Brazil Olympics 2016
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Olympics target of planned ISIS-inspired attack, 10 arrested: Brazilian official
Mauricio Savarese and Adriana Gomez Licon, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Thursday, July 21, 2016 11:22 AM EDT | Updated: Thursday, July 21, 2016 10:15 PM EDT
RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazilian police arrested 10 people who allegedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group on social media and discussed possible attacks during the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, officials said Thursday.
Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes said in the capital, Brasilia, that 10 suspects had been detained and two more were being sought. All are Brazilian, and one is a minor. The gender of the people was not given.
Police acted because the group discussed using weapons and guerrilla tactics to potentially launch an attack during the Olympics, which begin Aug. 5, Moraes said.
However "they were complete amateurs and ill-prepared" to actually launch an attack, Moraes said. "A few days ago they said they should start practicing martial arts, for example."
Still, Moraes said even disorganized groups should be taken seriously.
The arrests were made in 10 different states, including Sao Paulo and Parana in the southern part of the country, and it was not clear whether the suspects knew each other beyond their online contacts. Moraes said there were no specific targets for an attack.
Moraes said they had all been "baptized" as Islamic State sympathizers online and none had actually travelled to Syria or Iraq, the group's stronghold, or received any training. Several were allegedly trying to secure financing from the group, known by the acronym ISIS.
The justice minister said one of the suspects communicated with a store in Paraguay via email in an alleged attempt to by an AK-47 assault rifle, apparently the most concrete action taken toward a possible attack. That email communication was intercepted by police.
Brazilians are allowed to possess small firearms but must have a license and training to do so. Only members of the military may possess assault weapons like the AK-47, although those and other firearms are common place especially in slums controlled by drug gangs.
Moraes said authorities seized computers, cellphones and other equipment, but no weapons.
Last week the top military aide for Brazil's interim government said concerns over terrorism had "reached a higher level" after the attack in Nice, France.
Officials did not raise the country's terror alert level Thursday following the raids.
Security has emerged as the top concern during the Olympics, including violence possibly spilling over from Rio's hundreds of slums. Authorities have said they will be prepared and that some 85,000 police and soldiers will be patrolling during the competitions.
Olympics target of planned ISIS-inspired attack, 10 arrested: Brazilian official
Mauricio Savarese and Adriana Gomez Licon, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Thursday, July 21, 2016 11:22 AM EDT | Updated: Thursday, July 21, 2016 10:15 PM EDT
RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazilian police arrested 10 people who allegedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group on social media and discussed possible attacks during the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, officials said Thursday.
Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes said in the capital, Brasilia, that 10 suspects had been detained and two more were being sought. All are Brazilian, and one is a minor. The gender of the people was not given.
Police acted because the group discussed using weapons and guerrilla tactics to potentially launch an attack during the Olympics, which begin Aug. 5, Moraes said.
However "they were complete amateurs and ill-prepared" to actually launch an attack, Moraes said. "A few days ago they said they should start practicing martial arts, for example."
Still, Moraes said even disorganized groups should be taken seriously.
The arrests were made in 10 different states, including Sao Paulo and Parana in the southern part of the country, and it was not clear whether the suspects knew each other beyond their online contacts. Moraes said there were no specific targets for an attack.
Moraes said they had all been "baptized" as Islamic State sympathizers online and none had actually travelled to Syria or Iraq, the group's stronghold, or received any training. Several were allegedly trying to secure financing from the group, known by the acronym ISIS.
The justice minister said one of the suspects communicated with a store in Paraguay via email in an alleged attempt to by an AK-47 assault rifle, apparently the most concrete action taken toward a possible attack. That email communication was intercepted by police.
Brazilians are allowed to possess small firearms but must have a license and training to do so. Only members of the military may possess assault weapons like the AK-47, although those and other firearms are common place especially in slums controlled by drug gangs.
Moraes said authorities seized computers, cellphones and other equipment, but no weapons.
Last week the top military aide for Brazil's interim government said concerns over terrorism had "reached a higher level" after the attack in Nice, France.
Officials did not raise the country's terror alert level Thursday following the raids.
Security has emerged as the top concern during the Olympics, including violence possibly spilling over from Rio's hundreds of slums. Authorities have said they will be prepared and that some 85,000 police and soldiers will be patrolling during the competitions.
Olympics target of planned ISIS-inspired attack, 10 arrested: Brazilian official
Olympic teams arrive in Rio to leaks, electrical outages in Athletes Village
'From the exterior it looks like the Hilton Hotel, but inside it's not finished,' says spokesperson
Jul 24, 02:14 PM ET
'From the exterior it looks like the Hilton Hotel, but inside it's not finished,' says spokesperson
Jul 24, 02:14 PM ET
The Australian Olympic Committee says it will not permit any of its athletes to move into their rooms, as a spokesperson says there are "leaking pipes, water leaking from the ceiling. We've got electrical problems. We've got cleaning problems." © Pool/Getty Images
Stephen Wade, The Associated Press
Australian athletes will not move into their rooms at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics until serious plumbing, electrical and cleaning problems are fixed, with the troubled South American games opening in under two weeks.
