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

[Quilt Fairy]

9 hours ago, Kromm said:

That I bet is for maintenance.  Once the pool is already infested with algae (and presumably bacteria) I wonder if that's when you need the hammer instead.

From what I understand, the chlorine isn't the whole fix for the algae. The algeaicide is.  But the chlorine does something to the algae to allow the algeaicide to act faster.

I wonder if the fact that that facility is open to the air is also a factor.

[Kromm]

13 minutes ago, Quilt Fairy said:

I wonder if the fact that that facility is open to the air is also a factor.

Very much so. It makes the algae growth even more likely.  But if we are talking about some alternative vs. chlorine, as we'd been discussing, again I think it comes back to prevention vs. repair.

[Constantinople]

Pool smells like a fart: German diver complains about Rio Olympics green pool

[Kromm]

2 minutes ago, Constantinople said:

Pool smells like a fart: German diver complains about Rio Olympics green pool

Yup.  They fixed that pool right up in 24 hours, just like they promised! (not)

[sab85]

I see the water polo pool is very light blue.  I wonder how much chlorine is in that thing?

The diving pool in the background still looks greenish. 

[Matt K]

Apparently they closed the diving pool for the time being. 

[sab85]

They're diving women's springboard right now. 

Apparently someone put hydrogen peroxide in the pool at some point and it counter acted the chlorine?

[NUguy514]

On 8/10/2016 at 10:32 AM, Kromm said:

We are in the middle of the event which represents the pinnacle of competition for the world’s best divers, the event which they’ve focussed most of their waking hours on for at least the last year. And yet the Rio de Janeiro Olympics organisers can neither summon the energy nor the intelligence to offer an explanation for the change of colour, or even see to it that the problem is resolved.

For those nations competent in staging elite sport, every stone would have been turned over to restore the purity of the water and dignify the world’s best divers with the respect they deserve. But, as Japan and Australia battled it out in the water polo in the blue pool this morning, the green one remained, in just the same state as we had last seen it on Tuesday night. Not the mildest effort to rectify the problem, nor any evidence of an attempt to do so.

To say so risks exuding that air of western superiority that the British Olympic Association is so keen to guard against here, but can you imagine the reaction if the pool had turned green in London four years ago? It would have been nothing less than a national crisis. The engineers would have been put to work through the night – and we would have been put to work through the night to live blog their efforts.

Calling the Rio Olympics organizers stupid and calling Brazil incompetent exactly exudes an air of Western superiority, and it's about as attractive as the green diving pool.  How quickly we all forget: an athlete actually died at the Vancouver Olympics due to a stunningly dangerous design for the sledding track.  Did The Independent call out the Vancouver organizers as being stupid or Canada as being incompetent or express how right we all were right to fear Vancouver's ability to host the Games?  The same can be said about Atlanta and the bomb or Munich and the murders.  Did The Independent talk about how stupid and incompetent and unfit to host the Games the US and West Germany were?  No, because it's easier to look down our noses at the developing country and feel really satisfied with our own innate superiority, right, Independent?

These Games have been far from perfect, but none of the divers will die in that pool.  A little perspective would be good here.

[Matt K]

1 hour ago, NUguy514 said:

Did The Independent call out the Vancouver organizers as being stupid or Canada as being incompetent or express how right we all were right to fear Vancouver's ability to host the Games?  The same can be said about Atlanta and the bomb or Munich and the murders.  Did The Independent talk about how stupid and incompetent and unfit to host the Games the US and West Germany were?  No, because it's easier to look down our noses at the developing country and feel really satisfied with our own innate superiority, right, Independent?

Not sure about the Independent (I assume this is a news site) but there was a lot of blow back over the luge track in Vancouver and I remember a bunch of criticism over the Atlanta bombing (although I was like 14 at the time so not following the news that much) and the rest are well before my times.

