Serious question. does anyone from the IOC bother visiting these places before they’re chosen as Olympics host nations? And if yes, are any of them allergic to bribes? 2016 Rio Olympics: Raw sewage, trash will remain in sailing waters
No plan ‘B’ despite dirty conditions
Rio de Janeiro Olympic organizers said Tuesday they have “no plan B” for the 2016 games’ sailing competitions, despite a recent admission by the state’s top environment official that it will be impossible to meet pledges to clean up the raw sewage and trash-filled waters where the events are to be staged.
Mario Andrade, spokesman of the Rio 2016 organizing committee insisted the sailing competitions “will be held in the Guanabara Bay, under the best possible Olympic conditions.”
Guanabara Bay has become a hot-button issue ahead of the 2016 games. It stinks of raw sewage and is dotted with abandoned couches, refrigerators and animal carcasses as well as, at low tide, with islands of human waste. Athletes have described the bay as an “open sewer” and raised concerns about hepatitis and other illnesses, as well as the possibility of potentially catastrophic high-speed collisions with floating detritus.
Brazil’s most respected health research institute said late last year it had found a drug-resistant super-bacteria on a beach near where the sailing competitions will get underway.
When are we going to tear down the IOC and start over? Awarding the games to countries who’s best event is human rights violation, insane levels of sponsorship exclusivity at the expense of other businesses, violating people’s basic privacy rights in the name of security…and those are just a few of the surface problems. When is enough enough? I love the sports aspect of the Olympics, but literally everything else about them is making it harder and harder to keep saying that.