Kitty Chiller, the head of the Australian delegation, said in a statement Sunday that team members "will not move into our allocated building" at the Athletes Village. She gave no hint of when they might.
This comes as the sprawling 31-building village, which will house 18,000 athletes and officials at the height of the games, opened officially on Sunday with some athletes expected to arrive.
This is the latest problem for the Games, which have been hit by the Zika virus, water pollution and severe budget cuts.
The International Olympic Committee and local organizers held emergency talks Sunday, but did not reply immediately to emails from The Associated Press.
Smell of gas in some rooms, water coming down walls
"We're having plumbing problems, we've got leaking pipes," Mike Tancred, the spokesman for the Australian team, said in an interview with AP. "We've got electrical problems. We got cleaning problems. We've got lighting problems in some of the stairwells."
He said more than 20 staff members have been unable to stay in the building, and said the first Australian athletes were to arrive Monday.
"We did a stress test on Saturday, turned on the taps and flushed the toilets, and water came flooding down the walls," Tancred said.
Chiller listed the same problems, and added more.
"Water came down walls, there was a strong smell of gas in some apartments and there was 'shorting' in the electrical wiring," she said. "We have been living in nearby hotels because the village is simply not safe or ready."
She said teams from Britain and New Zealand had similar problems, which have been going on for at least a week.
Team Canada 'generally satisfied'
Despite the concerns, Canadian Olympic Committee CEO Chris Overholt said in a statement that the Canadian team is "generally satisfied" with the accommodations.
"While there have been some initial operational challenges in our section of the athletes' village, we are addressing these and have managed to find good solutions, Overholt said, adding that as of now athletes should be able to move into the village "on time and ... without interruption to our plan."
The International Olympic Committee and local organizers held emergency talks Sunday and met with the heads of several teams.
In a statement, the IOC said athletes with unfinished rooms would "be placed in the best available accommodation in other buildings."
It said fixing the problem "will take another few days."
Rio organizers said despite the problems "a few hundred delegation members are moving in today as planned."
Potential for more delays
Local reports said about 5 percent of the 3,600 apartments had gas, water and electrical faults, and some were without toilet fixtures.
Chiller said the IOC will ask local organizers to do stress tests "throughout the Olympic Village," a process that could force major delays and require people living there now to relocate.
The compound contains tennis courts, soccer fields, seven swimming pools — with mountains and the sea as a backdrop — topped off by a massive dining-kitchen compound that's as large as three football fields.
The 3,600 apartments are to be sold after the Olympics with some prices reaching $700,000. The development costs about $1.5 billion, built by the Brazilian billionaire Carlos Carvalho.
"From the exterior it looks like the Hilton Hotel," Tancred said. "But inside it's not finished."
Olympic teams arrive in Rio to leaks, electrical outages in Athletes Village
Stephen Wade, The Associated Press
Australian athletes will not move into their rooms at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics until serious plumbing, electrical and cleaning problems are fixed, with the troubled South American games opening in under two weeks.
Kitty Chiller, the head of the Australian delegation, said in a statement Sunday that team members "will not move into our allocated building" at the Athletes Village. She gave no hint of when they might.
This comes as the sprawling 31-building village, which will house 18,000 athletes and officials at the height of the games, opened officially on Sunday with some athletes expected to arrive.
This is the latest problem for the Games, which have been hit by the Zika virus, water pollution and severe budget cuts.
The International Olympic Committee and local organizers held emergency talks Sunday, but did not reply immediately to emails from The Associated Press.
Smell of gas in some rooms, water coming down walls
"We're having plumbing problems, we've got leaking pipes," Mike Tancred, the spokesman for the Australian team, said in an interview with AP. "We've got electrical problems. We got cleaning problems. We've got lighting problems in some of the stairwells."
He said more than 20 staff members have been unable to stay in the building, and said the first Australian athletes were to arrive Monday.
"We did a stress test on Saturday, turned on the taps and flushed the toilets, and water came flooding down the walls," Tancred said.
Chiller listed the same problems, and added more.
"Water came down walls, there was a strong smell of gas in some apartments and there was 'shorting' in the electrical wiring," she said. "We have been living in nearby hotels because the village is simply not safe or ready."
She said teams from Britain and New Zealand had similar problems, which have been going on for at least a week.
Team Canada 'generally satisfied'
Despite the concerns, Canadian Olympic Committee CEO Chris Overholt said in a statement that the Canadian team is "generally satisfied" with the accommodations.
