Rio-2016 News

[thorbr]

On 01/08/2016 at 1:33 PM, LatinXTC said:

Meh. The lack of mosquitoes due to it being winter time in Brazil I'll give you that one, but the rest of it is just your typical protect the tourists spots at all costs mentality from the city. Ever been to Cancun? The majority of the people visiting there will stay in the hotel zone. That's where all the hotels, the beautiful beaches, and the nightlife are. At night you can even walk up and down the hotel zone, which I did, and I wasn't scared or anything. The people who work there even admit that yes Cancun makes it a point to protect this area because this is their money making area.

I actually stayed outside the hotel zone for most of my stay in the city and let me tell you that the actual city is NOTHING like the hotel zone. While it's not exactly a complete danger, it's not someplace you feel comfortable walking around late at night. I could have walked like 5 minutes to my hotel from the gay district which was located in the city center, but my taxi driver didn't recommend it and even I could tell it wasn't a great idea. It's dirty, it smells and it's best to NEVER use the bathrooms in a large public area like a mall because you'll have to pay and it smells like hell. I even took a bus ride deeper into the city to get to the port the locals use to get to Isla Mujeres and you see how underdeveloped some of the areas are and you see the poverty.

It's clear that Rio do everything they can to prevent the tourists from seeing the worst parts of the city. Nothing wrong with that. But let's not pretend that just because you never left the heavy tourist areas of the city and didn't see anything wrong doesn't mean the problems in the city that have been mentioned for weeks now do not exist.

It's not only it's winter time... because we don't have WINTER here. Today I'm here, in Rio, looking at the Guanabara Bay from my work and it's 30o C, sunny. So please, this is not the main reason... the main reason behind all the Zika discussion was a huge alarm for a problem that we've been dealing with for a long time. Yes, our authorities, specially the ones in charge of Rio (and now Brazil) are far from being compromised with the well being of people here, but you guys often write here as if the entire people or the country as a whole is guilty of this or that. Two months after the outbreak of the disease no one was speaking of it anymore here. OF COURSE what concerns security it's far more secure for people attending the event, specially athletes... but isn't what's supposed to be expected during the olympics? Or will you guys say you REALLY CARE about the safety of the citizens of Rio de Janeiro? Even about that we can discuss... security has improved a lot in the last decade. 

It's NOT CLEAR AT ALL that even the authorities are trying to hide anything. First of all because we have NOTHING TO DO with Cancun... we don't have a touristic area apart from the rest of the city. We have the touristic points inside the city, besides the favelas. There is nothing to hide and even if they wanted to (I'm 100% sure that people here would NOT want to hide it) it would be impossible. 

You know what's the problem here? And this is not aiming you only, Latin, is that you guys like to have an opinion, wich is excelent, of course, in a forum. There's no problem at all with that. But sometimes you stand with what you say, even if some of you never came here! And you simply can't listen to guys like Bezzi who have been around here for years and are always there to be the first to be critical about our problems. Brazilians are highly critical about our own reallity, we don't try to hide anything, on the contrary. There are guys here, like Brasil Olimpico, posting all the bad news. 

My point is: Of course there's no problem at all about being critical. But there's a very thin line between being critical and being prejudicial... there are some here that even admit that had traumas (???) with Brazilians that he met before and because of that decided to come here two or three times per day only to post bad things, even if he has NO CLUE of what he is talking about. That's really disgusting... 

[thorbr]

3 hours ago, paul said:

Over-promising is NEVER a good idea, you just set yourself up to disappoint everyone. This is one systemic problem of the Olympic bidding and Rio fell FAR into that hole.

MY GOD!! Let the games begin, for God's sake!!! 

[paul]

brazillians are such hot heads.

[paul]

Rio's Olympic air: Dirty, deadly and no cleaner legacy from Games

Rio de Janeiro's air is dirtier and deadlier than portrayed by authorities and the Olympics' promised legacy of cleaner winds has not remotely been met, an analysis of government data and Reuters' own testing found.

