputation.
As someone heading to Rio myself, I’ll confess to some trepidation. There have been reports of athletes in town for training being robbed at knife point by gangs. Security is certain to be beefed up by Games time, but I’m sure I’ll be doing less exploring of local environs, certainly at night, than at previous Olympics.
Mostly, I feel horrible for the Brazilian people. They didn’t ask for these Olympics; the elites did. And yet thousands of citizens were moved from their homes to accommodate Games preparations. The final price tag, as is nearly always the case, will be much greater than initially advertised. Right now, the anticipated deficit is $6-billion. Many believe it will be significantly larger. When the Olympic circus leaves town, that will be Brazil’s mess to solve.
Meanwhile, government officials are maintaining a brave face, insisting that the Games will instill a new sense of pride in their countrymen. It is the kind of hopeful rhetoric that host countries have learned to adopt over the years. Unfortunately, when the Olympic flame is finally snuffed out, and the crowds have disappeared, what is left behind often takes generations to clean up.
- By Gary Mason, www.theglobeandmail.com
- June 30th, 2016
When Rio de Janeiro was announced as the winning bid for the 2016 Summer Games, it seemed like an inspired choice.
It would be the first time a South American country hosted the Olympics. At the time the decision was made, in 2009, Brazil was riding an unprecedented wave of economic prosperity, thanks largely to oil revenues. Many saw the Games as an opportunity for the country to unveil its new, modern self to the world.
Today, with the opening of the Games slightly more than a month away, the picture couldn’t be more different. Due in large part to the collapse in oil prices, the country’s once-roaring economy is in shambles. The political and business elite have been caught up in the largest corruption scandal in the country’s history. President Dilma Rousseff was impeached in May over alleged budget improprieties.
Crime is once again soaring.
Leonardo Espindola, a top official in Rio’s state government, was quoted in The New York Times last week as saying, “We are nearing a social collapse.” Recently, Rio declared a state of “public calamity” – acknowledging it is bankrupt and unable to honour its Olympic obligations. (According to reports, so broke is the city that it had to close its morgue because it could not pay for cleaning. Bodies were shipped to other cities.) The federal government stepped in and bailed out the city. In the modern history of the Olympics, it is difficult to think of a country beset with so many seemingly insurmountable challenges on the eve of hosting the Games.
And we haven’t even mentioned pollution and the Zika virus.
In their pitch to the International Olympic Committee, Rio organizers promised that the venue where sailing would be held – the infamously polluted Guanabara Bay – would be cleaned up by the time the Games opened. It won’t be. The Associated Press has reported that disease-causing virus levels linked to human waste in the water are 1.7 million times above acceptable levels. Yes, you read that correctly.
One German sailor practising recently at an Olympic test event was hospitalized with an infection contracted in the water. (In unrelated water news, this week human body parts washed up next to the Games’ beach volleyball venue, reported Reuters.)
Then there is Zika, the mosquito-borne virus that can cause birth defects. So serious are concerns about the threat it poses to Olympic athletes and visitors of child-bearing age that 200 doctors from around the world signed a letter urging the IOC to either postpone or move the Games to another city.
The IOC maintains the position that any risk is slim. That hasn’t stopped some athletes from deciding to take a pass, including two of the world’s top golfers, Northern Ireland’s Rory Mcllroy and Australia’s Jason Day. More athletes are expected to pull the chute before the Games begin.
The word out of Rio has been so consistently bad that the IOC surely must have considered, however fleetingly, postponing or moving the Games. But ultimately an organization as arrogant as the Olympic committee couldn’t fathom such a course of action, so damaging would it be to the organization’s already disgraceful reputation.
As someone heading to Rio myself, I’ll confess to some trepidation. There have been reports of athletes in town for training being robbed at knife point by gangs. Security is certain to be beefed up by Games time, but I’m sure I’ll be doing less exploring of local environs, certainly at night, than at previous Olympics.
Mostly, I feel horrible for the Brazilian people. They didn’t ask for these Olympics; the elites did. And yet thousands of citizens were moved from their homes to accommodate Games preparations. The final price tag, as is nearly always the case, will be much greater than initially advertised. Right now, the anticipated deficit is $6-billion. Many believe it will be significantly larger. When the Olympic circus leaves town, that will be Brazil’s mess to solve.
Meanwhile, government officials are maintaining a brave face, insisting that the Games will instill a new sense of pride in their countrymen. It is the kind of hopeful rhetoric that host countries have learned to adopt over the years. Unfortunately, when the Olympic flame is finally snuffed out, and the crowds have disappeared, what is left behind often takes generations to clean up.