"While there have been some initial operational challenges in our section of the athletes' village, we are addressing these and have managed to find good solutions, Overholt said, adding that as of now athletes should be able to move into the village "on time and ... without interruption to our plan."
The International Olympic Committee and local organizers held emergency talks Sunday and met with the heads of several teams.
In a statement, the IOC said athletes with unfinished rooms would "be placed in the best available accommodation in other buildings."
It said fixing the problem "will take another few days."
Rio organizers said despite the problems "a few hundred delegation members are moving in today as planned."
Potential for more delays
Local reports said about 5 percent of the 3,600 apartments had gas, water and electrical faults, and some were without toilet fixtures.
Chiller said the IOC will ask local organizers to do stress tests "throughout the Olympic Village," a process that could force major delays and require people living there now to relocate.
The compound contains tennis courts, soccer fields, seven swimming pools — with mountains and the sea as a backdrop — topped off by a massive dining-kitchen compound that's as large as three football fields.
The 3,600 apartments are to be sold after the Olympics with some prices reaching $700,000. The development costs about $1.5 billion, built by the Brazilian billionaire Carlos Carvalho.
"From the exterior it looks like the Hilton Hotel," Tancred said. "But inside it's not finished."
Olympic teams arrive in Rio to leaks, electrical outages in Athletes Village
Brazil police arrest last suspect in Olympics terror case
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Monday, July 25, 2016 02:47 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, July 25, 2016 02:56 PM EDT
RIO DE JANEIRO -- Police arrested the last suspect sought in the case of a group of Islamic State sympathizers who allegedly discussed attacking the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The Federal Police said in a statement late Sunday that the man was caught in the city of Comodoro, in the central west region of Brazil.
Police said he was taken to a federal prison but didn't reveal his name, citing security reasons.
The anti-terror probe was announced by authorities on Thursday when 10 Brazilians were arrested in different states of Brazil. Another man turned himself in on Friday.
Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes said some of the men had pledged allegiance to the IS without having any personal contact with members of the terrorism group. The suspects also didn't know each other and only communicated via WhatsApp and Telegram.
Moraes said the group was amateur and ill-prepared. The closest it got to planning an attack was an alleged attempt via email to buy an AK-47 assault rifle in a store in Paraguay.
The suspects hadn't travelled to the group's stronghold in Syria or Iraq or received any training. It's unclear whether they practiced any religion.
Federal judge Marcos Josegrei da Silva, who oversees the case, told O Globo newspaper over the weekend that there could be more people involved with the group.
Brazil police arrest last suspect in Olympics terror case | World | News | Toron
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Monday, July 25, 2016 02:47 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, July 25, 2016 02:56 PM EDT
RIO DE JANEIRO -- Police arrested the last suspect sought in the case of a group of Islamic State sympathizers who allegedly discussed attacking the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The Federal Police said in a statement late Sunday that the man was caught in the city of Comodoro, in the central west region of Brazil.
Police said he was taken to a federal prison but didn't reveal his name, citing security reasons.
The anti-terror probe was announced by authorities on Thursday when 10 Brazilians were arrested in different states of Brazil. Another man turned himself in on Friday.
Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes said some of the men had pledged allegiance to the IS without having any personal contact with members of the terrorism group. The suspects also didn't know each other and only communicated via WhatsApp and Telegram.
Moraes said the group was amateur and ill-prepared. The closest it got to planning an attack was an alleged attempt via email to buy an AK-47 assault rifle in a store in Paraguay.
The suspects hadn't travelled to the group's stronghold in Syria or Iraq or received any training. It's unclear whether they practiced any religion.
Federal judge Marcos Josegrei da Silva, who oversees the case, told O Globo newspaper over the weekend that there could be more people involved with the group.
Brazil police arrest last suspect in Olympics terror case | World | News | Toron
Olympic village fire forces Australian athletes from building
Australia has had previous issues with the Athletes' Village
Jul 29, 06:07 PM ET
Australian athletes stand outside of the Rio Olympic Village on Friday after a fire forced them from the building. © Buda Mendes/Getty Image
Australia has had previous issues with the Athletes' Village
Jul 29, 06:07 PM ET
Australian athletes stand outside of the Rio Olympic Village on Friday after a fire forced them from the building. © Buda Mendes/Getty Image
Australian Olympic team members were forced to evacuate their lodgings on Friday at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics after a small fire in a basement parking area caused smoke to fill the stairwells.
Australian team spokesman Mike Tancred said about 100 athletes and officials were evacuated from their building in the sprawling athletes' village. The compound contains 31 buildings and will accommodate 18,000 athletes and officials at the peak of the games, which open in a week.
