The Official 2016 Olympics thread: Medals Are For the Elite but Zika is For Everybody

[MikelArteta]

Luxury cruise line to house U.S. Olympic basketball teams in Rio harbour

Rio de Janeiro's renovated port area should be hopping — or "hooping" — during the Olympics.

The United States men's and women's basketball teams will be staying on a cruise ship in the port. A second and much larger liner will be anchored alongside during the games and provide lodging for what officials term the "Olympic Family."

The NBA is also expected to set up a "hospitality house" in the port area.

"We'll have two cruise ships in the port," Nilo Sergio Felix, secretary of the Rio de Janeiro state tourism office, told The Associated Press. "There will be one with the basketball players and the other for Olympic people. These are the only two we expect."

The ship housing the basketball stars will be the relatively small "Silver Cloud" operated by Silversea Cruises, which bills itself as the "Leader in Luxury Cruising."

The company lists the ship's capacity at 296 with a tonnage at 16,800. Its last cruise is in the Mediterranean in June before heading for the Olympics.

Craig Miller, a spokesman for USA Basketball, the national governing body, declined to confirm where the two basketball teams would stay. He listed security as a reason for not disclosing the location, but said the men's team stopped staying in the Olympic Village beginning with the 1992 Olympics — the first appearance of "The Dream Team."

"We don't stay in the village because we don't feel it's the best way to prepare for competition," Miller told the AP. "The players have a long professional season and they want to spend as much time as possible with family and friends."

Miller said it was always difficult during the Olympics to find lodging for the large American basketball delegation. The United States teams stayed in hotels in London and Beijing, and on a cruise ship in Athens in 2004 — the Queen Mary 2.

He said USA Basketball picks up the costs of the lodging, an expense that would be covered primarily by games organizers if players stayed in the village.

Miller said tall players have the same problem no matter where they stay.

"You face the issue in a hotel, or you would face it in a village; the beds aren't made for 7-foot (2.13-meter) players," he said. "These guys live on the road and they figure out ways to sleep. Sometimes I've seen them put their luggage at the end of the bed so their feet can rest there."

Rio's new port area, centred on Praca Maua, is the most visible sign of change that Olympic organizers promised to bring to Rio. The centerpiece at the port is the Museum of Tomorrow, a science museum designed by the futuristic architect Santiago Calatrava.

Guanabara Bay heavily polluted
The port is situated on heavily polluted Guanabara Bay, which will host Olympic sailing. Sadly, it's a reminder of a broken promise by organizers to cleanse the fetid waters.

"From a legacy perspective, I think this was a missed opportunity to reach the goal that was supposed to be achieved," Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes said Thursday, referring to Olympic bid pledges to drastically cut the amount of raw sewage flowing into the bay.

The port area is remote from the basketball venues at the Olympic Park in Barra da Tijuca and the northern cluster in Deodoro, where some women's games will be played. Travel could take more than an hour depending on traffic, a problem that should be improved when the Olympic lanes — set aside only for Olympic traffic — start operating in late July.

The NBA is also expected to run a hospitality venue in the port, probably in one of the abandoned warehouses that have been used for exhibitions by companies like Nike.

An NBA spokeswoman declined to specify the plans, saying they would be released shortly.

The "Olympic Family" will stay on the cruise ship "Getaway" operated by Norwegian Cruise Lines. The company listed the capacity at 4,000 guests and tonnage of 145,655. It's one of the world's largest cruise ships.

Rio organizers confirmed the ship's presence. They said 90 per cent of the ship would be reserved for the "Olympic Family," a term that takes in sponsors, national Olympic committees, sports federations and other guests of the Switzerland-based International Olympic Committee.

Rio officials said the remaining 10 per cent of the cabins would be sold in tour packages by the Brazilian operator Tam Viagens.

A company spokeswoman for Norwegian Cruise Lines declined to give information, saying it was bound by contract not to disclose details.

 

[MikelArteta]

With the Rio Olympics looming, Brazilians are in no mood to celebrate
STEPHANIE NOLEN

RIO DE JANEIRO — The Globe and Mail

Last updated Tuesday, Apr. 26, 2016 8:10PM EDT

A woman holds a sign that reads ‘Bye Dilma’ next to a man holding a puppet of Brazil’s former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. (AndreMood

