Coming soon the Olympics - Don't go in the Water - Will it be Ready

Pollution floats in Guanabara Bay,
site of sailing events for the Rio.

The Olympics start tomorrow with the football. The opening ceremony is late Friday night, early Saturday morning. Will Rio be ready for the greatest sporting event in the world? Watching and listening to reports it will be touch and go with compromises all over place isn’t the best advert for the first Olympics in South America.

Half a million people are expected over the next three weeks to visit the Olympics but a financial downturn, a mosquito-borne virus, a high crime rate and delays in infrastructure have marred the build up to the Games. One of the biggest compromises is in the water quality with a dead body found floating on the sailing course, the other day, and raw sewage being pumped into the venue. Sailors, rowers, and open-water swimmers competing at the Olympics and Paralympics have been advised to keep their mouths shut and yesterday reports that swimmers should keep their heads above the water.

Other problems the construction of the Olympic park was delayed, the athletes’ village has barely been completed, while on Saturday parts of the main ramp to the sailing venue collapsed in strong winds. A new metro system will also not open fully until Thursday – and only Olympic ticket holders will be able to ride it, with locals barred.

Some athletes have to live in ‘unfurnished’ apartments with and recently, the Australian team had to be evacuated from their building at the Olympic Village because of a fire in the basement. While they were outside waiting for the all clear, items were stolen from their rooms.

Most Olympic host cities have issues but Rio might just have taken the gold medal in terms of troubled build ups. They were handed the games in Copenhagen, Denmark, October 2009 but instead of getting the work underway they sat back and came up with a schedule that looks to have failed.

The building infrastructure for the major sporting events are often a money loser with massive stadiums mothballed or abandoned after the event ends.