 

That said for the most part a lot of these issues (no matter where the host country is) gets downplayed during the games.  The water issue in Rio is a very visible issue so no surprise that there's a bunch of criticism, Sochi go the same treatment where a bunch of people came down with pink eye due to water quality. 

 

So generally, any issue that hugely visible like Bob Costas getting pink eye or a green pool (which is visible both during diving and water polo and with tons of pics from people there) is inherently going to draw criticism.  There's a general understanding that the host of the Olympics, no matter if they're a major superpower or a developing nation, is to provide the best facilities possible for the games and anything less is going to receive criticism.  It's not looking down our noses at Rio, the same would happen for London or Seattle or Maseru (which is in Lesotho).  So in other words the mainstream media's criticism isn't due to Western superiority.

Edited August 13, 2016 by Matt K
news isn't the same as new

[Kromm]

38 minutes ago, Matt K said:

Not sure about the Independent (I assume this is a new site)

The Independent is a 30 year old British newspaper actually (although I believe they switched to online only recently).

I think they're generally regarded as somewhat left-leaning so it is interesting to see a piece of theirs that was critical of Brazil.

[Matt K]

15 minutes ago, Kromm said:

The Independent is a 30 year old British newspaper actually (although I believe they switched to online only recently).

I think they're generally regarded as somewhat left-leaning so it is interesting to see a piece of theirs that was critical of Brazil.

It's funny, I meant to write a news site, forgot the s.  But thanks, I had no idea who they were.

[NUguy514]

3 hours ago, Matt K said:

Not sure about the Independent (I assume this is a news site) but there was a lot of blow back over the luge track in Vancouver and I remember a bunch of criticism over the Atlanta bombing (although I was like 14 at the time so not following the news that much) and the rest are well before my times.

 

That said for the most part a lot of these issues (no matter where the host country is) gets downplayed during the games.  The water issue in Rio is a very visible issue so no surprise that there's a bunch of criticism, Sochi go the same treatment where a bunch of people came down with pink eye due to water quality. 

 

So generally, any issue that hugely visible like Bob Costas getting pink eye or a green pool (which is visible both during diving and water polo and with tons of pics from people there) is inherently going to draw criticism.  There's a general understanding that the host of the Olympics, no matter if they're a major superpower or a developing nation, is to provide the best facilities possible for the games and anything less is going to receive criticism.  It's not looking down our noses at Rio, the same would happen for London or Seattle or Maseru (which is in Lesotho).  So in other words the mainstream media's criticism isn't due to Western superiority.

I think some of the language used in that article was really condescending in a way I don't remember happening in either Vancouver's or Atlanta's cases (and I want to be clear that I wasn't slamming anyone on here – just the article itself); I certainly remember (very justified) criticism, but I don't remember that criticism being leveled in quite such a condescending way.

And I'm actually one American who knows where Maseru is. :-D

[Matt K]

2 minutes ago, NUguy514 said:

I think some of the language used in that article was really condescending in a way I don't remember happening in either Vancouver's or Atlanta's cases (and I want to be clear that I wasn't slamming anyone on here – just the article itself); I certainly remember (very justified) criticism, but I don't remember that criticism being leveled in quite such a condescending way.

And I'm actually one American who knows where Maseru is. :-D

Fair enough on the language, I didn't actually read the article so I'm not sure what language they used.  I figured it similar to the other articles I had seen on this which had the same tone as I've seen in other Olympic fiascos.

 

For Maseru, I had a friend who worked as a doctor there, which sadly is the only reason I've heard of it or Lesotho (the Queen would come and visit all of the newborns in his hospital on her birthday which was neat). 

[Kromm]

3 minutes ago, Matt K said:

Fair enough on the language, I didn't actually read the article so I'm not sure what language they used.  I figured it similar to the other articles I had seen on this which had the same tone as I've seen in other Olympic fiascos.

The language in question from The Independent is what NUguy514 requoted about half a page up from here, from my earlier post about the article, with the extra quotes/attribution not carrying over (so it probably made it look like they were my words if you were casually skimming). 

