Plan B Forum

Australian athletes won't move into Olympic Village, say it's 'unlivable'
By Katie Dowd

Published 8:19 am, Sunday, July 24, 2016



Police officers have been welcoming travelers to the international airport in Rio with banners reading "Welcome to Hell" and other slogans. Heck of a greeting, right?The police are protesting delays in government salary payments, as well as violence that has taken the lives of over 50 police officers in 2016, police say.


The violence is no empty threat: On June 29, mutilated body parts washed up on Copacabana Beach near the Olympic beach volleyball venue. It is not known how the person died.


The good news is that money is likely coming to pay the police. The bad news is that's because Rio declared a state of emergency to free up federal funding so as to avoid "a total collapse in public security, health, education, transport and environmental management."


Shortly after an Olympic torch ceremony on June 20 in Manaus, a jaguar used as a mascot during the occasion got loose from its handlers. A soldier shot the jaguar dead, a metaphor for the run-up to the Rio Olympics if we've ever seen one."We guarantee that there will be no more such incidents at Rio 2016," the local organizing committee said.


The unsanitary waters off Rio are no surprise — it's been criticized for years. But what's in the water is so much worse than anyone thought. An AP investigation found that thousands of liters of raw, unfiltered human sewage pour into the ocean every second. And now, a new study revealed that drug-resistant "super bacteria" has been found in Guanabara Bay, where sailing events will take place. Photo: Silvia Izquierdo, Associated Press





Infrastructure is unsurprisingly poor at the Olympic Village too. Organizers initially planned on charging athletes to use air conditioning, something they've since backed off of.



Although they'll have air-conditioned comfort, they won't have televisions. Those are strictly bring-your-own. So hopefully the Olympians have a data plan and Netflix. Photo: Elise Amendola, Associated Press


More than 145 public health experts signed an open letter to the World Health Organization in May asking the UN to consider moving or postponing the Rio Olympics because of the threat of Zika virus. Many high-profile athletes, like golfer Rory McIlroy, have already pulled out of the Olympics due to Zika. Photo: Leo Correa, Associated Press




Activists have reported that at least 4,120 families lost their homes because of the Olympics. The report claims that thousands of families were evicted to make room for Olympic venues. Other activist groups say the Brazilian government is "cleansing" homeless children and adults in advance of massive tourist crowds.

After the first construction firm filed for bankruptcy, the Olympic velodrome venue remained unfinished ahead of a test event in March. Olympic organizers found a second company to finish construction, but the velodrome got perilously close to being unfinished at the start of the games.

Domestic ticket sales are also a disaster, albeit with less dire consequences than some other situations on this list. As of April, only half of Olympic tickets had been sold. Even worse, only 15-percent of Paralympic tickets were sold. The Brazilian government planned to give away free tickets to schoolchildren to boost crowds.


Police officers have been welcoming travelers to the international airport in Rio with banners reading "Welcome to Hell" and other slogans. Heck of a greeting, right?The police are protesting delays in government salary payments, as well as violence that has taken the lives of over 50 police officers in 2016, police say.

The violence is no empty threat: On June 29, mutilated body parts washed up on Copacabana Beach near the Olympic beach volleyball venue. It is not known how the person died.

The good news is that money is likely coming to pay the police. The bad news is that's because Rio declared a state of emergency to free up federal funding so as to avoid "a total collapse in public security, health, education, transport and environmental management."

Shortly after an Olympic torch ceremony on June 20 in Manaus, a jaguar used as a mascot during the occasion got loose from its handlers. A soldier shot the jaguar dead, a metaphor for the run-up to the Rio Olympics if we've ever seen one."We guarantee that there will be no more such incidents at Rio 2016," the local organizing committee said.

The unsanitary waters off Rio are no surprise — it's been criticized for years. But what's in the water is so much worse than anyone thought. An AP investigation found that thousands of liters of raw, unfiltered human sewage pour into the ocean every second. And now, a new study revealed that drug-resistant "super bacteria" has been found in Guanabara Bay, where sailing events will take place.

Infrastructure is unsurprisingly poor at the Olympic Village too. Organizers initially planned on charging athletes to use air conditioning, something they've since backed off of.

Although they'll have air-conditioned comfort, they won't have televisions. Those are strictly bring-your-own. So hopefully the Olympians have a data plan and Netflix.

More than 145 public health experts signed an open letter to the World Health Organization in May asking the UN to consider moving or postponing the Rio Olympics because of the threat of Zika virus. Many high-profile athletes, like golfer Rory McIlroy, have already pulled out of the Olympics due to Zika.