Brazil has never been much of an Olympic power – there is really only room for soccer in this country’s sporting heart – but when Rio won the Games seven years ago, there was anticipation that, at least, this would be an opportunity for a rising superpower to show off. Flash forward to 100 days before the Olympics: In the midst of a massive political crisis, a collapsing economy and a public-health emergency, Brazilians aren’t in much of a mood for a party. In fact, there is almost no media coverage of the impending Games here and Brazilians can rarely be heard discussing them. Rio 2016 officials say 62 per cent of 5.8 million tickets offered for sale so far have been purchased. Brazilians have other things on their minds: Unemployment is more than 10 per cent, and so is inflation; the country’s international reputation is in tatters. “Forget people who live in the Amazon or Bahia or Sao Paulo – I live right here in Rio and even to me it feels so surreal that we’re going to receive the Olympics in a few weeks. I know they’re coming, but it seems so very far away from my daily life,” said Mauricio Santoro, a political scientist with the State University of Rio de Janeiro. And the Games, unlike the World Cup, are seen as an event for outsiders, he added. “People in Rio really love a good party, and I believe that the moment that the Games start, foreign tourists will be well received. But it will be very ephemeral.”

Political crisis

Brazil’s Senate is considering an impeachment case against President Dilma Rousseff, and many analysts are predicting she could be removed from her job as soon as the middle of May. If that’s the case, then it may be Vice-President Michel Temer who oversees the opening ceremonies in August. But there’s an impeachment case against Mr. Temer, too, as well as corruption allegations, and it’s not clear how long his new regime would last. Third in line to run the country is Eduardo Cunha, speaker of the lower house of Congress, but he has been indicted on corruption charges. Olympic preparations have progressed largely insulated from the drama in Brasilia, but the political upheaval could have an impact. The machinery of government is frozen at present. The Sports Ministry is among five without a minister in charge; Tourism got a new minister just a few days ago. If Mr. Temer takes over and appoints a new government, the people in charge of critical files during the Olympics will have been in their jobs for only days or weeks, Prof. Santoro noted.

The economy

Brazil’s economy is in its worst recession since the 1930s, and the Olympic host city is particularly hard hit, since much of the Rio state budget relied on offshore oil sales; royalties have plummeted. Spending on virtually everything has been slashed, and the state is weeks behind in payment of civil-servant salaries and pensions and other benefits. Teachers have been on strike since March 2. “We ask people who are coming to Rio please not to get sick,” Jorge Darze, the president of the doctors’ union in Rio, told the newspaper Estadao after the governor declared a state of emergency in the health department. City residents’ enthusiasm for the games was not boosted by the fact that the state government recently asked the federal one for an emergency loan of $280-million (U.S.) to finish the Olympic subway line. Before the World Cup, angry workers in several key sectors – such as police and rubbish collectors – seized the opportunity to strike, or threaten to. With 33 different sectors on strike here in the past month alone, there is serious risk of labour disruption around the Games.

Security

Among the budgets cut: $550-million (U.S.) was chopped from the state security budget last month. The security plan for the Games involves 38,000 military personnel and 47,000 police and other state security personnel, more than double the number deployed for the London Games. The state security secretary said plans for the Games would not be affected by the cuts, but it’s not clear, actually, that the state can afford to pay what will effectively be a massive overtime bill to officers who work the event. It can compel them to work anyway – just, not happily. And they’re needed: After years of improving public security in Rio, the situation has been deteriorating sharply in recent months. There are four murders a day in the city. A man was shot dead a week ago at 9 a.m. in an apparent hit related to criminal activity across the street from Rio’s fanciest hotel, just blocks from the Copacabana Olympic venue. There were gunshots exchanged in at least seven different areas of the city in the past week. Pedro Heitor Barros Geraldo, an expert on public security with Fluminense Federal University in Rio, said there is no question the reduced spending is affecting what crimes are getting investigated and how well, and what equipment police have, but he said that the Olympics will be insulated. “The trademark of policing in Rio is inequality,” he said, referring to the sharp difference between how wealthy neighbourhoods and favelas are policed. “And I predict that is what you will see at the games, too: Tourists, athletes, visiting government will get well treated – Brazilian citizens won’t.” Police will boost their presence and control movement so intently that Olympics-related areas will likely be safe for the duration of the Games, he predicted. There are wild card factors, however: A known Islamic State member has tweeted that the group plans to target the Olympics; Brazilian police have no experience in counterterrorism.

Venues

Organizers say the venues are 98-per-cent complete. The velodrome, equestrian centre and tennis centre are all behind schedule, but officials say there is no question they will be ready for the Games. Test events haven’t gone perfectly – most critically, the gymnastics venues lost their electricity, and the scoring system didn’t work during a recent test. But again, organizers say all this can be fixed (and that’s why they hold tests). But tragic events in Rio last week have raised new questions about the safety of the venues: A public bike path along the sea, opened just 95 days ago, snapped under pressure from a wave and a portion of it plunged into the ocean, sending two people to their deaths. The construction firm that built the path had contracts to monitor building works for seven different Olympic-related projects. There are also mounting questions about how Olympics-related construction may be tied in to the giant corruption scandal known as Lava Jato, which is toppling Ms. Rousseff’s government. Infrastructure giant Odebrecht, whose CEO has been sentenced to more than 19 years in jail for money laundering and corruption, had contracts on two key projects, the subway and the revitalization of the old Rio port.

