I know many individuals have withdrawn for various reasons, but how bad does it have to be before entire teams throw in the towel? Now human body parts are washing up on the volleyball beach.
I would be crushed if I were an athlete who had trained all my life for these games and maybe at the peak of my athletic career to be told my team isn't going, but it would be better than being dead, injured or ill.
I said here the day Rio was selected that the idea of holding any international event, much less the Olympics, in Brazil scared the crap out of me. My worry then was primarily about security -- and it still is.
I would almost bet on some kind of terror attack. Poor people will do anything for money for their family and there are millions and millions of likely candidates in Brazil. Terrorists have had eight years to plan, infiltrate and sabotage venues. A little bribe goes a long way in Rio.
I thought in eight years Brazil would manage to clean up the old venues and build new ones. The new sites are still not finished, old sites are still crumbling without repair and the water pollution in boating venues seems to actually get worse every week.
Photos from the air of plumes of raw sewage flowing through the boating/rowing waterways are just disgusting.
About two blocks inland from the famous beaches of Impanema, Copacabana, etc., the city of eight million or so turns into one of the most dangerous urban jungles on the planet. You are not safe in broad daylight. And that's without the Olympics being in town.
Now throw in Zika, and the trip looks a lot more dangerous than it's worth. I wouldn't go if you gave me free airfare and a room on Ipanema Beach.
I would be crushed if I were an athlete who had trained all my life for these games and maybe at the peak of my athletic career to be told my team isn't going, but it would be better than being dead, injured or ill.
I said here the day Rio was selected that the idea of holding any international event, much less the Olympics, in Brazil scared the crap out of me. My worry then was primarily about security -- and it still is.
I would almost bet on some kind of terror attack. Poor people will do anything for money for their family and there are millions and millions of likely candidates in Brazil. Terrorists have had eight years to plan, infiltrate and sabotage venues. A little bribe goes a long way in Rio.
I thought in eight years Brazil would manage to clean up the old venues and build new ones. The new sites are still not finished, old sites are still crumbling without repair and the water pollution in boating venues seems to actually get worse every week.
Photos from the air of plumes of raw sewage flowing through the boating/rowing waterways are just disgusting.
About two blocks inland from the famous beaches of Impanema, Copacabana, etc., the city of eight million or so turns into one of the most dangerous urban jungles on the planet. You are not safe in broad daylight. And that's without the Olympics being in town.
Now throw in Zika, and the trip looks a lot more dangerous than it's worth. I wouldn't go if you gave me free airfare and a room on Ipanema Beach.
