Should the Olympics stay or should they move?
Games of the XXXI Olympiad are still set to take place this summer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil amid all of the controversy surrounding the event. The Zika virus has now spread to 60 countries, but the World Health Organization (WHO) recently released a statement, “canceling or changing the location of the 2016 Olympics will not significantly alter the international spread of Zika virus.”[i]
While the Zika virus is a large issue, it is not the only issue looming over these games. Brazil’s infrastructure for the games is behind its scheduled completion, much like every Olympic games for the past twenty years, and the financial crisis in Brazil has gotten much worse since the country hosted the 2014 World Cup. Just last week, the acting Governor, Francisco Dornelles, of Rio de Janeiro declared a state of financial disaster. This call was prompted to allow Dornelles to make sure Rio pays the fiduciary duties that the country is responsible to uphold to host the Games they applied for.[ii]
Many Olympic athletes have expressed their concerns with traveling to Brazil for the competition, and a number of other athletes have even withdrawn their names from teams traveling to the games. Other organizations have promoted protesting the games. The conditions in Brazil are not healthy for it’s citizens and they are not healthy for the rest of the world. There is no doubt that the Zika virus will spread because of these games, unless a cure for the disease is miraculously discovered before the Games start in less than two months.
Brazil invested more than $3 billion to build seven new stadiums and renovate five existing stadiums for the FIFA World Cup in 2014. FIFA regulates that only eight stadiums are needed to host the games, but Brazil decided that wasn’t nearly enough. Just one year after the event, the majority of the stadiums are going unused and they are still hemorrhaging money from the taxpayers and gouging the country’s finances.[iii] For the Olympic Games, more than just stadiums will need to be built to host the games; public transportation and housing the athletes, coaches, media and tourists need to be built in a country that is hunting for every penny available to pay for far greater issues than hosting a sporting event. The country is facing a financial collapse that will undoubtedly not be shown during the TV coverage to keep the event in a positive light.
All of these issues facing the Games begs the question, should the United States just host all of the Olympic Games in the future? It would prevent countries that want the international spotlight without the financial capabilities from stretching their budgets to build stadium infrastructure, public transportation and housing accommodations that already exist in a majority of the cities that have multiple professional teams in the United States. The Center for Disease Control is already here, and is in Atlanta, GA – where the last Summer Olympic Games on American soil took place in 1996.
Anne Sewell, who volunteered and worked for the Atlanta Olympic Bid Committee from 1990-1993, expressed, “The media is going to find something wrong with every Olympics, no matter where they are.” And added that if she were an athlete getting ready for the Games, “There’s no doubt I would still compete despite the threat – these athletes have worked their whole life for this, and they’ve traveled to countries and areas that might have worse diseases. All that matters is getting the gold medal wrapped around your neck.”
Also chiming in on the issue, Kip Bray of Atlanta said of the Summer Games in Rio, “I think it’d be easier for the United States to host, but what would we get out of it? All of the risks for a small reward. I think the [International Olympic Committee] just needs to award host cities more responsibly.” As a basketball fan who looks most forward to Team USA’s gold medal defense, “I can understand not risking injury and disease in basketball when [Team USA] is a heavy favorite and you have an NBA career or when you have other events during your summer season like golf, but for some of the sports that only get televised during the Olympics, I would undoubtedly compete no matter the circumstance.”
Whether the games should be delayed, moved or canceled is out of our hands as the Games are less than two months away. The United States is undoubtedly one of the most capable countries to host the event, but should we get involved with the Olympic burden? The exhausting amount of terrorist threats, disease spreading, tourist’s overrunning the cities and the financial responsibilities are taxing. The issue might not be that the Olympics are ‘too big to fail,’ the issue might instead be that the Olympics are too big to place the burden on one city.
[i] “Postpone or move Olympics, doctors urge” http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/27/health/zika-virus-olympic-games-health-officials-postpone/
[ii] “Rio acting governor declares financial disaster” http://espn.go.com/olympics/story/_/id/16291306/rio-de-janeiro-acting-governor-declares-state-financial-disaster-ahead-olympics
[iii] “Brazil's $3 billion World Cup stadiums are becoming white elephants a year later” http://www.businessinsider.com/brazil-world-cup-stadiums-one-year-later-2015-5