[Daisy]

Don't know if it was mentioned, but Russia's only Track and Field athlete got banned due to new information (IOC and the trace officals aren't saying what it is though).

[Matt K]

2 hours ago, Kromm said:

The language in question from The Independent is what NUguy514 requoted about half a page up from here, from my earlier post about the article, with the extra quotes/attribution not carrying over (so it probably made it look like they were my words if you were casually skimming). 

Thanks, I had some difficulty finding it.

 

As for the article, it wasn't too bad on the whole, but I agree phrases like "The green diving pool proves we were right to fear Rio’s ability to stage the Olympic Games" and "The engineers would have been put to work through the night – and we would have been put to work through the night to live blog their efforts" do come across poorly.  I think it reflected poorly on Rio, not talking about the issue right away, but from what I've read, this does appear to be a freak accident that doesn't have a "work through the night" solution and very likely the organizers were as puzzled as the rest of us on how this could have happened (so probably thought there was a chance it was something else) which would explain their lack of immediate explanation. 

Like I think there were legitimate reasons to think Rio would have issues, but considering the astronomic costs involved, most host cities have had doubts.  It did seem like the writer had an axe to grind.  So NUguy514 you definitely had a pretty good point.

[Kromm]

Hungry caiman alligators are in the water at the Olympic golf course

Henrik Stenson Plays With Caiman During Third Round

[legaleagle53]

Yikes!  That gives new meaning to "water hazard."

[SnideAsides]

44 minutes ago, Matt K said:

As for the article, it wasn't too bad on the whole, but I agree phrases like "The green diving pool proves we were right to fear Rio’s ability to stage the Olympic Games" and "The engineers would have been put to work through the night – and we would have been put to work through the night to live blog their efforts" do come across poorly.  I think it reflected poorly on Rio, not talking about the issue right away, but from what I've read, this does appear to be a freak accident that doesn't have a "work through the night" solution and very likely the organizers were as puzzled as the rest of us on how this could have happened (so probably thought there was a chance it was something else) which would explain their lack of immediate explanation. 

Like I think there were legitimate reasons to think Rio would have issues, but considering the astronomic costs involved, most host cities have had doubts.  It did seem like the writer had an axe to grind.  So NUguy514 you definitely had a pretty good point.

Agreed. It does seem like a good sign that none of the scandals we were hearing about in the leadup to the games has amounted to anything yet. In the actual games the closest we've had to a "scandal" on Rio's part is the green pool, or the winds affecting the rowing.

[dcalley]

5 hours ago, Kromm said:

Hungry caiman alligators are in the water at the Olympic golf course

Henrik Stenson Plays With Caiman During Third Round

I don't know this guy from Adam, but he's an asshole and an idiot for doing that.

[xaxat]

9 hours ago, Kromm said:

Hungry caiman alligators are in the water at the Olympic golf course

This reporter obviously doesn't follow the sport. Because alligators are frequent visitors to pro events in Florida. 

But, Rio. So let's sensationalize it.

[pigs-in-space]

Ryan Lochte was robbed apparently.

[galaxygirl76]

After hearing the water polo players complain about what the water in the pool is doing to their eyes, I can't help but feel bad for the synchronized swimming ladies who spend quite a bit of their routines underwater.

[Matt K]

6 minutes ago, galaxygirl76 said:

After hearing the water polo players complain about what the water in the pool is doing to their eyes, I can't help but feel bad for the synchronized swimming ladies who spend quite a bit of their routines underwater.

I only saw a little but the water was looking a lot better from what I could see.  So hopefully they don't have the same issues as the divers.

[Guest]

29 minutes ago, pigs-in-space said:

Ryan Lochte was robbed apparently.

Proving that the IOC reps are bad at their jobs.  Lochte's mom confirmed.  The IOC spokesperson categorically denied. USOC belatedly confirmed.  I think they were hoping for a cover up but no one brought Mom into it in time.

