Cancel this year's olympics?

[Hyve]

Dude, we are not fucking ready and it was obvious we wouldn't be since before the coup. In 2013 there were GIANT protests against both events. Just to make things worse, we're going throug a "political, economical, social, ethical, everything" crisis since late 2014/early 2015, there's the big zika problem going on and we've just impeached our lazy, corrupt, useless "presidenta".

The issue I have is that despite all of this, and despite your national protests, both your own Government went ahead with the bid, and the Olympic body awarded it to you. Don't get me wrong, you absolutely shouldn't have won it, nor should you host it, but that's a decision that has been made, and the preparations should be nearing completion.

Whatever issues Brazil has, the Olympics was the chance to showcase you're getting, or gotten past them. If the Olympics are abandoned this years, billions of dollars of infrastructure goes to waste, the vast amount of resources spent on training and preparation, goes to waste, the people who bought to tickets will be given refunds, and so much money is just wasted and Brazil slips into an even bigger slump.

You've got time, you just need to sort the issues. Clean up the committees and companies doing the work, do everything you can against the Zika virus, and just hope that everything goes to plan. Otherwise, it's just going to showcase Brazil as a third world country.

[Wildtree]

Hey now, I took this thread as an inspiration to watch Olympic videos on Youtube. Us normal people not posting here doesn't mean we don't care. :P

Having said that, I'm all for banning Russia entirely.

Hey, I didn't make any specific mentions now did I?
Someone who has the logo of a sports club in their avatar is apparently in touch with real life sports. You're good there.

Banning Russia.. For what? The doping scandal?
Hmmm... I could go for that.
But.
Aren't they only the ones dumb enough to be caught?
Not for a moment would I buy that they are the only ones.
China and the US do the exact same thing, just clever enough to not be caught.
I actually have another take on the issue.
Do away with the doping check hypocrisy.
Athletes from all nations do it. And it's just a matter of who gets caught who doesn't.
Hypocrisy because doping checks are in place to ensure fair play. To not have one gain an unfair advantage over another.
And that used to make sense at some point. That point however got lost when they lifted the amateur restrictions.
When professional athletes were allowed to compete in the Olympics that fair play motive went out the window.
Let them dope the fuck out of themselves. It's their bodies they're ruin with it.
And if everyone's allowed to do it, the field is leveled out again.

[Slant]

Hey, I didn't make any specific mentions now did I?
Someone who has the logo of a sports club in their avatar is apparently in touch with real life sports. You're good there.

Banning Russia.. For what? The doping scandal?
Hmmm... I could go for that.
But.
Aren't they only the ones dumb enough to be caught?
Not for a moment would I buy that they are the only ones.
China and the US do the exact same thing, just clever enough to not be caught.
I actually have another take on the issue.
Do away with the doping check hypocrisy.
Athletes from all nations do it. And it's just a matter of who gets caught who doesn't.
Hypocrisy because doping checks are in place to ensure fair play. To not have one gain an unfair advantage over another.
And that used to make sense at some point. That point however got lost when they lifted the amateur restrictions.
When professional athletes were allowed to compete in the Olympics that fair play motive went out the window.
Let them dope the fuck out of themselves. It's their bodies they're ruin with it.
And if everyone's allowed to do it, the field is leveled out again.

Well, that's one way of looking at it. But the problem really is that you're taking the F1 route and soon it'll be about who invests more money into biotech and who has the better drug company behind them. And gone will be the days when it's still largely about the athleticism.

[Flutterguy]

They need to stop hosting the Olympics in shitty countries.

[Slant]

They need to stop hosting the Olympics in shitty countries.

Again, hosting a big sports even like that is a major economic boost. Consider it a form of charity.

[Wildtree]

Well, that's one way of looking at it. But the problem really is that you're taking the F1 route and soon it'll be about who invests more money into biotech and who has the better drug company behind them. And gone will be the days when it's still largely about the athleticism.

I know what you mean, and I am sharing your sentiment.
I just believe that we already have that situation.
And for now it's just about who can hide it better, who has the better drugs that are undetected, and if needs be who bribes the control system better.

[Slant]

I know what you mean, and I am sharing your sentiment.
I just believe that we already have that situation.
And for now it's just about who can hide it better, who has the better drugs that are undetected, and if needs be who bribes the control system better.

I think this is the angle from which we should attack the issue. Corruption seems to be deep in sports. We need to bring sportsmanship back into sports. There is too much money involved and that money attracts criminal elements.

[Wildtree]

Again, hosting a big sports even like that is a major economic boost. Consider it a form of charity.

That is the intent.
But we know that this isn't the case anymore, sadly.
Commercial interests have long taken over. Local businesses cannot benefit from the events, since that's already handed over to big corporations and their exclusive contracts.
Wanna sell your beer? Forget about it, it's Budweiser time now.
Wanna sell your food? Forget about that too, it's McDonald's time.
You get the idea.
Think back 2006 WM .. We had that problem first hand in good old G.
Football, Olympics, same commercialization in place, with the same companies benefiting over local businesses.

[Flutterguy]

Again, hosting a big sports even like that is a major economic boost. Consider it a form of charity.

Actually it's a massive economic cost to whoever hosts it usually because it's a highly expensive investment for a short term event especially if the host has to build stadiums. Los Angeles, for instance, was an exception because they didn't have to build any new stadiums(they used the Rose Bowl and Coliseum respectively for much of the events).