"The stairwells filled with smoke, but the fire was confined to the carpark and no one was injured," Tancred said in a statement.
The fire will once again draw attention to Rio's spotty preparations, which have been marred by the Zika virus, severe water pollution, crime, and slow ticket sales.
Tancred said team members returned to their rooms after 30 minutes.
This comes after a tension-filled week in which Australia refused to occupy its building, citing gas and plumbing leaks, electrical shorts, and general filth. At least a dozen other teams also complained of problems that affected about 400 of the 3,600 rooms in the sprawling compound.
Rio officials on Thursday declared the compound "fully ready" after deploying hundreds of plumbers and electricians, who worked around the clock to ready the buildings.
Australia finally moved staff and athletes into the village on Wednesday, three days after the official opening on Sunday.
Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes on Wednesday met Australian delegation head Kitty Chiller and apologized to dozens of athletes for the slipshod preparations.
Olympic village fire forces Australian athletes from building
Australian team spokesman Mike Tancred said about 100 athletes and officials were evacuated from their building in the sprawling athletes' village. The compound contains 31 buildings and will accommodate 18,000 athletes and officials at the peak of the games, which open in a week.
"The stairwells filled with smoke, but the fire was confined to the carpark and no one was injured," Tancred said in a statement.
The fire will once again draw attention to Rio's spotty preparations, which have been marred by the Zika virus, severe water pollution, crime, and slow ticket sales.
Tancred said team members returned to their rooms after 30 minutes.
This comes after a tension-filled week in which Australia refused to occupy its building, citing gas and plumbing leaks, electrical shorts, and general filth. At least a dozen other teams also complained of problems that affected about 400 of the 3,600 rooms in the sprawling compound.
Rio officials on Thursday declared the compound "fully ready" after deploying hundreds of plumbers and electricians, who worked around the clock to ready the buildings.
Australia finally moved staff and athletes into the village on Wednesday, three days after the official opening on Sunday.
Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes on Wednesday met Australian delegation head Kitty Chiller and apologized to dozens of athletes for the slipshod preparations.
Olympic village fire forces Australian athletes from building
I wasn't even born. I wasn't even a twinkle in the milkman's eye.
The 2000 Sydney Olympics were also held in Australia's spring.
So this is the first Summer Olympics to be held in winter.
Expert’s warning for Rio visitors: ‘Don’t put your head under water’
By Jenny Barchfield
The Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO — Just days ahead of the Olympic Games the waterways of Rio de Janeiro are as filthy as ever, contaminated with raw human sewage teeming with dangerous viruses and bacteria, according to a 16-month-long study commissioned by The Associated Press.
Not only are some 1,400 athletes at risk of getting violently ill in water competitions, but the AP’s tests indicate that tourists also face potentially serious health risks on the golden beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana.
The AP’s survey of the aquatic Olympic and Paralympic venues has revealed consistent and dangerously high levels of viruses from the pollution, a major black eye on Rio’s Olympic project that has set off alarm bells among sailors, rowers and open-water swimmers.
The first results of the study published over a year ago showed viral levels at up to 1.7 million times what would be considered worrisome in the United States or Europe. At those concentrations, swimmers and athletes who ingest just three teaspoons of water are almost certain to be infected with viruses that can cause stomach and respiratory illnesses and more rarely heart and brain inflammation — although whether they actually fall ill depends on a series of factors including the strength of the individual’s immune system.
Since the AP released the initial results last July, athletes have been taking elaborate precautions to prevent illnesses that could potentially knock them out of the competition, including preventatively taking antibiotics, bleaching oars and donning plastic suits and gloves in a bid to limit contact with the water.
But antibiotics combat bacterial infections, not viruses. And the AP investigation found that infectious adenovirus readings — tested with cell cultures and verified with molecular biology protocols — turned up at nearly 90 percent of the test sites over 16 months of testing.
“That’s a very, very, very high percentage,” said Dr. Valerie Harwood, Chair of the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of South Florida. “Seeing that level of human pathogenic virus is pretty much unheard of in surface waters in the U.S. You would never, ever see these levels because we treat our waste water. You just would not see this.”
While athletes take precautions, what about the 300,000-500,000 foreigners expected to descend on Rio for the Olympics? Testing at several of the city’s world-famous beaches has shown that in addition to persistently high viral loads, the beaches often have levels of bacterial markers for sewage pollution that would be cause for concern abroad — and sometimes even exceed Rio state’s lax water safety standards.
READ MORE: Australian Olympic team robbed after fire in athletes’ village; fire alarms deactivated
In light of the AP’s findings, Harwood had one piece of advice for travelers to Rio: “Don’t put your head under water.”
Swimmers who cannot heed that advice stand to ingest water through their mouths and noses and therefore risk “getting violently ill,” she said.
