I was looking forward to two weeks of no disasters (trump). It looks like my dream will not be realized.

oh wait, they have that too
http://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2016/07/31/olympic-athletes-warned-to-keep-mouths-closed-when-competing-in-rios-feces-infested-water/

sad

Source: Associated Press

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/01/olympic-sailing-ramp-in-rio-de-janeiro-collapses

http://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2016/07/31/olympic-athletes-warned-to-keep-mouths-closed-when-competing-in-rios-feces-infested-water/

Worst. Choice. Ever.

The IOC should award games to countries, like they (FIFA) do for the World Cup, instead of select cities, to ease the burden on getting such large events crammed into obviously incapable areas. Even the biggest and best cities in the world face crushing infrastructure stress and venue problems in the current system.

I just hope no one ends up dead because of faulty construction, rushed inspections or fraud. I love the Olympics and have since I was a very little boy in '76 and then as a child of the '80 Miracle on Ice. I'd hate to see the event collapse on itself now...

California, Florida or the Boston-Washington corridor would all be able to host the games without having to add much in the way of infrastructure/venues.

http://www.espn.co.uk/olympics/story/_/id/15357163/11-workers-killed-olympic-construction-brazil

Eleven people died while working on Olympic facilities or Games-related projects between January 2013 and March 2016, according to a report released Monday by Rio de Janeiro's Regional Labor and Employment Office.

The report, released by Elaine Castilho, the auditor for the Rio Olympic Games works, also notes that no workers died in the preparations for the 2012 Summer Games in London.

The Metro Line 4 work saw the highest number of fatalities with three. One worker was killed by a truck, another fell from a ladder onto the tracks and another suffered fatal injuries from being whipped by a compressed air hose.

The other fatal accidents took place at the Museum of Image and Sound, at the Museum of Tomorrow, during work to extend the Elevado do Joa (the highway linking Barra da Tijuca to the Zona Sul), and during work surrounding the Olympic Park, on the Supervia and on the Transolimpica.

I think they need to award Olympics based more on what exists on the ground at the time than on a bunch of promises. I realize every city can't be building an entire Olympic infrastructure BEFORE they get the game, but a few basics should be in order. Like clean water. That isn't usually an easy fix, so maybe Rio should have been told to clean up the water, then submit another bid. Hell, clean water benefits everyone there, even if the Olympics never come.

And, like much in sports, things are just getting too big and complicated for anyplace normal to be able to afford it. Which was always part of the appeal of the Olympics. They were often held in places you never heard of and you got to put a whole new place on your mental map. Sapporo? Never heard of it 'til I spent two weeks virtually there by watching the 1972 Olympics.

Their water's so polluted, the marathon swimmers have been advised keep their mouths shut.


rocktivity

You can actually see the feces in the water, no chance to start breaking down yet. Then there is all the floating trash as well.

Pres Obama lobbied to bring it to Chicago back in 09.

Pretty sad. Anti-America conservatives. I wonder how many of them are still glade it's not in Chicago?

I am a New Yorker who know lives in Boston. We lost the bid to London in 2012.


It turns out is was a good thing we didn't get it because the cost overruns in London were huge. Cities that host the Olympics are often left with decades of debt. We dodged a bullet.


Boston also made the right decision to cancel its bid. Polls showed that most residents were opposed, it was handled terribly. Marty Walsh then saw what the cost to the taxpayers would be and correctly said "no thank you."

Iirc absorbed the cost and disruption better than any other city. They had most facilities already built. UCLA acted as the athletes village, USC as the media center. The LA colesium handled the opening/closing ceremonies and the varoius existing arenas handled most sports.

One of the reasons why Los Angeles was picked to replace Boston as the American bid for the 2024 Olympics.

Taxpayer money was put into the organization, but it returned a profit and more than the taxpayers put in went to just youth programs.

Net plus. First time in 52 years summer games weren't a money hole. Seldom repeated.

The IOC used that threat against Athens.

I was going to write that. There is a good argument to oppose the Olympics in Chicago. But I remember conservatives opposed this just because the Black man was in favor of it.

I had a choice 4 years ago as to whether I would go to Rio for the World Cup or for the Olympics. I chose the World Cup and am glad I did because now there is Zika, still an issue with crime, and even during the World Cup there were several areas which were closed off by tape or barrier because of "safety issues". So I really pray that there is not some tragedy at a stadium due to rushed work and cutting corners to be prepared in time.

I went 4 months after the World Cup. It sounds like crime is up considerably with the recession that they started to experience in late 2014/early 2015.

collapsing dock is pretty much fucked up deathtrap material right there

…..have become totally corrupt in terms of choosing and constructing a venue. Oligarchs make millions/billions and leave empty useless structures that don't help and often hurt and displace local residents. The bidding for the country to hold this thing in is fraught with rumors of bribery.

A solution I think is to repatriate the summer Olympics permanently to Greece which has the historical claim on creating them. They should be held there every year, each year hosted by a different country who can put their own ethnic/patriotic stamp on the hosting. It would save billions in dollars in construction and give a much needed infusion into Greek economy, which would help the entire EU. Which would help the world economy.

Facilities and security could be improved every year instead of having to be rebuilt and abandoned every few years.

As it stands now, it's such a boondoggle and considering Rio's condition —the boondoggle has become dangerous and unhealthy.

Not sure what to do with the Winter Olympics—or what country it would make "sense" to pick as the permanent winter home. Oslo? Finland? Canada? Or an emerging economy that has guaranteed snow?

Maybe LA, London, something Asian, and just rotate the games.

Some place in Africa maybe too. Four venues for the four corners of the world or something like that.

Which one is more telling. The cartoon portrayal of the future or a picture of how it is now?

I can't imagine getting near it, much less swimming in it.

We will hear more. This is only the beginning.

A failed games in Rio could be the bottoming out that the games need to survive.
Bailing out failure never works.

He's got loads of articles and tweets about the Rio games and the World Cup in 2014.
The most recent:
https://www.thenation.com/article/the-last-dance-on-heading-to-olympic-rio/?nc=1

https://twitter.com/EdgeofSports/with_replies


He's also the author of Brazil's Dance With The Devil
https://www.amazon.com/Brazils-Dance-Devil-Olympics-Democracy/dp/1608463605/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1470099551&sr=1-6&keywords=dave+zirin

Still have no idea who decided to hand the bid to Rio. What a shame. The President and Mayor thought Chicago had the strongest presentation.