Rio Scandals: Is It Ready, Will The Place Kill You & More!

[Kromm]

Almost as controversial as Qatar for a World Cup!  It's Rio!  The place that in a few short months may not be anywhere near ready to host an Olympics, where people may be rioting in the streets, where you stand a good chance of getting the Zika virus, and where various other things (like polluted water, or otherwise improperly built venues) may wind up killing you in some other way!

Discuss!

[Kromm]

Oh yeah. You can also discuss actual sporting scandals too!  The venue itself is providing so much to talk about, but there are ALWAYS scandals relating to doping!  Whee!!!

Keep in mind however, that pre-existing topics for specific sports may cover THOSE types of scandals better than this general topic.

Edited July 9, 2016 by Kromm

[Kromm]

Here's a place to start.  The doping scandals have gotten so pervasive, that it goes beyond specific sports. The latest? A drug testing LAB is the source of a scandal. 

Doping scandal: Rio drug testing lab suspended by Wada weeks before start of Olympics: Anti-doping body suspends lab's accreditation due to unspecified 'non-conformities' in its testing

Also scandalicious?  Well I imagine most people know about the Russian Rowers doping their asses up and the Russian Weightlifters doping their asses up. And lets face it, probably lots of other Russians doping their asses up. 

But have you heard about the Badminton players who are trying to shake off charges of deliberately losing early games to get better placement in later matches?  Apparently that's a thing, and rule changes had to be made. Also, yes, the Badminton players dope too--or at least the No. 1 men's singles player, Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia, did. And the No. 2 in the world, was banned from the Olympics after admitting to gambling at an illegal casino in Japan. Who knew Badminton was so scummy?

Hmm. What else is up?  How about Mutilated Body Parts Wash Up on a Rio Beach Designated for Olympic Volleyball. Urk!  Okay, that's probably just some crime lord who screwed up a body dump, but why that particular beach?  I mean that may interfere with the OTHER Volleyball "scandal"--a much more pleasant one, because Beach Volleyball Will be Clothing Optional During Olympics at Rio's Abrico Nude Beach!

Then there's sailing!  Rio 2016: Dolphins threatened by toxic waters where sailing event to be held

Or the fact that so much hasn't even been built yet. You know. For an Olympics starting in a month.

This has barely touched on the scandals/problems. Barely.

[selkie]

There was also a bit of a kerfluffle in water polo this spring about a team (France?) tanking its last match in pool play in order to get  an easier pathway in the elimination round. One area where FIFA gets it right is requiring all last games in pool play to start simultaneously to make it harder to play the bracket game.

The international weightlifting federation, bless their hearts, has outright banned Bulgarian lifters from Rio because of excessive doping violations in the country and Azerbaijan, Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan are also facing bans from Rio in that sport following positive tests discovered during retests of 2008 and 2012 Olympic samples.

Rio police say- "Welcome to Hell"

For the day's latest controversy notes, the Inside the Games blog is pretty good at compiling across different sports.

[merylinkid]

4 hours ago, Kromm said:

 Beach Volleyball Will be Clothing Optional During Olympics at Rio's Abrico Nude Beach!

Well that will making televising it interesting.

Honestly I am really scared about what may happen at this Olympics.   Getting Zika might be the LEAST dangerous thing that happens.

[Quilt Fairy]

The badminton thing was a big deal in London. I remember a couple of matches where the crowd was actively booing. IIRC, it's not always so you can get an easier placement, sometimes one team will be ordered to lose by TPTB so the other team from their country can advance/get a better placement.

 

ETA: I would not want to be a tourist in Rio. Beautiful city when you see if from the air, but down on the streets I think it would be scary and dangerous.

Edited July 9, 2016 by Quilt Fairy

[Kromm]

Some NBC staffers refuse to travel to Brazil for Olympic coverage over Zika virus fears

Everything You Need to Know About the Athletes Skipping the Rio Olympics – and How Participants Are Addressing Zika Fears 

7 of the world's best golfers aren't going.  A couple of high profile American basketball players who claim it's not because of Zika... but their stated reasons seem kind of fishy. And here are some other names of people you may know who haven't yet said they aren't going, but have expressed a lot of concern...