Danger is lurking even in the sand. Samples from the beaches at Copacabana and Ipanema revealed high levels of viruses, which recent studies have suggested can pose a health risk — particularly to babies and small children.
“Both of them have pretty high levels of infectious adenovirus,” said Harwood, adding that the virus could be particularly hazardous to babies and toddlers who play in the sand.
Dr. Fernando Spilki, the virologist and coordinator of the molecular microbiology laboratory at Feevale University in southern Brazil whom AP commissioned to conduct the water tests, says the survey revealed no appreciable improvement in Rio’s blighted waters — despite cleanup promises stretching back decades.
“Unfortunately, what we’ve seen throughout all this time is that there is a variation in the levels of contamination, but it fluctuates much more as a result of climactic conditions than due to any measures that may have been taken to try to remove this contamination,” said Spilki, one of Brazil’s most respected virologists.
The most contaminated points are the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, where Olympic rowing will take place, and the Gloria Marina, the starting point for the sailing races. In March, 2015, sampling at the Lagoon revealed an astounding 1.73 billion adenoviruses per liter; this June, adenovirus readings were lower but still hair-raising at 248 million adenoviruses per liter. By comparison, in California, viral readings in the thousands per liter are enough to set off alarm bells.
Despite a project aimed at preventing raw sewage from flowing directly into the Gloria Marina through storm drains, the waters remain just as contaminated. The first sampling there, in March, 2015, showed over 26 million adenoviruses per liter; this June, over 37 million adenoviruses per liter were detected.
While local authorities including Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes have acknowledged the failure of the city’s water cleanup efforts, calling it a “lost chance” and a “shame,” Olympic officials continue to insist Rio’s waterways will be safe for athletes and visitors. The local organizing committee did not respond to multiple requests for comment, though it has previously said bacterial testing conducted by Rio state authorities has shown the aquatic venues to be within state guidelines.
The crux of the issue lies in the different types of testing used to determine the health and safety of recreational waters.
Bacterial tests measure levels of coliforms — different types of bacteria that tend not to cause illnesses themselves but are indicators of the presence of other, potentially harmful sewage-borne pathogens such as other bacteria, viruses and protozoa that can cause cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A and typhoid, among other diseases. Bacterial tests are the worldwide standard because they’re cheap and easy.
But there’s a growing consensus that they’re not ideal for all climates, as bacteria break down quickly in tropical weather and salty marine waters. In contrast, viruses have been shown to survive for weeks, months or even years — meaning that in tropical Rio low bacterial markers can be completely out of step with high virus levels.
That disparity was borne out in the AP’s testing. For instance, in June, 2016, the levels of fecal coliforms in water samples from Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches were extremely low, with just 31 and 85 fecal coliforms per 100 milliliters, respectively. But still, both had alarming readings for rotavirus, the main cause of gastroenteritis globally, with 7.22 million rotaviruses per liter detected in the waters of Copacabana, while 32.7 million rotaviruses per liter were found in the waters of Ipanema Beach.
The testing also revealed alarming spikes in fecal coliform levels — the very measure the state government uses to determine the safety of Rio’s recreational waters.
According to California’s bacterial tests standards, 400 fecal coliforms per 100 milliliters is the upper limit for a beach to be considered safe for swimming. AP’s tests revealed that Copacabana Beach, where the marathon and triathlon swimming are to be held and thousands of tourists are likely to take a dip, exceeded California’s limit five times over 13 months of testing.
Nearby Ipanema Beach, which is not playing host to any Olympic sports but is among the city’s most popular tourist spots, exceeded California standards five times over 12 months, once spiking to nearly 50 times what would be permitted in California. One of two testing spots along the beach in the Olympic hub neighborhood of Barra da Tijuca once hit more than 60 times that limit over the five months testing was conducted there.
“If we had exceedances that consistently were in the thousands like I’m seeing here, there would be a high likelihood that that beach would be put on our list of impaired water bodies,” said Rik Rasmussen, manager of surface water quality standards at California’s State Water Board. That would lead to water quality warnings posted on the beach, possible beach closure, and the development of a program to root out the source of the contamination, he said.
The beaches even violate Rio state’s own standards, which are much less stringent than those in California, many other U.S. states and beach-loving countries such as Australia and New Zealand. In Rio, beaches are considered unfit if bacterial tests turn up more than 2,500 fecal coliforms per 100 milliliters — more than six times higher than the upper limit in California. But Copacabana and Ipanema even violated those much higher limits on three separate occasions. The state environmental agency, INEA, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Rasmussen acknowledged that the higher thresholds might make sense in Rio, where sewage pollution has been a perennial problem, meaning that locals are regularly exposed to the pathogens lurking in raw waste from an early age and therefore build up immunities. But visitors are unlikely to have such immunities, putting them at risk for illnesses.