Brazil declared in its official bid for the Olympic Games, which open on Friday, that Rio's air quality was "within the limits recommended by the World Health Organization."

That was not true when Rio won the right to host the Games in 2009 and it is not true now.

Rio for years has surpassed WHO limits for the most dangerous air pollutant - called particulate matter (PM) - spewed from millions of vehicles clogging the city's roads.

Thousands die annually in Rio's metropolitan area of 12 million people because of complications related to the air. People exposed to the pollution have higher risks of lung cancer, heart attacks, strokes, asthma and other diseases.

"A lot of attention has been paid to Rio's water pollution, but far more people die because of air pollution than the water," he said. "You are not obligated to drink water from Guanabara Bay but you must breathe Rio's air."

cont......

 

[thorbr]

2 hours ago, paul said:

brazillians are such hot heads.

You should be ashamed to be like this... If you wanna call me hot head, go on... But you think it is acceptable to call all of us that? You should visit a shrink to talk About this hate you have... I am starting to think you might have been broken hearted by a Brazilian. 

[gamesnz]

I think that troll Paul is Brazilian 

poor soul. will die lonely.

 

[paul]

...please don't project your dissatisfaction with life, yourself, and your country on me. You are descending into personal attacks, I'm not surprised......very Brazilian of you.

[thorbr]

1 hour ago, paul said:

...please don't project your dissatisfaction with life, yourself, and your country on me. You are descending into personal attacks, I'm not surprised......very Brazilian of you.

Poor soul....

[Hobart]

i can feel the Olympic love

[Oooswald]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2016/08/03/hope-solo-booed-by-brazilian-fans-at-olympics-over-zika-comments/

This was HILARIOUS! Hahahahahaha

[Ikarus360]

No offense, but why do a considerable part of brazilians fans really get that butthurt to the point no one can make any kind of remark without getting either apologist comments, circlejerking or complete bashing?  It's starting to become annoying, to be honest. 

[Oooswald]

1 minute ago, Ikarus360 said:

No offense, but why do a considerable part of brazilians fans really get that butthurt to the point no one can make any kind of remark without getting either apologist comments, circlejerking or complete bashing?  It's starting to become annoying, to be honest. 

First of all, Hope Solo is a very good player, but she usually say controversial things because she loves the attention, marketing and stuff. 

She has the right to say controversial things; people has the right to boo her. Also, this usually happen all over the world. French crowd behaves the same way during tennis matches on the French Open.

The crowd didn't say bad words to her: people were just making fun of her remarks. That's legit and it was funny as hell.

[Sir Rols]

Well, I'd never seen the HopeSolo comments before, but you gotta admit, they were seriously over the top. She had that coming.

[zekekelso]

Hope has said more dumb things than the rest of team USA combined, ever. It's like she needs the attention and was born without a filter (hmm, reminds me of a presidential candidate.)

But she's not just a very good player , she the most successful and decorated goalkeeper - man or woman - in history. And while some of that has to do with the team in front of her, she's made key save after key save. No denying her talent. 

Oh, and she's gorgeous.

[Oooswald]

Yep, she's amazing and Brazilians know that. On the 2008 Olympic's golden match, she did a hundred saves against Brazil. It was incredible.

As long as this heckle thing keeps on the funny side, that's fair game. 

 

[paul]

Russia says victim of Rio carjacking attempt was not Russian diplomat

The incident occurred on the Avenida das Américas, the main thoroughfare between the Olympic Park and the city centre, at about midday on Thursday – just after the torch relay had passed by the street on its way to the Olympic stadium.

According to the Globo newspaper, the vice-consul was waiting in traffic in his car with his wife and daughter when he was approached by two men, each on a motorcycle.

One suspect broke the driver’s window on the car – believed to be a BMW X6 – with the gun and demanded the man hand over his watch. But the man grabbed the attacker, hauled him into the car and the suspect was killed with his own gun. The other motorcyclist fled.

