boltonblue

Here is a clever idea.
let's hold a sporting event in the midst of a health crisis with millions of folks expected to travel in for the event and then go home.
Zika is nasty stuff.

So the good news is it is not directly communicable but requires mosquitoes, unless you also consider sexual transmission.
They could basically chemically nuke the cities where games will be held before the games to suppress the skeeters.
I don't really think that is viable. the area is to big and too undeveloped.

Sadly there is a lot of money involved so rational thinking will not be in the fore.
simply stated, holding the games is just dumb.

NNY S2k

I'm going to pass on attending the games this summer
Levi

MsPerky

I would not go. There have been efforts to introduce genetically modified mosquitoes which breed with the Zika ones and kill them in affected areas like Key West. But the residents said no, in spite of a success rate of over 90%.

Zippy

Zika is just the flavor of the moment with these games.
The water is a danger to any athlete that might have an open water event pollution
Crime and poverty go hand in hand in Rio (Sao Paulo can be scary too, but I digress)

I love Brazil (other than Rio and Sao Paulo), but they are a poor country with no real means to fix their problems before the Olympics. I am not sure what the IOC was thinking when they picked Rio, but he whole idea makes bad sense, IMHO.

MsPerky

^ You are right that there are many other reasons Rio was a bad choice. I have a suspicion bribes/corruption were involved. Would not be much of a surprise.

toekneer

I'm also going to pass on having sex with anyone who went to the games.

Sent by carrier pigeon

boltonblue

Golf returned to the Olympics this year.
Several top pros who would be the picks for their respective countries have already announced, Zika?? no I'll pass.

tof

It's getting harder and harder to think about the IOC without thinking of FIFA. Both are organizations initially formed for lofty purposes that are now run by venial men who look first to line their own pockets and to enhance their personal power. So sad for the amateur and semi-professional athletes who train for years in pursuit of Olympic glory.

boltonblue

Australian contingent reviewed the places they are supposed to stay and said that they are uninhabitable.

gonna be a great games.
new event will be the dysentary sprint.

zdave87

During the relay races, they will not be passing batons, it will be fly swatters instead.