Transportation

A key part of Rio’s plan was a new public transportation system to get visitors to the games and to be a legacy for city residents who battle some of the world’s worst traffic. But neither a bus rapid transit system nor the crucial metro line are finished. Signposts around Rio that were optimistically erected to point the way to metro stations have now been stickered over with “coming in 2018.” The key part of the metro was an extension linking Copacabana and Ipanema with the western suburb of Barra da Tijuca, site of the Olympic Park. Without the metro, it’s a two-hour trip on a normal traffic day. Games organizers say the line will be finished days before the event begins – but there are rumours from the city planning office that the only new station that will open is the one at the park, and also that the city is testing an alternate transport plan using buses, in case the metro isn’t done.

Olympics fever?

Rio is an epicentre for Brazil’s Zika outbreak. The virus, once thought harmless, has been confirmed as the cause of catastrophic fetal brain injuries, with more than 5,000 confirmed or suspected cases diagnosed so far. Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes, seeking to assuage fears about Zika, not long ago remarked that dengue fever is a much bigger problem. Bleak, but true: There were nearly 19,000 cases of dengue – which can be fatal – in the city last year, and rates in the first three months of this year are six times higher than the same period in 2015. The mayor also likes to say that Zika won’t be a big worry because August – the Brazilian winter – is cool and dry, bad weather for mosquitoes. The area around the Olympic park has recorded some of Rio’s highest rates of dengue – likely because of the plethora of construction work that creates many pools of stagnant water, and because it’s swampy ground to begin with. City officials say they have taken extra steps to control water pooling near the venues. And air conditioning was installed in the athletes’ village to lower the risk that they might have windows open. Zika isn’t just a risk for those who come to the Olympics: This strain has proven to be sexually transmissible, something the virus was never known to be before it hit Brazil – and Canada has confirmed its first case in someone infected by a person who travelled to a Zika-infected area.

Water

The Olympics legacy that Rio residents were most anticipating was the clean-up of the city’s postcard-pretty, hideously polluted Guanabara Bay and the surrounding white sand beaches. The bay will host sailing, rowing and canoeing events, while competitors in the triathlon will swim off Copacabana. Rio’s bid to host promised the water would get cleaned up; it didn’t happen. “Guanabara Bay is polluted and it’s not going to be unpolluted by August,” said Carla Ramoa Chaves, a geographer with an expertise in Rio’s water issues. Why not? The short explanation is that it’s a really difficult problem to fix. Some 55 rivers drain down into the bay, and a “large majority” of these receive sewage as if they were part of a sanitation system, Ms. Chaves said. Only about 60 per cent of city households are attached to an actual sewage system and 14,000 industries surround the bay and dump a huge amount of untreated effluent. The clean-up plans got mired in bureaucracy, and the financial and economic crises (the agency that is supposed to monitor industrial pollution has had its inspector roster slashed, for example). The only thing that has actually changed, she says, is that the city deployed new boats to putter back and forth across the water picking up trash (and the occasional corpse). Ongoing tests by the Associated Press have found levels of bacteria and viruses so high that three teaspoons of water would theoretically be enough to sicken an athlete. Most, however, seem prepared to power through, and pay the price of a potential few days of illness after training for years to compete. “There’s no way to know the real health risk,” Ms. Chaves said.

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[jaguar paw]

 

[malbaker86]

*in*

 

[MikelArteta]

Olympic trials start July 1

 

[Grifter]

I'll be watching the diving.

 

[Grifter]

 

[MikelArteta]

Taxis taking you to a favela

 

[FaTaL]

I will be surprised if there isn't a terrorist attack, seems like chaos down there

 

[Miggs]

and ISIS making threats about targeting the games on top of it...

 

[PortCityProphet]

Just like Brazil and their famous trannies, from far away this olympics looked like it was going to be the greatest but the closer you get the more shady and questionable it becomes

 

[DarrynCobretti]

Killa Ky still talking that shyt and knows if any of them 3 dubs still feeling a type of way or froggy then they can leap out during an iso in practice and he gon give em buckets to let em know ain't shyt sweet & he still bout that murder game.

 

[pickles]

Mannnnn these games are going to be a disaster.

 

[MikelArteta]

Gatlin ran a 9.8

 

[OGmittee]

Came in here to comment on some of the women doing track and field at the US trials


Shoulda known you pervs were already posting pics of random ass athletes lol