U.S. women's soccer goalkeeper Hope Solo
Four-time Olympic gold medalist Serena Williams
British heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis-Hill, Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, and British longjumper Greg Rutherford

[Ohwell]

Honestly, I can't blame any of the athletes who aren't going.  

[Kromm]

HOW OLYMPICS HOST CITIES HIDE THEIR HOMELESS

'Super bacteria' is in Rio Olympic waters, it's almost untreatable, and it can be deadly

[MyAimIsTrue]

Aries Merritt, 2012 gold medalist in the 110 meter hurdles, had a kidney transplant less than a year ago and is on anti-rejection medication and there were health concerns about him going to Rio.  Alas he finished fourth and didn't make the team and while I'm a big fan of his I have to admit I'm happy he didn't.

[Ohwell]

I remember Aries Merritt and no way should he have been trying to go to Rio.  I'm glad he didn't make it.

[FormerMod-a1]

Zika virus is only an issue for a fetus in utero, so that's shouldn't dissuade anyone from going. From the Zika Basics fact sheet: "Many people infected with Zika won’t have symptoms or will only have mild symptoms".   Of course, there are lot of other reasons people may not want to go, but Zika really shouldn't be one of them.  

[Quilt Fairy]

From that CDC fact sheet:

Quote

Zika virus spreads to people primarily through the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito (Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus). People can also get Zika through sex with a man infected with Zika and it can be spread from a pregnant woman to her fetus

 A man would have every right to be concerned about passing it on to his wife or partner and from her to an unborn child. From what I can tell, they also don't know how long the virus will remain present in a man's semen, it could be as long as several months.  The fact that you might get it and not even know is actually a negative.

Edited July 10, 2016 by Quilt Fairy

[FormerMod-a1]

Right, but unless your pregnant or expect to be pregnant, it's still not a big deal. 

[Kromm]

3 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

Right, but unless your pregnant or expect to be pregnant, it's still not a big deal. 

Are they really all that sure of how long it stays in your body though?  I'd hate to be the case that proves them wrong.

I'd think to be safe, the really paranoid athletes are going to have to put themselves on sex diets for a while after the Olympics. It would kind of suck to have protection fail and be that person that bucks the statistics and passes it on later than people expect you could.

[Quof]

There's also increasing evidence of a link to Guillain-Barré syndrome.

[FormerMod-a1]

4 hours ago, Kromm said:

Are they really all that sure of how long it stays in your body though?  I'd hate to be the case that proves them wrong.

I'd think to be safe, the really paranoid athletes are going to have to put themselves on sex diets for a while after the Olympics. It would kind of suck to have protection fail and be that person that bucks the statistics and passes it on later than people expect you could.

But does it really matter though?  If the symptoms I get from having sex with someone who has Zika amounts to almost nothing I don't think I care.  It's like passing a cold or flu on to someone, just a longer window where it can be passed on.  If I were pregnant or wanted to get pregnant, that would be something else, but otherwise I don't care.

48 minutes ago, Quof said:

There's also increasing evidence of a link to Guillain-Barré syndrome.

According to the CDC (emphasis mine).

Quote

GBS is very likely triggered by Zika in a small proportion of infections, much as it is after a variety of other infections.

So again, not much different than other things and a small proportion.  So, since other infections can trigger it where all the panic about them?  And GBS Is extremely rare.  

TL:DR - the threat of Zika wouldn't keep me from going to Brazil, but like I said above there are other reasons to be wary, but it seems Zika, being the disease du jour, is getting all the hype and over-reaction, imo.  And that's the last I say about it.  I'd rather read the badminton scandals anyway.

[merylinkid]

I dunno.   One major league baseball from Brazil said he got it on a trip home.   He said it was worse than the flu.  It took him over a month to feel right again.   The Olympics are a big deal.   But do you want to mess with your training regiment by being sick for a month afterwards?   Do you really want to risk spreading it around, which is another major concern with Zika.   Tourists get sick, they go home to their countries that don't have Zika and all of a sudden its a global problem, not a regional one.

I don't blame any single athlete who doesn't go because of health concerns.