Oh, and there's this problem too. Rio's accredited anti-doping laboratory was shut down in June for "nonconformity" to international standards. The lab lost its accreditation in 2013 and the government contributed much of the $60 million needed to re-certify in advance of the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee is now looking at labs in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City for its Olympic blood test needs.

Activists have reported that at least 4,120 families lost their homes because of the Olympics. The report claims that thousands of families were evicted to make room for Olympic venues. Other activist groups say the Brazilian government is "cleansing" homeless children and adults in advance of massive tourist crowds.

After the first construction firm filed for bankruptcy, the Olympic velodrome venue remained unfinished ahead of a test event in March. Olympic organizers found a second company to finish construction, but the velodrome got perilously close to being unfinished at the start of the games.

Domestic ticket sales are also a disaster, albeit with less dire consequences than some other situations on this list. As of April, only half of Olympic tickets had been sold. Even worse, only 15-percent of Paralympic tickets were sold. The Brazilian government planned to give away free tickets to schoolchildren to boost crowds.

The beleaguered Rio Olympics took another hit Sunday when the Australian Olympic Committee announced its athletes would not be moving into the Olympic Village due to 'unlivable' conditions.

"From what we've seen," said a spokesman from the AOC, "you wouldn't put people in there yet."

Reps from the AOC have been putting the rooms through "stress tests" to see if the newly built facilities could handle an influx of tenants. It's clear they couldn't.

"We decided to do a "stress test" where taps and toilets were simultaneously turned on in apartments on several floors to see if the system could cope once the athletes are in-house,"AOC chef de mission Kitty Chiller told the Sydney Morning Herald. "The system failed. Water came down walls, there was a strong smell of gas in some apartments and there was "shorting" in the electrical wiring. "


In addition, blocked toilets, leaking pipes (some in areas with electrical wiring), a lack of light fixtures in stairwells and "dirty floors in need of a massive clean" have been identified as problems.

It's the latest in a long string of issues in Rio. The Olympic Village plans caused a stir months ago when organizers announced athletes would have to pay for air conditioning. Due to the blowback, AC was added to all rooms.

The venues have been similarly plagued. Scientists found the waters where sailors will be competing are filled with human sewage, and a dismembered body washed up on the popular beach that will soon host beach volleyball events.

The Olympics start in 12 days.

Police officers have been welcoming travelers to the international airport in Rio with banners reading "Welcome to Hell"

A soldier shot the jaguar dead, a metaphor for the run-up to the Rio Olympics if we've ever seen one.  "We guarantee that there will be no more such incidents at Rio 2016," the local organizing committee said.

Rio's waters so full of human sewage, Olympic swimmers told to keep their mouths closed


By Katie Dowd

Updated 11:44 am, Wednesday, July 27, 2016


Police officers have been welcoming travelers to the international airport in Rio with banners reading "Welcome to Hell" and other slogans. Heck of a greeting, right?The police are protesting delays in government salary payments, as well as violence that has taken the lives of over 50 police officers in 2016, police say.

The violence is no empty threat: On June 29, mutilated body parts washed up on Copacabana Beach near the Olympic beach volleyball venue. It is not known how the person died.

The good news is that money is likely coming to pay the police. The bad news is that's because Rio declared a state of emergency to free up federal funding so as to avoid "a total collapse in public security, health, education, transport and environmental management."

Shortly after an Olympic torch ceremony on June 20 in Manaus, a jaguar used as a mascot during the occasion got loose from its handlers. A soldier shot the jaguar dead, a metaphor for the run-up to the Rio Olympics if we've ever seen one."We guarantee that there will be no more such incidents at Rio 2016," the local organizing committee said.

The unsanitary waters off Rio are no surprise — it's been criticized for years. But what's in the water is so much worse than anyone thought. An AP investigation found that thousands of liters of raw, unfiltered human sewage pour into the ocean every second. And now, a new study revealed that drug-resistant "super bacteria" has been found in Guanabara Bay, where sailing events will take place.

Although they'll have air-conditioned comfort, they won't have televisions. Those are strictly bring-your-own. So hopefully the Olympians have a data plan and Netflix.

More than 145 public health experts signed an open letter to the World Health Organization in May asking the UN to consider moving or postponing the Rio Olympics because of the threat of Zika virus. Many high-profile athletes, like golfer Rory McIlroy, have already pulled out of the Olympics due to Zika.