After the AP’s initial report on the findings of the study in July of last year, the Olympics’ adviser on health matters, the World Health Organization, said it would carry out its own viral testing in Rio’s Olympic waterways. The agency later flip-flopped, finally concluding that bacterial tests alone would suffice.
Athletes who have trained years for a chance at Olympic glory have resigned themselves to competing in the filth.
“There’s been a lot of talk about how dirty the water is and all the viruses,” said Finnish team sailor Noora Ruskola.
However, tourists are unlikely to realize the dangers: Water quality warning signs used to dot showcase beaches, but they’re no longer there. Now, a brief item on the weather page of the local paper lists which beaches the state environmental agency has deemed safe for swimming.
Most beach-going visitors are likely in the same situation as Raul Onetto, a 52-year-old bank executive from Uruguay recently soaking up the sun on Copacabana Beach.
When asked whether he knew that the bacterial levels sometimes exceeded the norms in other countries and could indicate problems, he expressed disbelief.
In Rio, the main tourist gateway to the country, a centuries-long sewage problem that was part of Brazil’s colonial legacy has spiked in recent decades in tandem with the rural exodus that saw the metropolitan area nearly double in size since 1970.
Even in the city’s wealthy areas, sewage treatment has lagged dramatically behind, with so-called “black tongues” of fetid, sewage-filled water common even on the tony Ipanema and Leblon Beaches. The lagoons in the fast-growing Barra da Tijuca region have been filled with so much sewage dumped by nearby glass-and-steel residential towers that vast islands of sludge emerge from the filthy waters during low tide. That lagoon system, which hugs the Olympic Park and Athletes’ Village, regularly sees massive pollution-related fish die-offs and emits an eye-watering sulfuric stench.
Promises to clean up Rio’s waterways stretch back decades, with a succession of governors setting dates for a cleanup and repeatedly pushing them back. In the city’s 2009 Olympic bid document, authorities pledged the games would “regenerate Rio’s magnificent waterways.” A promised billion-dollar investment in cleanup programs was meant to be among the games’ most important legacies.
Once more, the lofty promises have ended in failure.
Just over a month before the games, biologist Mario Moscatelli spent more than two hours flying over Rio in a helicopter, as he’s done on a monthly basis for the past 20 years.
Viewed from above, Rio’s sewage problem is as starkly visible as on the spreadsheets of the AP analysis: Rivers are tar-black; the lagoons near the Olympic Park bloom with fluorescent green algae that thrives amid sewage; fishermen’s wooden boats sink into thick sludge in the Guanabara Bay; surfers paddle amid a giant brown stain that contrasts with the azure of the surrounding waters.
“It’s been decades and I see no improvement,” laments Moscatelli, an activist who’s the most visible face of the fight to clean up Rio’s waterways. “The Guanabara Bay has been transformed into a latrine … and unfortunately Rio de Janeiro missed the opportunity, maybe the last big opportunity” to clean it up.
Expert’s warning for Rio visitors: ‘Don’t put your head under water’ - National | Globalnews.ca
By Jenny Barchfield
The Associated Press
RIO DE JANEIRO — Just days ahead of the Olympic Games the waterways of Rio de Janeiro are as filthy as ever, contaminated with raw human sewage teeming with dangerous viruses and bacteria, according to a 16-month-long study commissioned by The Associated Press.
Not only are some 1,400 athletes at risk of getting violently ill in water competitions, but the AP’s tests indicate that tourists also face potentially serious health risks on the golden beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana.
The AP’s survey of the aquatic Olympic and Paralympic venues has revealed consistent and dangerously high levels of viruses from the pollution, a major black eye on Rio’s Olympic project that has set off alarm bells among sailors, rowers and open-water swimmers.
The first results of the study published over a year ago showed viral levels at up to 1.7 million times what would be considered worrisome in the United States or Europe. At those concentrations, swimmers and athletes who ingest just three teaspoons of water are almost certain to be infected with viruses that can cause stomach and respiratory illnesses and more rarely heart and brain inflammation — although whether they actually fall ill depends on a series of factors including the strength of the individual’s immune system.
Since the AP released the initial results last July, athletes have been taking elaborate precautions to prevent illnesses that could potentially knock them out of the competition, including preventatively taking antibiotics, bleaching oars and donning plastic suits and gloves in a bid to limit contact with the water.
But antibiotics combat bacterial infections, not viruses. And the AP investigation found that infectious adenovirus readings — tested with cell cultures and verified with molecular biology protocols — turned up at nearly 90 percent of the test sites over 16 months of testing.
“That’s a very, very, very high percentage,” said Dr. Valerie Harwood, Chair of the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of South Florida. “Seeing that level of human pathogenic virus is pretty much unheard of in surface waters in the U.S. You would never, ever see these levels because we treat our waste water. You just would not see this.”