A later report by the Brazilian Folha.uol.com website claimed that the man in the car was a Brazilian with fake identity papers who was passing himself off as a Russian diplomat.

The body of the assailant lay in the street for five hours, according to Sky News, as police began their investigation.

Edited August 5, 2016 by paul

[paul]

Huge queues and angry fans mar the start of Rio Games

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - The Rio Olympic Games got off to a shambolic start on Saturday as fans queued for hours at security checkpoints to enter venues, with some missing their events and many athletes competing in front of eerily empty stands.

Games organizers apologized for dropping the ball on the first day of full competition, the morning after a dazzling opening ceremony, as iconic venues such as beach volleyball on the famed Copacabana beach saw only a few hundred spectators.

Games organizers blamed the snafu on a lack of coordination between various groups of security personnel, including the police, Games staff and private security firms.

There were also some problems with transportation as buses spent hours trying to get people to the opening ceremony on Friday and some venues running out of water on Saturday.

"It is the first morning of the Olympic crowd and some of the systems did not talk to each other. It was a problem of coordination. We need to explain to the public. We owe them an explanation and we owe them an excuse."

...read more for issues at boxing, gymnastics, volleyball, rowing, tennis, rugby and more.....

[zigzag]

5 minutes ago, paul said:

Huge queues and angry fans mar the start of Rio Games

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - The Rio Olympic Games got off to a shambolic start on Saturday as fans queued for hours at security checkpoints to enter venues, with some missing their events and many athletes competing in front of eerily empty stands.

Games organizers apologized for dropping the ball on the first day of full competition, the morning after a dazzling opening ceremony, as iconic venues such as beach volleyball on the famed Copacabana beach saw only a few hundred spectators.

Games organizers blamed the snafu on a lack of coordination between various groups of security personnel, including the police, Games staff and private security firms.

There were also some problems with transportation as buses spent hours trying to get people to the opening ceremony on Friday and some venues running out of water on Saturday.

"It is the first morning of the Olympic crowd and some of the systems did not talk to each other. It was a problem of coordination. We need to explain to the public. We owe them an explanation and we owe them an excuse."

...read more for issues at boxing, gymnastics, volleyball, rowing, tennis, rugby and more.....

This is true for road cycling finals.. Some fans caught on camera chasing and get too close to cyclers in such a narrow track.. This is insane..

[paul]

Addressing questions about official buses getting lost, Andrada said at a briefing that organizers would check if drivers had sufficient training.

When questioned one driver said he was hired just 2 days prior.

"We don't have major structural problems with transport," Andrada said.

[Rob2012]

A bullet has been fired at a press conference room at the equestrian centre at the Rio Olympics, landing inside the building, a New Zealand Olympic Committee spokesperson says.

No one was hurt when a single bullet landed on the floor of the press room in Deodoro, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

According to stuff.co.nz the bullet narrowly missed a Kiwi official.

The venue sits on a military base in the northern suburb of Deodoro, and the bullet was reported to have been fired by a soldier.

http://www.news24.com/World/News/bullet-fired-at-equestrian-centre-at-rio-olympics-20160806

[mr.bernham]

17 minutes ago, Rob. said:

A bullet has been fired at a press conference room at the equestrian centre at the Rio Olympics, landing inside the building, a New Zealand Olympic Committee spokesperson says.

No one was hurt when a single bullet landed on the floor of the press room in Deodoro, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

According to stuff.co.nz the bullet narrowly missed a Kiwi official.

The venue sits on a military base in the northern suburb of Deodoro, and the bullet was reported to have been fired by a soldier.

http://www.news24.com/World/News/bullet-fired-at-equestrian-centre-at-rio-olympics-20160806

Rio is lit.

[mr.bernham]

23 minutes ago, paul said:

Addressing questions about official buses getting lost, Andrada said at a briefing that organizers would check if drivers had sufficient training.

When questioned one driver said he was hired just 2 days prior.

"We don't have major structural problems with transport," Andrada said.

