With games at halfway mark, Rio’s struggles continue
Security officer shot, killed when he wanders into slum
RIO DE JANEIRO — Rows of empty seats, green water, controlled explosions, stray bullets, the killing of a young policeman in a favela, muggings of team officials, an attack on a media bus, spotty weather, snarled traffic, long travel distances and lack of a Carnival atmosphere.
Halfway through the Olympics, Rio de Janeiro is still struggling with a litany of problems that have underlined the challenges of taking the games away from their traditional territories, and made clear they may not go to untested regions again in the near future.
The athletes have risen
to the occasion, the Brazilians have been welcoming and friendly, and TV pictures beamed around the world have featured Rio’s beautiful scenery and backdrops at their best.
But overall, Olympic officials and veterans say Rio has been beset by so many organizational issues that South America’s first games have been more disappointment than delight.
IOC Vice President John Coates told the BBC: “This has been the most difficult games we have ever encountered.”
Seven years ago, the International Olympic Committee selected Rio over Madrid, Tokyo and Chicago as the 2016 host city. Rio won because IOC members were convinced the time had come to go to South America. Back then, Brazil was a rising economic and political star on the world stage.
Today, Brazil is mired in a crippling recession, its suspended president is facing impeachment, and many politicians and business leaders are locked up in a massive corruption scandal.
In many parts of Rio, it’s hard to tell the city is hosting the Olympics. Dressing up the venues with the “look of the games” branding — logos, banners and other designs — has fallen short after a Ukrainian supplier failed to deliver.
“The good part is that the Brazilian fans are great and the Brazilian people are as helpful as can be,” Olympic historian David Wallechinsky told the AP. “The negative part is they are simply not prepared. They had seven years. They should have been able to get it together. They just didn’t.”
Wallechinsky, who is attending his 17th Olympics, added: “The negative part combines the last-minute preparedness of Athens 2004 with the incompetence of the organizers of Atlanta 1996 — the worst of the two.”
Rio organizers remain publicly upbeat.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said: “I think we’ll look back on these games as being a really good thing for the Olympic movement.”
The games have gone forward without major disruptions. Security is tight throughout the city, and more than a dozen Brazilians have been arrested after declaring loyalty to Islamic State.
Among the problems that have surfaced so far:
An Olympic security officer was fatally shot after taking a wrong turn into a dangerous slum.
Two Australian rowing coaches were attacked and robbed by two assailants, one with a knife, in Ipanema, and Portugal’s education minister was held up at knifepoint nearby.
Stray bullets have twice landed in the equestrian venue.
Two windows were shattered on a bus carrying journalists; Rio organizers blamed rocks, some claimed it was gunfire.
A German Olympic canoe coach, Stefan Henze, suffered life-threatening head injuries when a taxi he was riding in crashed into a concrete barrier near the Olympic Park.
Bomb squads set off several controlled explosions after finding unattended bags at venues and across the city.
The water at the diving and water polo pool turned green. Organizers blamed a contractor for mistakenly dumping hydrogen peroxide into the pool.