RIO 2016: Empty seats, green pools, chaotic transport and disgusting accommodation [tr]

Daily Mail ^ | 8/24/16 | Hardman

[pabianice]

Major problems swept under the carpet as Rio successes are praised

Poverty and crime continues in the Brazilian capital after athletes leave

'Pot is empty' just two weeks before Paralympics due to begin

Standing in a rainy, unfilled stadium on Sunday night, bringing the curtain down on Rio 2016, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, invited us all to admire the emperor’s new clothes.

‘These were marvellous Olympic Games in THE marvellous city!’ the German fencer-turned-lawyer proclaimed.

As he and the rest of the IOC head for home this week, it’s easy to picture them sinking into their first-class seats, stiff drink in hand, and emitting a huge sigh of relief: ‘Phewee! We just about got away with that . . .’

...Robert Hardman says at some events, you could measure the vacant plastic by the acre, as stadiums were left partly empty

Robert Hardman says at some events, you could measure the vacant plastic by the acre, as stadiums were left partly empty

Back in Rio de Janeiro, of course, nothing changes. The shootings continue. The poverty continues. The 30 per cent of the population with no sanitation now have even less chance of a flushing lavatory because the city has blown the budget on crummy sporting facilities.

But that is of little concern to the IOC, the hosts and the broadcasters — keen to justify their vast outlay — who have all been telling us that we have witnessed a wonderful Games. For the BBC has certainly been taking a triumphalist line as it wraps up the events of the past fortnight.

[Paulie]

Yes, yes...but there was plenty of condoms delivered to the participants and plenty of sex!

Let’s focus on what’s important...

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Every kid got a medal or two for participating...or not...so, It’s All Good! ;)

[Vigilanteman]

FWIW, my daughter attended several Olympic events in Beijing, 2008. There were few empty seats. The hosts were mostly embarrassed by the lack of non-Chinese faces in the crowd.

To combat the problem, the officials went to the few places in the area where there were a lot of foreigners (a college in my daughter's case) and gave away as many free tickets as they possibly could.

Initially, she said it was flattering, but after awhile she had to politely refuse them or she wouldn't have had time for her necessary classwork and studies.

The Chinese were also smart enough to build facilities which could be used after the games were over.

[colorado tanker]

The games have reached a ridiculous scale, even for rich countries. For a country like Brazil to throw all that money away is criminal. They need to dial it back, but the IOC, awash in $$, will never do it.

[Billthedrill]

Even so, it is the IOC which is ultimately responsible for turning the modern Olympics into this ruinous behemoth. Given all that has happened in Rio, you might imagine that the time has come to start trimming this circus back to more manageable dimensions.

Good grief. It isn't retrievable under current management. Fire the EOC, send the fat cats home, and

(1) Kick the Muslim invaders out of the 2004 facilities in Greece.

(2) Renovate those facilities with EU money. Because Greece doesn't have any.

(3) Run the Olympics there every four years. Greek tourism up. Facilities costing, manageable.

(4) Do the same with the Winter Olympics so we won't be watching skiers trying to run a downhill slalom over manufactured raspberry slushies. Maybe Lillehammer might be nice. Maybe Oslo. Not Dubai.

But first things first. Fire the EOC. It's just another sinecure for elite, wealthy globalist fatcats with more interest in their own pockets than in the welfare of the host nation.

[nascarnation]

Like most statist enterprises, I’m sure the Olympics is very profitable for crony capitalists.

[colorado tanker]

I actually read an interview with an IOC board member where he openly said the US shouldn’t count on anything from the selection committee because we weren’t in their favor. It was a not very subtle reference to the prominence of Americans in shutting down the doping and prosecuting corrupt FIFA figures. They’re worried we are interfering with their payola.

[Freedom56v2]

I wondered if the condescending arrogance of the Obamas might have been a contributing factor...

[NEMDF]

I guess I have never had an expectation that hosting the Olympics would miraculously cure every flaw in the host city/country. We probably paid more attention to the Olympics this summer, than we have for many years, and felt that they went off much more smoothly than expected.

If people thought hosting the Olympics was going to turn Rio or Brazil into something different, culturally, they probably had unrealistic expectations.

[riri]

25% of Rio lives in a favela.

Ofcourse, they were trying to paint favela living as something normal and desirable during the olympics.

"We are now flying over Rios largest favela, Rocinha--home of a vibrant and diverse population"..."

We get closer to Hunger Games every day.

[colorado tanker]

I imagine it was noted by many that The One was not willing to interrupt his vacation to attend the Olympics.

[onedoug]

Unwatched.

[Moltke]

Every kid got a medal or two for participating...or not...so, It’s All Good! ;)

Per the official Rio 2016 website there were over 2,100(!) medals to be had. So yes, most kids had a good chance of getting one. All is good! :-)

[Fraxinus]

I always thought that the US would not get the Olympics for two reasons besides actually enforcing anti-doping regs. The refusal of state and local governments to give the impression they would build the Olympic stadium out of bricks of currency if necessary (sharply limited payola for IOC officials). The geographic spread of the games, as the host city would only host a minority of the events. If Boston had won its bid I believe there would have been events in ME, NH, RI and VT.

[nascarnation]

The good news is that Chicago got turned down for the 2016 Olympics.
Could you imagine Baraq, Mooch, Sharia, and Malaria on the broadcast 24/7 for two weeks?

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“We get closer to Hunger Games every day.”

Yikes! Haven’t thought about that. Yet. Gee, THANKS, LOL!

[AlaskaErik]

Poverty and crime continues in the Brazilian capital after athletes leave

I must have missed the story about the capital being moved to Rio.

[DoughtyOne]

Okay look, I enjoyed this Olympics as much as I did the last two.  I do get somewhat tired of all the carping.

I didn't watch, but you know what, I found that preferable and quite enjoyable.


Ramirez's latest political cartoon LARGE VERSION 08/21/2016: LINK  LINK to regular sized version of Ramirez's latest, and an archive of his political cartoons.
In this political cartoon, Ramirez presents, "Obama's Disaster"


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[Freedom56v2]

Good point!