Activists have reported that at least 4,120 families lost their homes because of the Olympics. The report claims that thousands of families were evicted to make room for Olympic venues. Other activist groups say the Brazilian government is "cleansing" homeless children and adults in advance of massive tourist crowds.

After the first construction firm filed for bankruptcy, the Olympic velodrome venue remained unfinished ahead of a test event in March. Olympic organizers found a second company to finish construction, but the velodrome got perilously close to being unfinished at the start of the games.

Domestic ticket sales are also a disaster, albeit with less dire consequences than some other situations on this list. As of April, only half of Olympic tickets had been sold. Even worse, only 15-percent of Paralympic tickets were sold. The Brazilian government planned to give away free tickets to schoolchildren to boost crowds.

The unsanitary waters off Rio are no surprise — it's been criticized for years. But what's in the water is so much worse than anyone thought. An AP investigation found that thousands of liters of raw, unfiltered human sewage pour into the ocean every second.
And now, a new study revealed that drug-resistant "super bacteria" has been found in Guanabara Bay, where sailing events will take place.

Germaphobes may want to stop reading right now.

Despite years of cleanup attempts, health experts say the waters off Rio are so disgusting, Olympic marathon swimmers, sailors and windsurfers will "literally be swimming in human crap."

A battery of tests by government and independent scientists recently revealed that seven years of cleanup attempts have done little to disinfect the petri dish of Guanabara Bay. The New York Times reports that viruses that cause diarrhea are in the waters, as well as a "superbacteria that can be fatal to people with weakened immune systems."

As a result, scientists have advised Olympians interacting with the bay to keep their mouths closed to avoid ingesting the water.

Scientists say that feces from a nearby hospital and municipal sewage plant pours into the water untreated. And if that doesn't make your lunch rise in your throat, don't forget that dead bodies — animal and human — are found floating in the bay with upsetting regularity.

"It's disgusting," Nigel Cochrane, a coach for the Spanish women's sailing team, told the Times. "We're very concerned."

Last year, an AP investigation discovered the levels of disease-causing viruses were, in some places, 1.7 million times higher than what are considered dangerous in Southern California beaches. During a surfing competition held in Rio last year, organizers say that a quarter of the participants suffered from nausea, diarrhea or vomiting after entering the water.

A German Paralympic sailor also said a teammate had a "severe skin infection" after contact with the water in training.

This, of course, is a ongoing human health crisis for the hundreds of thousands of Brazilians who have long lived with Rio's terrible sanitation standards. A public health expert told the AP that Rio's sewage system is "comparable with London or Paris................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. in the 14th or 15th century."

Chinese athlete Shi Dongpeng fell victim to a gastrointestinal grift earlier this week shortly after arriving in Rio de Janeiro to compete in the 110-meter hurdles event, according to Inside the Games:


According to the International Sport Press Association (AIPS), the man then vomited over Shi, who went to clean himself up while the cameraman chased the man out of the hotel.

When they returned, all of the camerman’s equipment had been stolen, as well as baggage belonging to both men.

Surveillance footage showed that they had been the victims of a cleverly organised professional job in which they had been distracted by the apparent drunk.

When the two tried to report the theft to Rio police, they found a two-hour wait due a long line of other people reporting having been mugged.

RIO DE JANEIRO — Ryan Lochte and three other U.S. swimmers were held up at gunpoint early Sunday morning.


Reached by USA TODAY Sports on Sunday morning, his mother Ileana Lochte said that her son was robbed but is unharmed.

“I think they’re all shaken up. There were a few of them,” Ileana Lochte said. “No, they were just, they just took their wallets and basically that was it.”

Patrick Sandusky, spokesman for the U.S. Olympic Committee, released a statement with details of the incident, although an International Olympic Committee spokesman initially called reports of the incident "absolutely not true."

“According to four members of the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team (Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger, Jimmy Feigen and Ryan Lochte), they left France House early Sunday morning in a taxi headed for the Olympic Village," Sandusky said in a statement released Sunday afternoon. "Their taxi was stopped by individuals posing as armed police officers who demanded the athletes’ money and other personal belongings. All four athletes are safe and cooperating with authorities.”

Ileana Lochte said her son had his wallet taken but that was it. He notified her via text message afterward.

Lochte, a 12-time Olympic medalist, won one gold medal here in Rio as part of the 4x200 freestyle relay. He has been done competing in the Games since Thursday, and the Olympic swimming competition ended Saturday night