While athletes take precautions, what about the 300,000-500,000 foreigners expected to descend on Rio for the Olympics? Testing at several of the city’s world-famous beaches has shown that in addition to persistently high viral loads, the beaches often have levels of bacterial markers for sewage pollution that would be cause for concern abroad — and sometimes even exceed Rio state’s lax water safety standards.
READ MORE: Australian Olympic team robbed after fire in athletes’ village; fire alarms deactivated
In light of the AP’s findings, Harwood had one piece of advice for travelers to Rio: “Don’t put your head under water.”
Swimmers who cannot heed that advice stand to ingest water through their mouths and noses and therefore risk “getting violently ill,” she said.
Danger is lurking even in the sand. Samples from the beaches at Copacabana and Ipanema revealed high levels of viruses, which recent studies have suggested can pose a health risk — particularly to babies and small children.
“Both of them have pretty high levels of infectious adenovirus,” said Harwood, adding that the virus could be particularly hazardous to babies and toddlers who play in the sand.
Dr. Fernando Spilki, the virologist and coordinator of the molecular microbiology laboratory at Feevale University in southern Brazil whom AP commissioned to conduct the water tests, says the survey revealed no appreciable improvement in Rio’s blighted waters — despite cleanup promises stretching back decades.
“Unfortunately, what we’ve seen throughout all this time is that there is a variation in the levels of contamination, but it fluctuates much more as a result of climactic conditions than due to any measures that may have been taken to try to remove this contamination,” said Spilki, one of Brazil’s most respected virologists.
In this Sunday, July 3, 2016 photo, fishermen protest the pollution in the Guanabara bay, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rio state officials have acknowledged a real cleanup of Guanabara will take 20 years after organizers promised to do it for the Olympics, with the city still pouring at least half of its untreated sewage into its surrounding waters, including Guanabara. AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo
The most contaminated points are the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, where Olympic rowing will take place, and the Gloria Marina, the starting point for the sailing races. In March, 2015, sampling at the Lagoon revealed an astounding 1.73 billion adenoviruses per liter; this June, adenovirus readings were lower but still hair-raising at 248 million adenoviruses per liter. By comparison, in California, viral readings in the thousands per liter are enough to set off alarm bells.
Despite a project aimed at preventing raw sewage from flowing directly into the Gloria Marina through storm drains, the waters remain just as contaminated. The first sampling there, in March, 2015, showed over 26 million adenoviruses per liter; this June, over 37 million adenoviruses per liter were detected.
While local authorities including Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes have acknowledged the failure of the city’s water cleanup efforts, calling it a “lost chance” and a “shame,” Olympic officials continue to insist Rio’s waterways will be safe for athletes and visitors. The local organizing committee did not respond to multiple requests for comment, though it has previously said bacterial testing conducted by Rio state authorities has shown the aquatic venues to be within state guidelines.
The crux of the issue lies in the different types of testing used to determine the health and safety of recreational waters.
Bacterial tests measure levels of coliforms — different types of bacteria that tend not to cause illnesses themselves but are indicators of the presence of other, potentially harmful sewage-borne pathogens such as other bacteria, viruses and protozoa that can cause cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A and typhoid, among other diseases. Bacterial tests are the worldwide standard because they’re cheap and easy.
But there’s a growing consensus that they’re not ideal for all climates, as bacteria break down quickly in tropical weather and salty marine waters. In contrast, viruses have been shown to survive for weeks, months or even years — meaning that in tropical Rio low bacterial markers can be completely out of step with high virus levels.
That disparity was borne out in the AP’s testing. For instance, in June, 2016, the levels of fecal coliforms in water samples from Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches were extremely low, with just 31 and 85 fecal coliforms per 100 milliliters, respectively. But still, both had alarming readings for rotavirus, the main cause of gastroenteritis globally, with 7.22 million rotaviruses per liter detected in the waters of Copacabana, while 32.7 million rotaviruses per liter were found in the waters of Ipanema Beach.
The testing also revealed alarming spikes in fecal coliform levels — the very measure the state government uses to determine the safety of Rio’s recreational waters.
According to California’s bacterial tests standards, 400 fecal coliforms per 100 milliliters is the upper limit for a beach to be considered safe for swimming. AP’s tests revealed that Copacabana Beach, where the marathon and triathlon swimming are to be held and thousands of tourists are likely to take a dip, exceeded California’s limit five times over 13 months of testing.
Nearby Ipanema Beach, which is not playing host to any Olympic sports but is among the city’s most popular tourist spots, exceeded California standards five times over 12 months, once spiking to nearly 50 times what would be permitted in California. One of two testing spots along the beach in the Olympic hub neighborhood of Barra da Tijuca once hit more than 60 times that limit over the five months testing was conducted there.
