MOVE THE OLYMPICS! – AT 12:15 P.M. ET: The cry from health experts is getting louder. The Rio Olympics are set to start on August 5th, but Rio is far from ready. There is disease. There is hopeless pollution in waters that will be used by long-distance swimmers. The political situation is unstable, with the president of the country stands impeached. Hey, welcome to good sportsmanship.
The International Olympic Committee, not always held in the highest regard, says it is monitoring the situation. Not good enough. From Fox:
...while thousands of Americans have smartly reconsidered their vacation plans to Zika-afflicted regions, and the MLB wisely canceled a two-game series to be held in Zika-ravaged Puerto Rico, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), as recently as this week, has insisted that the 2016 Summer Games will go on as scheduled in the Zika hotbed of Rio.
Before we were even concerned about Zika affecting our athletes, alarms were sounded over the poor conditions and polluted waters of Brazil, and the country’s inability to address these issues. Plans were made for a fleet of boats to patrol the waters to keep trash and debris from floating into the paths of competing sailors, but that doesn’t speak to the untreated human waste that mars the country’s beautiful beaches. But Brazil has been plagued by economic woes, so who is to say that the funding for these contingency plans will actually be kept in place?
On Thursday, the country’s senators voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff over corruption and economic failures, adding to the instability just months before August’s Opening Ceremonies. I can’t say for sure, because I have not seen it firsthand, but I would be surprised if, at a time like this, the country’s health remains a top priority. There is no longer a leader to promise us our athletes and spectators will be protected, and there is no strong voice to ensure that the Zika protocols are being enforced. In February, Rio's organizing committee announced plans to protect our athletes during their stay by charging them up to $100 for a mosquito net to be affixed to their rooms.
In responding to a call by a Canadian health professor to postpone or move the games, International Olympic Committee (IOC) medical director Richard Budgett said that the committee would continue to monitor the situation closely, but the games are still scheduled to start August 5. In order to avoid a total cancellation, we shouldn’t be “monitoring the situation” in Brazil, we should be exploring our options in other countries to host the events elsewhere. It’s not the IOC’s fault completely, because none of the countries’ Olympic committees have called for a boycott of Rio either.
COMMENT: The Olympics are about money, always have been. The athletes are glorious, the Olympic movement cynical. We wish for the success of the Olympics, but it would be wise to prepare to move them.
May 14, 2016 |