On the other hand, I really really really really hate that the Olympics -- the epitome of AMATEUR athletics -- has allowed pro athletes in certain sports to play in order to increase interest.   

[selkie]

A lot of athletes, both male and female, plan on pulling the goalie and trying for a pregnancy with their partner shortly after an Olympic games. If you squint at the birthdates, a decent number of babies are likely conceived in the Olympic village proper in even-numbered years. There is sport and sporting career, and there is life after sporting retirement, and every couple is going to put different values on how to make it all work. I'm not going to judge on how they prioritize their lives.

 

As for long term effects, look to the Commonwealth Games held in Delhi, India. While most athletes only had a few days of 'Delhi belly' if they did get sick,  a few  of them actually got sick enough that they never really fully recovered and effectively cut short their careers as elite athletes.

[xaxat]

On 7/9/2016 at 8:53 AM, Kromm said:

Almost as controversial as Qatar for a World Cup!

I don't think the two are really comparable. The idea of playing the World Cup during summer in the hottest part of the planet was always a bad idea. (Unless you were one of the FIFA officials being bribed.) Brazil however is a legitimate host.

At the time of the bid, its economy was strong, based on crude oil selling at over one hundred dollars a barrel. It was a healthy democracy. And it represented an opportunity to expand beyond the North America/Europe/North Korea/Japan circuit. (It also didn't hurt that it shares time Zones with the US.)

Since then? The price of oil bottomed out, weakening the economy. A corruption scandal dealt a blow to democracy. And Zika, which no one saw coming.The pollution in the bay is inexcusable. But the other stuff? Kind of unpredictable.

20 hours ago, Kromm said:

7 of the world's best golfers aren't going.  A couple of high profile American basketball players who claim it's not because of Zika... but their stated reasons seem kind of fishy.

Many of the basketball players aren't going because they have already represented their country and/or have legitimate injuries or want to recuperate from the grind of multiple playoff runs. I don't think their reasons are fishy.

I'm rooting for Brazil to pull this off because I want to see more diversity in the countries that host. (Assuming those newer economies can pay for them.) So I leave you with this.   

An Optimist’s Guide to the Rio Olympics

Quote

Zika, yes. Polluted water, OK. Economic crisis, fair. But some things have gone right for the embattled hosts.

[xtwheeler]

17 hours ago, aquarian1 said:

Right, but unless your pregnant or expect to be pregnant, it's still not a big deal. 

Immune-compromised people, like those on anti-rejection drugs, are actually at quite a risk from things that don't typically trouble those with healthy immune systems. The flu will make you feel like crap--it legit can kill me. 

And, a person just died in Utah from Zika. So saying it is utterly harmless is false. TYPICALLY not problematic, but there are very real risks. And, about half of all pregnancies are unplanned--it is very realistic that athletes may not know they are going to be pregnant or the partner of a woman who will become pregnant in the next 2+ years. 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/08/health/utah-zika-death/

[FormerMod-a1]

I said I was done talking about this but you dragged me back in.  1) I didn't say it was "utterly harmless", just usually not a big deal.  All the reports and even the CDC say it's usually very mild symptoms if at all.  The qualifiers I use are important.  I never said it was 100% nothing, or never a problem for anyone ever.  2) People die from the flu, people die from strep, people die from bee stings, so saying someone has died from it really doesn't change the fact for most people this would be mild.  Just like most people get over the flu and strep.  Even if they did feel symptoms for a month in the grand scheme of things, that's nothing.  3) I didn't think it warranted all the focus when there are SO MANY other things to talk about with regards to issues at the Olympics. 4) For reporters and others to use it as their excuse not to go is lame, imo.  They go to areas of the world where there is ebola, malaria, dengue fever, real threats of violence against foreigners and/or reporters, but Zika is going to keep them from the Olympics?  Get real.  

And wow, this is way more than I planned on, or wanted to, discuss Zika, ever.  I mentioned it in passing, or so I thought.  Now, for real, I will not talk about this again, no matter how much you quote me.

[SnideAsides]

On 10/7/2016 at 7:03 AM, Kromm said:

British longjumper Greg Rutherford

Pretty sure it was Greg Rutherford who said he was going to Rio but that he was going to freeze some sperm beforehand just to be safe, right?

