The Five Issues That Are Clouding the Rio Olympics

(Photo: The Quint)

There are only two weeks to go for the Rio Olympics and, unfortunately, the buzz is not about the quadrennial sports event but everything else which can ruin it.

Several athletes have already pulled out due to the menace of Zika virus and ISIS has also made promises to make life difficult for the sportspersons.

On top of that, since the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rejected Russia’s appeal against the ban on the Russian athletic team, there are chances of the entire Russian contingent getting banned from the Olympics.

The athletics team was banned last November by the IAAF after an independent report uncovered rampant state-sponsored doping in Russian athletics.

Can Rio win over all the problems and host a successful Olympics?

The Quint takes a look at the five issues that are clouding the 2016 Summer Olympics.

1. The Zika Virus

A city worker fumigates to combat the Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes that transmit the Zika virus, at the San Judas Community in San Salvador, El Salvador, on Tuesday, 26 January 2016. (Photo: AP)

The golf and tennis contingent at the Rio Olympics have taken a huge blow due to the Zika virus. Golf will be missing nine players which include Rory McIlroy, Vijay Singh, Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen, Shane Lowry, Charl Schwartzel, Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, and Jordan Spieth.

And the tennis players – Thomas Berdych, Dominic Thiem, Feliciano Lopez, Bernard Tomic, Nick Kyrgios, Milos Raonic and Simona Halep along with the cyclist Tejay van Garderen have also withdrawn from the Olympics.

2. Terror Attacks

Brazilian marines stand in formation during a training drill simulating a terrorist attack on a ferryboat, ahead of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo: AP)

On the eve of hosting the world’s largest sporting event, Rio de Janeiro’s decade-long push to curb violence in hundreds of slums appears to be crumbling.

Murders rose sharply in the first half of 2016, just as officials wanted to use the 5-21 August Olympic Games to showcase the city as a tourist destination. Shootouts erupt daily, even in Rio slums where community policing programs created to pacify them had successfully rewritten the narrative in recent years.

Ten Brazilians who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State militant group were arrested on Thursday, authorities announced, describing them as “amateurs” who discussed on social media the possibility of staging attacks during next month’s Olympics.

Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes said in the capital, Brasilia, that the 10 were being held on two terrorism-related charges and that two more people were being sought.

3. Russia’s Doping Scandal

File photo of Russia coach Alexey Melnikov with track athletes at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. (Photo: AP)

The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected Russia’s appeal on Thursday against the exclusion of its track and field athletes from the Rio Games starting on 5 August.

The ruling by the CAS, sport’s highest tribunal, will be taken into consideration by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as it ponders whether to impose a blanket ban on Russia from all sports.

Russian track and field athletes were banned from international competition in November after an independent commission set up by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) found rampant state-sponsored doping in Russian athletics.

4. Brazil’s Financial Crisis

A man walks past posters with products prices outside a market in Rio de Janeiro. (Photo: Reuters)

Two weeks before the Games begin, Brazil’s worst recession in decades is biting deep into the lives of more than 12 million people who live in and around this coastal city, stoking resentment over the some 40 billion reais ($12 billion) spent on Olympic projects.

State pensioners and employees, including teachers, health workers and police, have been getting paid late or not at all.

The governor of the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro declared a state of financial emergency on 17 June, requesting federal funds to help fulfill obligations for public services during the Olympics.

Many residents are unhappy that so-called Olympic legacy projects, including a new subway line and bus corridors, do little to help most of the population, instead further benefiting upscale districts.

On Tuesday, a leading pollster said half the Brazilians it surveyed are opposed to hosting the Olympics and 63 percent believe the Games bring more costs than benefits.

5. Polluted Water

Brazilian Olympic team sailor Robert Scheidt sails his laser yacht during a training session in Rio de Janeiro. (Photo: Reuters)

At the venue of the events – sailing, rowing and open water swimming, high levels of viruses and bacteria have been found. Off Rio’s coast, a strand of super bacteria has also been detected.

The athletes competing in the events mentioned above will have to take a lot of precaution before and after their competition.

(With inputs from AP and Reuters)