Edited August 14, 2016 by ParadoxLost

[kitcloudkicker]

12 minutes ago, Matt K said:

I only saw a little but the water was looking a lot better from what I could see.  So hopefully they don't have the same issues as the divers.

They apparently gave up, drained the pool, and refilled it with fresh water

http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/rio-officials-drain-green-water-diving-pool-saturday-evening

[Kromm]

3 hours ago, kitcloudkicker said:

They apparently gave up, drained the pool, and refilled it with fresh water

http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/rio-officials-drain-green-water-diving-pool-saturday-evening

Yeah, it took 'em a while to come up with a plan.  It was always clear they couldn't simply pump in clean water from the city supply though.

And getting rid of the old water? This sounds far from ideal...

Quote

The dirty water will be disposed of using the city's sewage system, which has already come under intense scrutiny for dumping untreated waste into water that is being used for rowing, canoeing, sailing, triathlon and open water swimming.

And this is pretty funny.

Quote

Andrada stressed that Rio officials had been able to solve myriad issues plaguing the games, but conceded they were out of short-term options when it came to the green water. A day before, he attempted to explain trouble fixing the water by declaring that "chemistry is not an exact science."

Er. No. It is.  Chemistry is pretty much the definition of an exact science.  The failure points here are in measurement and data collection.

[Matt K]

Interesting article (http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/hosting-the-olympics-is-a-terrible-investment/), so despite everything Rio actually did a pretty good job of keeping cost overruns down. 

[galaxygirl76]

22 hours ago, Kromm said:

Yeah, it took 'em a while to come up with a plan.  It was always clear they couldn't simply pump in clean water from the city supply though.

And getting rid of the old water? This sounds far from ideal...

And this is pretty funny.

Er. No. It is.  Chemistry is pretty much the definition of an exact science.  The failure points here are in measurement and data collection.

They shoud have hired Walter White, he can make blue things.

[Sew Sumi]

The pool looks pretty blue today. It's a big improvement from yesterday or else they're diving somewhere else. Since I just switched over from gymnastics, I don't know if they changed venues. 

eta: Just got a look at the stands. It's the same venue. 

I STILL want to know what's in that water! Ick! 

Edited August 15, 2016 by Sew Sumi

[proserpina65]

On ‎08‎/‎11‎/‎2016 at 4:29 PM, Quilt Fairy said:

I'm surprised that chlorine is still the go-to chemical. The pool at the health club I belong to switched to other chemicals a few years ago, and I would assume that a brand new facility like the Olympics pool would be up-to-date.  I actually miss the chlorine smell on my skin after spending some time in the water.

That would require the officials in charge to be competent.  Pretty much everything at this Olympics has proven the Rio officials are the exact opposite.

On ‎08‎/‎11‎/‎2016 at 5:11 PM, xaxat said:

If the mighty NFL can fuck up a field to the point where it is unplayable, then I'm willing to put the pool incident into the "shit happens" category and not an indictment of he games as a whole.

If this was the only problem they've had, yeah, sure, but the pool issue is just a drop in the bucket, albeit a very large drop.

[Occasional Hope]

1 hour ago, Matt K said:

Interesting article (http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/hosting-the-olympics-is-a-terrible-investment/), so despite everything Rio actually did a pretty good job of keeping cost overruns down. 

It turns out that part of the way they kept costs down, and to pay to remedy the diving pool issues, was to take money that was supposed to be sent to help teams from poorer countries travel to the paralympics.  Now as many as 50 countries may not be able take part.  This is a real scandal imo.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/37074810

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-3739493/Paralympics-chief-demands-Rio-pays-overdue-cash-nations.html

[Matt K]

53 minutes ago, Occasional Hope said:

It turns out that part of the way they kept costs down, and to pay to remedy the diving pool issues, was to take money that was supposed to be sent to help teams from poorer countries travel to the paralympics.  Now as many as 50 countries may not be able take part.  This is a real scandal imo.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/37074810

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-3739493/Paralympics-chief-demands-Rio-pays-overdue-cash-nations.html

Wow, that's nuts. 