I'm not feeling too optimistic about these games. I know it's pretty standard for the press to nitpick about how the host city isn't ready, especially when it's not in a Western country (Sochi and Athens are obvious examples, but it's not just the Olympics; the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi got the same treatment), and... like, if Equatorial Guinea can host the Africa Cup of Nations soccer tournament on two months' notice because of Ebola, with the only issue being having to move one of the quarter finals to a larger stadium after the hosts unexpectedly qualified, Rio should be able to host with seven years to prepare. Buuuut it feels like there's a lot more going wrong with these Olympics than there usually is, and it's making me nervous.

[Kromm]

RUSSIA’S SOLE ATHLETE AT OLYMPICS BRANDED A 'TRAITOR'

[selkie]

Stay classy, Russia.

[legaleagle53]

Does this mean that Russia is more or less boycotting Rio because of the ban on its track and field athletes?

[selkie]

The banhammer continues:

International Canoe Federation bans Romania and Belarus sprint teams for a year due to systemic doping- hard to determine for sure but it sounds like more that they've lost all their quota spots in the field for Rio rather than being banned outright at the federation level.

Three more judges sanctioned by International Gymnastics Federation for biased scoring

[Quilt Fairy]

From the Washington Post: Rio de Janeiro is not ready for the Olympics and the IOC is to blame

[Kromm]

51 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

From the Washington Post: Rio de Janeiro is not ready for the Olympics and the IOC is to blame

The other shoe is going to drop and it will be ugly. If there's a full scale crisis there I can already see the US having to fly in aid (at huge expense to us).

I really hope that not only the US Navy/Air Force, but also the Red Cross is on close standbye during this entire thing.

And as bad as the scandals, local unrest, bad untested facilities, and horrible local health crises are, there's always terrorism. It was always going to be a problem, but in our recent world, with like... one attack every other week or so... Rio is just a big fat target.

[irisheyes]

1 hour ago, Quilt Fairy said:

From the Washington Post: Rio de Janeiro is not ready for the Olympics and the IOC is to blame

The IOC needs to start taking on the responsibility (and the cost) of Olympic security. Work with the host country to coordinate, but all security costs need to come from the IOC budget.  That's going to be the largest cost for host cities in the foreseeable future, and it's money that gone, unlike infrastructure updates. Speaking of infrastructure, the IOC needs to start awarding the Games to places that already have the majority of the infrastructure and venues built.  Yes, it means that you'll go to former host cities more often, but it's not going to cost a place like LA near as much to host an Olympics as it would cost a city that's never had them.  But, I'm pretty sure the IOC is as dirty as they come, so as long as they get their payoffs, they really don't care what happens to the host cities once they leave.

I live in Atlanta, and while the Atlanta Olympics had their problems (bombing, anyone?), much of the cost was paid for with private money.  Public money paid for Centennial Park and an expansion to the airport, but I'd argue the taxpayers have definitely gotten a good return on their investment there.  Sadly, it did not pay for an excellent mass transit system out to the suburbs, but, hey, you can always add more lanes to 75 and 85, right?

[legaleagle53]

14 hours ago, irisheyes said:

The IOC needs to start taking on the responsibility (and the cost) of Olympic security. Work with the host country to coordinate, but all security costs need to come from the IOC budget.  That's going to be the largest cost for host cities in the foreseeable future, and it's money that gone, unlike infrastructure updates. Speaking of infrastructure, the IOC needs to start awarding the Games to places that already have the majority of the infrastructure and venues built.  Yes, it means that you'll go to former host cities more often, but it's not going to cost a place like LA near as much to host an Olympics as it would cost a city that's never had them.  But, I'm pretty sure the IOC is as dirty as they come, so as long as they get their payoffs, they really don't care what happens to the host cities once they leave.

I live in Atlanta, and while the Atlanta Olympics had their problems (bombing, anyone?), much of the cost was paid for with private money.  Public money paid for Centennial Park and an expansion to the airport, but I'd argue the taxpayers have definitely gotten a good return on their investment there.  Sadly, it did not pay for an excellent mass transit system out to the suburbs, but, hey, you can always add more lanes to 75 and 85, right?

