The upcoming 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is coming with a lot of controversy. Scare of the spread of the Zika virus, damage of Brazil's economy, and protests from people and construction workers, are all discouraging to hear about the Olympic Games.
As the Games generally bring a lot of tourism and revenue to nation that holds it, work is being done to hide what Rio de Janeiro is really like. As the tourists come into the airports and take their short journey to the beautiful beaches, stadiums and hotels where they will be staying, they have to take a trip through the miles of slums that really show the true story behind Rio. What is the nation and government doing about this? They took advice from Donald Trump and they simply built a wall. This way, the tourists who aren't aware of the city, won't see the bad parts and will only see the good parts.
For some reason, I couldn't find images of this wall on Google, so I went to Google Maps myself.
You can imagine how the locals living in these slums feel. Almost as if their own government doesn't care about them. They spend so much money on things like stadiums it's like they care more about the tourists rather than their own.
Another thing that is putting a damper on the games is the threat of Zika virus. Brazil is the epicenter of the virus that has reached 60 nations and the fact that people from places all around the world will be meeting here is causing fear. Some of the Olympic athletes even dropped out because of the health concerns that come along with the virus.
American tennis star, Serena Williams, is still planning to attend, but says, "I am definitely going everywhere protected. I'm protecting myself." Others, like American cyclist, Tejay van Garderen, has withdrawn his name from consideration saying, "If [my wife] were not pregnant right now, assuming I was selected, I would go."
Officials of the city of Rio de Janeiro have requested help financing the Olympic Games and, reportedly, declared a financial emergency. Funds will be needed in order to prevent, "A total collapse in public, security, health, education, transport and environmental management."
The Olympic Games are a great tradition that should continue for years and years, but when it starts to interfere with the health and wellness of the people being effected by the things you don't see on television, like the millions of dollars spent on constructing a stadium rather than the nations very own citizens, something needs to be changed.
