Rio’s Olympics 1 year later: The good, the bad, the ugly
RIO DE JANEIRO — Neymar kissed the ball, delivered a gold medal and then wept with other Brazilians.
Look no further if you’re searching for an iconic image of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
“It’s the only medal that really mattered,” Salvador Gaeta said recently while cycling in the deserted Olympic Park. “Every Brazilian will remember it.”
Other memories have faded at home since the Olympics opened a year ago. A few expectations were met, but many fell short of those promised by IOC President Thomas Bach and organizing committee head Carlos Nuzman.
Bach boasted at the closing ceremony of “a Rio de Janeiro before, and a much better Rio de Janeiro after the Olympic Games.”
Nuzman called Rio the next Barcelona, one of the cities clearly transformed by the games.
Save for minor cosmetic changes, a city fractured by mountains and searing inequality remains as it was. Violent crime mostly concealed during the Olympics is soaring, tied to Brazil’s deepest economic downturn in 100 years and unpaid policemen leaving in droves. Brazil’s military has been called in to quell Rio’s untethered violence.
Rio barely managed to keep it together for the Olympics, needed a government bailout to hold the Paralympics and then collapsed under a grinding recession and sprawling corruption scandals.
The games took place mostly in the south and west of the city, which remains white and wealthy. The rest is still a hodgepodge of dilapidated factories and hillside slums of cinderblocks, tin roofs and open troughs of raw sewage.
Brazil says it spent $13 billion in public and private money to organize the Olympics — some estimates suggest $20 billion — and many games-related
In this iconic photo from the 2016 Olympics, Brazil’s Neymar kisses the ball before scoring the decisive penalty kick during the final match at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
projects since then have been tied to corruption scandals that marred the games and drove up costs. Federal police and prosecutors have linked overpriced projects to graft between politicians and construction companies.
A look at the fallout since the Olympics opened: File, Leo Correa / The Associated Press
that didn’t benefit many local people.”
He said he skipped the Olympics because they were “too expensive” and far away in the suburbs.
Standing outside the new subway line, 57-yearold domestic worker Isa Trajano Fernandes said public transportation had improved but was still deficient.
“When the Olympics were going on it was better, but then they let it slide,” she said. use white elephant” sports venues. Many were built as part of real estate deals that have yet to pan out.
The park offers few amenities: no restaurants, no shade and nothing much to do except gawk at deserted arenas. City hall officials and the federal government say they’re planning an event for Saturday to “fill all the arenas” for the day.