I think that's why Tokyo got 2020 (the IOC almost literally dodged a bullet with Istanbul, in my opinion), Beijing got 2022, and Rome, Paris, and Los Angeles are on the short list for 2024, with Rome apparently being the favorite at this point.  All five candidates have hosted the Olympics at least once within relatively recent memory except Paris (2024 will mark the centennial of the second Paris games, the first having been held way back in 1900) and therefore know from experience what is required and how to build or upgrade it quickly in a cost-effective manner.  In other words, these cities all have their stuff together, more or less, and can actually get stuff done in a way that Sochi, Rio, and PyeongChang can only dream about.

[Mittengirl]

Maybe they need to pick one or two sites per continent as host cities and just rotate among them, rather than trying to find new places every four years.  Maybe use those places for World Cup and other multinational sporting events as well.  Call me crazy, but I don't think the security issues are going to get any better any time soon.  Let each city/site make plans that can be refined over time, rather than having to start from scratch.

[Kromm]

1 hour ago, Mittengirl said:

Maybe they need to pick one or two sites per continent as host cities and just rotate among them, rather than trying to find new places every four years.  Maybe use those places for World Cup and other multinational sporting events as well.  Call me crazy, but I don't think the security issues are going to get any better any time soon.  Let each city/site make plans that can be refined over time, rather than having to start from scratch.

Yeah, I talk about this idea of a permanent Olympic location in the IOC thread. A quick summary version though?  It should happen... but the corrupt IOC never would allow it happen.

[andromeda331]

What about using college and university sports venues or would they be too small? Don't most college and universities have swimming pools, track and field, gymnastics, soccer fields, and other places? If they picked a place like LA or Boston that already have many sports stadiums, plus universities with swimming pools, track and field, and other sports they could even use the dorm rooms and dining halls to house and fed the athletes.

[selkie]

WADA releases the Maclaren report on Russian state-sponsored doping including sample swapping at the 2014 Sochi Games.

Summary- the allegations are credible/true and it's going to get ugly between WADA and international governing federations.

[Hanahope]

Quote

I think that's why Tokyo got 2020 (the IOC almost literally dodged a bullet with Istanbul, in my opinion), Beijing got 2022, and Rome, Paris, and Los Angeles are on the short list for 2024, with Rome apparently being the favorite at this point. 

I hope Rome improves their airport by that time.  Their international terminal is the worst I've experienced in decades.

[kittykat]

On 7/16/2016 at 9:10 PM, irisheyes said:

The IOC needs to start taking on the responsibility (and the cost) of Olympic security. Work with the host country to coordinate, but all security costs need to come from the IOC budget.  That's going to be the largest cost for host cities in the foreseeable future, and it's money that gone, unlike infrastructure updates. Speaking of infrastructure, the IOC needs to start awarding the Games to places that already have the majority of the infrastructure and venues built.  Yes, it means that you'll go to former host cities more often, but it's not going to cost a place like LA near as much to host an Olympics as it would cost a city that's never had them.  But, I'm pretty sure the IOC is as dirty as they come, so as long as they get their payoffs, they really don't care what happens to the host cities once they leave.

I remember reading an article a few years back when either the bids for 2012 or 2016 were happening that Los Angeles had proposed an "austerity games" where they would refurbish most of their old venues form '84, only having to build a few new ones and keeping costs low because the economy was tanking or had tanked (I'm thinking between 05-08).  But it was rejected by the IOC because they had wanted ALL NEW VENUES OF EVERYTHING.  I think now with all the allegations of corruption in the IOC they have no choice now but to go this route, which is why previous hosts are now in contention.

[Quilt Fairy]

I always wonder how they can manage to house and feed all the athletes, now numbering over 10K, in an "Olympic Village" which also has to have appropriate security. I know that some of the athletes are split up because their venues are not centrally located, but you still need a lot of rooms. There was a time after WWII when host cities could say that afterwards local residents would benefit from having the new and improved housing, but now? I don't know. I think Olympic bloat has gotten to a point where it's going to burst and the Olympics are going to have to get split up or down-sized.