Transport is reminding me of Atlanta. It will be fine though, people just need to chill.

[Sir Rols]

1 hour ago, mr.bernham said:

Transport is reminding me of Atlanta. It will be fine though, people just need to chill.

Lost buses are the standard story of the pre/opening days of any games. I was a bit bemused NOT to see it in Rio yet.

[paul]

...except in Atlanta where that same thing is described an international incident for 2 decades.

[Dylanlip]

Two sides of the coin when it comes to Russia now. The IOC looks EVEN WORSE NOW, and the IPC better and better.

http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20160806/API/308069818

Banned Russians quietly added back to Olympic swimming

Quote

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Yulia Efimova will be competing at the Olympics after all.

In a bizarre turn to the Russian doping scandal, world swimming governing body FINA finally revealed Saturday that Efimova will indeed be taking part in the 100-meter breaststroke.

The reigning world champion was listed on the start sheet in the fifth of six heats for the preliminaries Sunday. She is also expected to swim in the 200 breaststroke and, presumably, the 4x100 medley relay.

The 24-year-old Efimova has been a flashpoint in the scandal because she not only served a 16-month suspension for doping, she tested positive again this year for the now-banned substance meldonium.

That result was placed on hold while WADA does further studies on the drug, which was added to the banned list at the start of the year.

As part of the IOC's decision not to throw the entire Russian team out of the Olympics, Efimova was initially banned along with six other Russian swimmers who either had positive tests on their record or were named in an investigation of the massive, state-sanctioned doping scheme.

Now, it looks like they'll all be competing in Rio de Janeiro, though FINA has never released official confirmation.

Instead, the swimmers are quietly being added to the start lists. That's what happened Saturday, after the initial list for the women's 100 butterfly didn't include Natalia Lovtcova.

 

And now, FINALLY, WHAT WE'VE BEEN HOPING AND WAITING FOR

All Russian athletes to be banned from Paralympic Games in Rio

Quote

• International Paralympic Committee takes decision IOC avoided
• IPC verdict is provisional after further evidence from Richard McLaren

The International Paralympic Committee is set to do what its Olympic counterpart did not and ban Russia outright from its Games later this month, the Observer has learned.

In the wake of the publication of Professor Richard McLaren’s report that revealed jaw-dropping details of systemic doping in Russia, the IPC provisionally suspended Russia from the Paralympics.

It is understood that after gathering further evidence from McLaren and giving the Russian Paralympic Committee the opportunity to make its case, a provisional decision has been made. The IPC is to announce its decision at a press conference in Rio on Sunday.

The IPC board met the Russians in Bonn on Wednesday to consider its written and oral arguments in a three-hour meeting. Barring a last minute change of heart, the Russian Paralympic Committee is likely to be banned on the basis that McLaren’s report proved that the Russian system was so compromised it could not be trusted.

McLaren, who discovered systemic doping across most Olympic sports over a period of four years as well as 35 “disappearing positives” from Paralympic disciplines, this week accused the International Olympic Committee of misinterpreting his findings.

Despite widespread calls for a blanket ban from the World Anti-Doping Agency and its national counterparts, the IOC instead left it up to international federations to decide if Russians could compete.

With only athletics, rowing, weightlifting and canoeing taking a hard line, the final size of the Russian team was announced at 271.

But several Russian athletes, including the swimmer Yuliya Efimova, could also be readmitted after the court of arbitration for sport ruled that the IOC’s ban on those who had previously served sanctions would not be upheld.

The IPC is likely to have come under extreme pressure to follow the IOC’s lead but is believed to be resolved to make its own decision based on the evidence. Unlike the IOC, the IPC has been in touch with McLaren to seek further evidence and information. As well as the 35 “disappearing positive” Russian drug tests across Paralympic sport between 2012 and 2015, the report confirmed the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, where Russia won three times as many medals as any other country, was compromised by swapped samples.

All Russian athletes to be banned from Paralympic Games in Rio