3 reasons why the Olympics may not happen in Rio

After the European Football Championship, the Summer Olympic, the most important and exciting sport event of the whole world is ready to come.

Well, it is planned to come, but not ready yet.

On 2nd October 2009 Rio de Janeiro beat Madrid, Chicago and Tokyo and was announced to be the host of the 2016 Summer Olympics. Since then, it is decided that this major international multi-sport event in the tradition of the Olympic Games will take place in Brazil, from 5th to 21st August 2016. 

However, despite there is less than a month, the 2016 Rio Olympics is not ready to welcome its guests. The Rio Olympics is facing five main problems, which also concerned the International Olympics Committee (IOC), as well as the sports fans.

Economic Crisis

Brazil faces its worst economic recession since the 1990s. It rises questions whether the country is adequately prepared for the Games against such a volatile political and economic backdrop.

Because of the financial crisis, the Olympic Organizing Committee (OOC) has to cut down the budget. The OOC came out with several plans, such as reducing the budget of volunteers - all the volunteers will not be provided with accommodation and allowance. There will be no television in athletes’ room - if they want to watch the games, they have to go to a public room. They will even reduce the amount of buses to the Olympic venues. So if you plan going to watch the Olympic games from the scene, please remember to download Google Maps which will help you getting there.

The state government of Rio announced that they are in financial emergency now, which is the first time in Brazil’s history. Brazil has to lend them 850 million dollar in order to help them getting through it.

Security Concerns

Due to the fact of high unemployment rate, lots of people lost their jobs and started commiting crimes. Despite promises for increasing security, there are still many security concerns in Rio, with 2,036 killings since January till April 2016. The murder cases increased 11% while robbery increased 24% compared with the first four months of the last year.

Moreover, Brasil is not facing violation just from domestic, but also from terrorism abroad. After the last terroristic incident in France, the ISIS has announced that Brazil will be the next target.

Zika Virus

An ongoing outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus in Brazil has rose fears regarding its potential impact on athletes and visitors. Organizers have to arrange daily inspections of the Olympic venues to prevent mosquitoes and viruses.

Dr. Amir Attaran from the University of Ottawa declared in “Harvard Public Health Review” that it is irresponsible to held the Olympics in Brazil now, and it will lead to a global disaster because of the Zika virus. In May 2016, 150 doctors and scientists from all over the world signed a public letter to World Health Organization asking to discuss the risk of Rio Olympics in public, but it was turned down.

Despite these three main problems, there are still other problems that cannot be ignored such as serious water pollution in the Guanabara Bay. It’s waters will be used for sailing and windsurfing competitions. Also, the subway to the Olympic venues will be finished only 4 days before the opening ceremony.

However, there are also things people are looking forward to. In Rio 2016, the Rugby sevens and Golf will become the new items of Olympics, which is the first time for Golf. 186 National Olympic Committees have qualified at least one athlete. A team of Refugee Olympic Athletes will also participate.

South America is always the symbol of speed and surprise. Despite that people are not so confident with this year Olympics, let us wait and see what will happen in breathtaking Rio 2016.

Jenny Shi

Photo by Klaus with K.