[Minneapple]

Quote

Beijing got 2022

Beijing got 2022 because literally no one else wanted those Winter Olympics. Every city save Beijing and some city in Kazakhstan withdrew their bid.

http://deadspin.com/nobody-wants-to-host-the-2022-olympics-1582151092/1641262594

Oslo was one of the last cities to drop out of bidding because the IOC had this crazy-ass list of demands (as highlighted in the Deadspin article)

Quote

 

Cars and drivers for IOC members, with special dedicated highway lanes

Street lights synchronized to prioritize IOC traffic

Separate airport entrance for IOC members

Hotel mini-bars must have only Coca-Cola products

Samsung phones for all IOC members

All meeting rooms must be kept at exactly 68 degrees.

All furniture must have "Olympic appearance."

"IOC members will be received with a smile on arrival at hotel"

 

[Kromm]

I swear, between FIFA and IOC, its clear to the entire world how massively corrupt Global sporting organizations appear to be. Say what you will about the MLB, NBA and NFL (who also have been known to squeeze cities to be awarded franchise rights), but while they have their share of corruption, they're on a small scale compared to FIFA and IOC.  

One wonders why anyone participates with something so rotten from the head controlling it. But the half-hearted long dragged on FIFA "cleanup" kind of shows why. Because countries don't want to be the odd man out. Global sports like soccer shrink in revenue if they don't have an International component. And Olympic sports are even worse. Nobody would pay to see or sponsor them at all if they weren't bound to nationalism. So you wind up having to give into FIFA and IOC because there's no reasonable way to create an alternate organization with the proper scope, I think.

[legaleagle53]

11 hours ago, Hanahope said:

I hope Rome improves their airport by that time.  Their international terminal is the worst I've experienced in decades.

It wasn't so bad when I was there in November 2006.  What I hated were the swarms of cab drivers who descended upon me as soon as I got off the train at Termini on my second trip there in January 2007 -- I had to tell them in my strongest Italian that I was not interested in letting them drive me to my hotel, which was only a short walk from Termini.  I had made the mistake of letting one of them take me to my hotel on my first visit because one look at the chaotic Roman traffic had sent me into shock.  After shelling out 25 Euros (because naturally, the driver had taken the scenic route), I vowed I'd never take a cab in that city again.

I do remember my very first night in Rome when the concierge of the little hotel I stayed at warned me to watch out for pickpockets.  I remember going to bed that night wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into and how I was going to survive the next five days of my vacation there -- and this was after I had been dreaming of visiting Rome for over 30 years!

[SnideAsides]

As counterproductive as it sounds, the best solution is probably to extend the games from sixteen days to a full three weeks. That'll probably result in fewer athletes staying around for the full games and thus mean you could make a smaller village; it'd also mean you could double-bank more of the facilities that could be used for multiple sports. They're doing that a bit already (fencing and taekwondo will use the same stadium, for example), and there are some facilities they'll only ever be able to use for one thing (the velodrome, or the canoe slalom course), but there's no practical reason they couldn't use the same stadium for volleyball and badminton, or centralise the soccer tournament instead of holding it all over the country, or schedule things so they can reuse the skeet shooting range for archery instead of holding them both on the opening days in different places, or use only one pool complex instead of three (one for swimming and the water polo finals, one for diving, synchro, and water polo heats, and one literally just for the swimming part of modern pentathlon).

It would also mean most sports would wind up getting more TV coverage than they currently do, which their governing bodies would be fans of; more young people will take up some of the lesser sports and they'd grow in popularity, which is basically the IOC's entire stated purpose and which presumably they'd be fans of; more events could be shown live, which viewers would be fans of; broadcast networks would keep their temporary ratings dominance for longer, which both they and the Olympic sponsors would be fans of; and subsequently networks would be willing to pay more for the rights, which is the IOC's entire actual purpose, which they'd obviously love. There's literally no reason not to, beyond accidentally letting some Greco-Roman wrestling through the censors every few years. The only possible explanation I can think of for why they haven't is that they really like the visual of all the athletes crammed like sardines into the stadium during the Opening Ceremony, which: whatever.