[roamyn]

Several people were injured when a light on the outside of the building where basketball is held, fell abt 60 feet.

[Kromm]

2 hours ago, Occasional Hope said:

It turns out that part of the way they kept costs down, and to pay to remedy the diving pool issues, was to take money that was supposed to be sent to help teams from poorer countries travel to the paralympics.  Now as many as 50 countries may not be able take part.  This is a real scandal imo.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/37074810

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-3739493/Paralympics-chief-demands-Rio-pays-overdue-cash-nations.html

Sounds like they need to cozy up to Coca-Cola and McDonalds and such and try and squeeze out more money from there.  

4 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

The pool looks pretty blue today. It's a big improvement from yesterday or else they're diving somewhere else. Since I just switched over from gymnastics, I don't know if they changed venues. 

eta: Just got a look at the stands. It's the same venue. 

I STILL want to know what's in that water! Ick! 

It was algae, and probably lots of unacknowledged bacteria, followed by tons of chlorine (which didn't quite do the trick), and then eventually new-ish (but not totally new) water that they switched from one of the practice pools, while pumping the green water into the city sewers.

[ZootSuitWyatt]

On 8/14/2016 at 5:19 PM, Kromm said:

Yeah, it took 'em a while to come up with a plan.  It was always clear they couldn't simply pump in clean water from the city supply though.

And getting rid of the old water? This sounds far from ideal...

And this is pretty funny.

Er. No. It is.  Chemistry is pretty much the definition of an exact science.  The failure points here are in measurement and data collection.

[walnutqueen]

2 hours ago, Occasional Hope said:

It turns out that part of the way they kept costs down, and to pay to remedy the diving pool issues, was to take money that was supposed to be sent to help teams from poorer countries travel to the paralympics.  Now as many as 50 countries may not be able take part.  This is a real scandal imo.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/37074810

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-3739493/Paralympics-chief-demands-Rio-pays-overdue-cash-nations.html

Such a travesty. 

[selkie]

A wildfire has broken out near the mountain biking venue, leading to a reported evacuation of the area:

http://olympics.cbc.ca/news/article/athletes-evacuated-fire-breaks-out-near-rio-mountain-bike-course.html

[Ohwell]

What next?  Locusts?

[merylinkid]

The true scandal is the paralympians who will not get to compete now because the Rio Committee was too busy partying to remember to get enough chemicals for the pool in the first place.

That is just sickening and should not be allowed.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Occasional Hope said:

It turns out that part of the way they kept costs down, and to pay to remedy the diving pool issues, was to take money that was supposed to be sent to help teams from poorer countries travel to the paralympics.  Now as many as 50 countries may not be able take part.  This is a real scandal imo.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/disability-sport/37074810

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-3739493/Paralympics-chief-demands-Rio-pays-overdue-cash-nations.html

But what they don't say here is that Rio ticket sales are tracking significantly behind London even though the ticket prices are half of London.  Paralympic tickets are even worse. Ticket sales and local sponsorship and public money are supposed to fund most of the Games and investment.

The revenue from the Games is usually 50% from broadcasting rights that go straight to the IOC and its the IOC discretion on how much they kick in.  Usually they do 30% to host city and 70% to them. 

Quote

Sounds like they need to cozy up to Coca-Cola and McDonalds and such and try and squeeze out more money from there.

That isn't going to help much.  International sponsorship revenue is split between IOC and host (evenly?, not sure).  I wonder if that influences the bid process.  I bet it cuts the IOC bottom line when countries with major international corporations can claim they are local.  I wonder if the IOC got any Coca Cola money at the Atlanta Games.  