“If we had exceedances that consistently were in the thousands like I’m seeing here, there would be a high likelihood that that beach would be put on our list of impaired water bodies,” said Rik Rasmussen, manager of surface water quality standards at California’s State Water Board. That would lead to water quality warnings posted on the beach, possible beach closure, and the development of a program to root out the source of the contamination, he said.
The beaches even violate Rio state’s own standards, which are much less stringent than those in California, many other U.S. states and beach-loving countries such as Australia and New Zealand. In Rio, beaches are considered unfit if bacterial tests turn up more than 2,500 fecal coliforms per 100 milliliters — more than six times higher than the upper limit in California. But Copacabana and Ipanema even violated those much higher limits on three separate occasions. The state environmental agency, INEA, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Rasmussen acknowledged that the higher thresholds might make sense in Rio, where sewage pollution has been a perennial problem, meaning that locals are regularly exposed to the pathogens lurking in raw waste from an early age and therefore build up immunities. But visitors are unlikely to have such immunities, putting them at risk for illnesses.
After the AP’s initial report on the findings of the study in July of last year, the Olympics’ adviser on health matters, the World Health Organization, said it would carry out its own viral testing in Rio’s Olympic waterways. The agency later flip-flopped, finally concluding that bacterial tests alone would suffice.
Athletes who have trained years for a chance at Olympic glory have resigned themselves to competing in the filth.
“There’s been a lot of talk about how dirty the water is and all the viruses,” said Finnish team sailor Noora Ruskola.
However, tourists are unlikely to realize the dangers: Water quality warning signs used to dot showcase beaches, but they’re no longer there. Now, a brief item on the weather page of the local paper lists which beaches the state environmental agency has deemed safe for swimming.
Most beach-going visitors are likely in the same situation as Raul Onetto, a 52-year-old bank executive from Uruguay recently soaking up the sun on Copacabana Beach.
When asked whether he knew that the bacterial levels sometimes exceeded the norms in other countries and could indicate problems, he expressed disbelief.
In Rio, the main tourist gateway to the country, a centuries-long sewage problem that was part of Brazil’s colonial legacy has spiked in recent decades in tandem with the rural exodus that saw the metropolitan area nearly double in size since 1970.
Even in the city’s wealthy areas, sewage treatment has lagged dramatically behind, with so-called “black tongues” of fetid, sewage-filled water common even on the tony Ipanema and Leblon Beaches. The lagoons in the fast-growing Barra da Tijuca region have been filled with so much sewage dumped by nearby glass-and-steel residential towers that vast islands of sludge emerge from the filthy waters during low tide. That lagoon system, which hugs the Olympic Park and Athletes’ Village, regularly sees massive pollution-related fish die-offs and emits an eye-watering sulfuric stench.
Promises to clean up Rio’s waterways stretch back decades, with a succession of governors setting dates for a cleanup and repeatedly pushing them back. In the city’s 2009 Olympic bid document, authorities pledged the games would “regenerate Rio’s magnificent waterways.” A promised billion-dollar investment in cleanup programs was meant to be among the games’ most important legacies.
Once more, the lofty promises have ended in failure.
Just over a month before the games, biologist Mario Moscatelli spent more than two hours flying over Rio in a helicopter, as he’s done on a monthly basis for the past 20 years.
Viewed from above, Rio’s sewage problem is as starkly visible as on the spreadsheets of the AP analysis: Rivers are tar-black; the lagoons near the Olympic Park bloom with fluorescent green algae that thrives amid sewage; fishermen’s wooden boats sink into thick sludge in the Guanabara Bay; surfers paddle amid a giant brown stain that contrasts with the azure of the surrounding waters.
“It’s been decades and I see no improvement,” laments Moscatelli, an activist who’s the most visible face of the fight to clean up Rio’s waterways. “The Guanabara Bay has been transformed into a latrine … and unfortunately Rio de Janeiro missed the opportunity, maybe the last big opportunity” to clean it up.
Expert’s warning for Rio visitors: ‘Don’t put your head under water’ - National | Globalnews.ca
^ I saw a tv news report about that. Awfully scary, too.
But there are a lot of businesses that stand to profit from the games so that is why they will not be cancelled or changed to a safer venue.
But there are a lot of businesses that stand to profit from the games so that is why they will not be cancelled or changed to a safer venue.
I watched a good one the other night, gopher - I think it was ABC sent a crew over there in July. Really good in depth coverage.
I would expect nothing else from IOC and it's henchmen, gopher. Corrupt bunch of *******s. I knew the games wouldn't be cancelled. The best I had hoped for was the cancellation of any sports taking place on or in the bay but that is not to be.
I pray that all the athletes from all the nations competing stay healthy and safe.