[Hanahope]

7 hours ago, legaleagle53 said:

 

18 hours ago, Hanahope said:

I hope Rome improves their airport by that time.  Their international terminal is the worst I've experienced in decades.

It wasn't so bad when I was there in November 2006.

 

The airport was awful last summer (2015).  Of course it started with my shuttle bus breaking down and getting me to airport an hour later than I expected.  And I would have liked that hour, the airport was absolutely packed with four security check points and never ending lines, and another shuttle bus to another part of the airport with even more security check points and lines.  And the food on the airplane was the absolute worst I've ever eaten (or tried to eat).

[Kromm]

Brazilian extremist group pledges allegiance to ISIS ahead of Rio Olympics

[Quilt Fairy]

9 hours ago, SnideAsides said:

The only possible explanation I can think of for why they haven't is that they really like the visual of all the athletes crammed like sardines into the stadium during the Opening Ceremony, which: whatever.

I don't understand how extending to three weeks would help the housing situation. Don't all athletes want to be in the Opening Ceremony? Isn't that The Dream? Walking in behind your flag in whatever brand of clothing paid the most to USOC this time? And while those with events that are finished early on might leave when they're done instead of hanging around, would those with later events just hang around for a couple of weeks? Or are you suggesting that they either 1) don't go to the Opening Ceremony and just show up when their competition starts or 2) attend the Opening Ceremony, fly home and then fly back when their competition starts?

In other news, there is this: IOC explores options to ban Russian team from Rio.  Can someone explain to me how the IOC is going to retest the Russian urine samples from Sochi? Do they actually save those? And frankly, if the scam they used was switching clean samples for dirty ones, wouldn't the IOC still have the clean samples? Because of course (if you have 2 brain cells to rub together) you're going to flush the dirty samples down the toilet. What am I missing here?

[SnideAsides]

Yes, drug samples get saved for I think eight years so they can do retroactive testing when they learn about new drugs people are taking. But I also have no idea how they plan on finding anything with a retest. I would not be surprised if "exploring our legal options" is code for "checking our bank accounts to see if there have been any deposits from the Russian government recently", if you know what I mean.

Typically with the big sporting events, most athletes tend to arrive in a nearby city a week or so before they compete in order to acclimatise themselves and get over jet lag (I think a couple of teams are already in Buenos Aires, for example). But not that many athletes march anyway - a lot of events start the day after the ceremony and the people competing typically stay away; the soccer teams are usually in other cities; people who aren't competing until the last couple of days don't arrive until later - and a lot of the crowd is actually officials (it's how all those teams with only one or two athletes randomly wind up with ten people marching). Usually you'd only get about two-thirds of the athletes marching; even if athletes fly in and out for the night, they'd still be able to save money on the village itself.

[selkie]

One explanation I've heard is that the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) is supposed to rule on Russia's appeal of the ban of their track & field team on Thursday and they wanted to see how that went before attempting to put out a total ban on a federation for doping purposes.

On the other hand, it's within the right of the IOC to suspend national Olympic committees for non-compliance with the Olympic charter. Kuwait is currently suspended (undue interference between government and sporting federations in an ugly way) and India has drifted in and out of suspended status in recent years to the point where at a recent Winter Games, they has a sledder march in the opening ceremonies under the Olympic flag and then the suspension was lifted mid-Olympics so the sledder could compete under their own flag.

South Africa was also banned from Olympic and global sporting competition for several decades because of the apartheid system. So a whole nation suspension is hardly unprecedented.

[legaleagle53]

14 hours ago, selkie said:

South Africa was also banned from Olympic and global sporting competition for several decades because of the apartheid system. So a whole nation suspension is hardly unprecedented.

I remember that one because of the repercussions it had in the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles, when South African track-and-fielder Zola Budd (who was hastily granted British citizenship so she could get around the South Africa ban) ended American Mary Decker's chances at a gold medal by colliding with her (some think deliberately) on the track during a race that Mary had been favored to win.  I will never forget the aftermath of that one.

[SnideAsides]

And the Court of Arbitration for Sport has upheld the IAAF's Russian ban. I'd expect the IOC to announce a full ban by the weekend.

[xaxat]

I seriously worry about the safety of the Russian official who blew the whistle on their program.