The Olympic Games are a great tradition, where every four years, thousands of spectators gather to compete and witness the best athletes the world has to offer. It’s about competition, unity and the strength of the world’s elite. I personally love the Olympics, especially summer. However, despite the fact that Michael Phelps has won his 22nd gold medal, these Olympics are a bit of a disaster. Between shoddy workmanship, a potential viral outbreak and the blatant ignorance on the issue of doping, I can’t say these Games are the best the world has to offer.
The problem with the Games in Rio de Janeiro started long before the Games actually began. Rio has been plagued by financial problems for years, and owes the country of Brazil thousands of dollars. Many professionals have gone on strike, including nurses and teachers. Brazil can’t pay its nurses but is shoveling millions of dollars into building the Olympic stadiums, which usually go unused after the Games are done. Rio is also rife withpolitical corruption, drug traffickers, and at least one mosquito-borne virus. Most people knew of the problems surrounding the Olympics from the beginning, but Rio has been able to use the Olympic Games starting to overshadow the fact that these games aren’t as great as they seem.
The problems continued when the athletes and media teams arrived to poorly built residences. Many of their living quarters didn’t have proper plumbing, fell apart, had exposed wiring or simply weren’t finished. (Kind of hard to focus on your Olympic dreams when your sink falls apart.) The Australian team had to evacuate their building on the first day, and had many of their possessions were stolen while they were waiting to be let back in the building. Also on the topic of violence, many people have been mugged and held up at knife point during the games, most notably American swimmer, Ryan Lochte. Plus, their security is severely lacking.
Many other small things happened, like one of the Olympic pools turning a lovely shade of green and wind storms knocking over some of the food venues. Some other issues are stemming from the more human side of the Games. There was a slight controversy when Russian swimmer, Yulia Efimova, was allowed to swim despite the fact that she’s tested positive for steroids, not once, but twice. What kind of message does that send to other athletes, that the greatest competition in the world allows people who cheat? Luckily, for the sake of honesty, Efimova was beaten in the finals by American swimmer, Lilly King.
The Games are an amazing feat to accomplish and no Olympic Games has ever happened without a hitch. However, the people of Rio were suffering due to their country’s poor decisions. Recently, this photo has been circulating, showing the poverty in Rio is still a very big problem. The writing on the bridge reads, “A New World.”
The Olympic Games in Rio were a bad idea in the first place, and that's becoming blatantly obvious. The government in Rio probably should’ve taken care of their people before they took care of the world’s biggest competition. But that's just my opinion.