Anyways, I digress,  its probably Rio's responsibility as part of the terms of the bid, but IOC can cut a check to fix this.  Rio shouldn't have taken on the responsibility of the Games in the first place but they probably have moved closer to the poorer countries that need support since their recession started.

Edited August 16, 2016 by ParadoxLost

[photo fox]

It can't be blamed on the pool situation, though. That article says the Paralympic grants were supposed to be paid in July. They weren't going to have the money in time regardless of anything that's happened this week.

Such a shame. The organizers deserve the jeers, but I can't help but feel sorry for them trying to put on the Games during an unforseen recession. 

I mean, Chicago was in the running, and at the time, I was really, really hoping it would happen. With the current state of Illinois government, though, not getting it turned out to be a huge blessing. What a cluster that would have been. 

[Minneapple]

Never mind, just saw this was posted above!

Edited August 16, 2016 by Minneapple

[Guest]

1 hour ago, photo fox said:

I mean, Chicago was in the running, and at the time, I was really, really hoping it would happen. With the current state of Illinois government, though, not getting it turned out to be a huge blessing. What a cluster that would have been. 

I suspect that 2024 will go to a US city (LA) because historically, the US cities get selected after economic disasters.  The US cities can't get a financially stupid (relatively speaking) bid past voters, but a not completely moronic bid doesn't get selected by the IOC unless the prior games were a financial catastrophe.

I need a different scandal to pop up.  I've gone from coping with bad primetime coverage with youtube videos of prior games to research papers on the economic history of the Olympic Games.

Edited August 16, 2016 by ParadoxLost

[dcalley]

Here's a weird one. A 61-year-old track coach was wearing an athlete's badge (for free cafeteria meals?) and took the athlete's urine test when he was out wearing the badge. 

[SnideAsides]

49 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

I suspect that 2024 will go to a US city (LA) because historically, the US cities get selected after economic disasters.

It's easy to win a games when you're the only bidders (Lake Placid and LA) or get it as a result of a bribery scandal (Salt Lake City).

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, SnideAsides said:

It's easy to win a games when you're the only bidders (Lake Placid and LA) or get it as a result of a bribery scandal (Salt Lake City).

Yes, financial disasters cause other bidders to drop out (like Montreal before LA) and then you get to take the Olympics without spending as much and reusing stadiums.

[legaleagle53]

17 minutes ago, SnideAsides said:

It's easy to win a games when you're the only bidders (Lake Placid and LA) or get it as a result of a bribery scandal (Salt Lake City).

LA and Lake Placid were the only bidders when they were awarded the 1932 Games in 1925.   The reason that, contrary to ParadoxLost's theory, LA isn't automatically a shoo-in for 2024 is not only that it has more competition this time around, but also that it's not considered the front-runner; Rome is because the other cities on the short list (Paris and Budapest) are security disasters waiting to happen, and also because the IOC takes a very dim view of countries *coughUScough* whose candidate cities have previously withdrawn their bids.  

Edited August 16, 2016 by legaleagle53

[Quilt Fairy]

Quote

I mean, Chicago was in the running, and at the time, I was really, really hoping it would happen. With the current state of Illinois government, though, not getting it turned out to be a huge blessing. What a cluster that would have been. 

I think we could have pulled it off.  I think Mayor Daley might have stayed on to head the organizing committee, having a Chicago games was his baby.  I remember the decision coming right around the time of the Beijing games. The weather there was horrid, it was raining every day and there were serious air quality concerns because of industrial pollution. And here in the Chicago area we were having the most spectacular August I could remember, 80 degrees and sunny every day for 3 weeks.  This August, by comparison, not so great, too hot and too humid.

Back on topic, did anyone else catch the diving competition they were trying to do with 40mph wind gusts?

[EVS]

I'm not sure if this belongs here ( I'm also posting it in the canoeing thread).  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2016/08/15/german-canoe-slalom-coach-stefan-henze-dies-from-injuries-suffered-in-rio-car-crash/