[Wildtree]

Actually it's a massive economic cost to whoever hosts it usually because it's a highly expensive investment for a short term event especially if the host has to build stadiums. Los Angeles, for instance, was an exception because they didn't have to build any new stadiums(they used the Rose Bowl and Coliseum respectively for much of the events).

My city was a host city for the 2006 World Cup.
The city still pays on the loans needed for the stadium restorations needed to make it WC requirement compliant.
The economic impact of the WC was near zero for the city itself.

[Slant]

That is the intent.
But we know that this isn't the case anymore, sadly.
Commercial interests have long taken over. Local businesses cannot benefit from the events, since that's already handed over to big corporations and their exclusive contracts.
Wanna sell your beer? Forget about it, it's Budweiser time now.
Wanna sell your food? Forget about that too, it's McDonald's time.
You get the idea.
Think back 2006 WM .. We had that problem first hand in good old G.
Football, Olympics, same commercialization in place, with the same companies benefiting over local businesses.

You're forgetting VAT going to Germany's coffers, Tourism increasing a shitton since people discovered we don't actually eat babies or burn Jews anymore, the new stadiums being financed leading to more revenue for clubs, etc. There are a lot of secondary contributions to our economy outside of the big sponsoring deals. Now, that Brazil won't be able to exploit on either the FIFA WC or Olympics is something we knew beforehand. But they could, if they wanted to. In the end, if you only want to host it in nations that can deal with such sport events, you'll end up doing it in either NA or Europe or Australia. And that's it.

I'm all for taking big money out of sports, but on the other hands, it does enable for some spectacular games.

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Actually it's a massive economic cost to whoever hosts it usually because it's a highly expensive investment for a short term event especially if the host has to build stadiums. Los Angeles, for instance, was an exception because they didn't have to build any new stadiums(they used the Rose Bowl and Coliseum respectively for much of the events).

It's not a huge cost if you do it right. If you fuck up, it'll cost you an arm and a leg. But you can be smart about it. Take Germany, we had a severe need to rebuilt stadiums anyway. The WC just forced everyone to do it at the same time. And suddenly, after WC 2006, Germany had a shitton of shiny new stadiums. But then, we do fill them up every weekend. :P

So, I guess if you want to be efficient, you don't host this shit in third world countries. But it attracts a lot of tourism and rich folks to the country. It creates opportunities that go well beyond the sporting even itself.

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My city was a host city for the 2006 World Cup.
The city still pays on the loans needed for the stadium restorations needed to make it WC requirement compliant.
The economic impact of the WC was near zero for the city itself.

If only they played in the first league... :P

Good luck on that promotion match.

[ranzino]

The map mentioned is still silly, as Austria is a NATO-Member and the map showed Germany as still divided. Map is from late 80's as best guess.

btw: Tokyo will be host of the 2020 olympics; the idea of "let a prepared country do it" was not lost on IOC completely.

[Deleted]

My city was a host city for the 2006 World Cup.
The city still pays on the loans needed for the stadium restorations needed to make it WC requirement compliant.
The economic impact of the WC was near zero for the city itself.

Iowa is in Germany now, lol? The 2006 World Cup was bought by Germany though, lots of bribing was used to secure it.

[Wildtree]

If only they played in the first league... :P

Good luck on that promotion match.

thanks lol
Not sure whether I would have liked Werder over Eintracht.
Neither whether we're ready for a promotion yet again.

Still, that WC was rather a curse than a blessing for us. We're stuck with that damn multi purpose stadium forever I guess.
I love it, it's part of my life forever. Seen my first game in there. Went with it through all the transitions it experienced. And it's one of the country's most beautiful stadiums.
But, we want a football stadium with no tracks, stands close to the pitch.
With those fans we have, that would be like Dortmund, Schalke, Kaiserslautern type of atmosphere.
You know the stuff that only happens in the Arrogance arena when 60 has a top game

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Iowa is in Germany now, lol? The 2006 World Cup was bought by Germany though, lots of bribing was used to secure it.

Franconia is in Germany.
Some people live in two countries, you know lol

[Slant]

thanks lol
Not sure whether I would have liked Werder over Eintracht.
Neither whether we're ready for a promotion yet again.

Still, that WC was rather a curse than a blessing for us. We're stuck with that damn multi purpose stadium forever I guess.
I love it, it's part of my life forever. Seen my first game in there. Went with it through all the transitions it experienced. And it's one of the country's most beautiful stadiums.
But, we want a football stadium with no tracks, stands close to the pitch.
With those fans we have, that would be like Dortmund, Schalke, Kaiserslautern type of atmosphere.
You know the stuff that only happens in the Arrogance arena when 60 has a top game

What, you mean like two entire levels being off limits so the few fans that attend can be concentrated on the lowest level so there's a resemblance of a full stadium on tv camera?

Yeah, I'd hate you to try and fill a 70,000 people arena without having nearly as many fans to begin with. It's not like there's any club that could easily sell 500k seats but don't want to, because that's just decadent.

Ah, football talk... the best there is!

[Wildtree]

What, you mean like two entire levels being off limits so the few fans that attend can be concentrated on the lowest level so there's a resemblance of a full stadium on tv camera?

You mean 1860s games?
Agreed, that's a pathetic thing for them to play that big stadium.

Yeah, I'd hate you to try and fill a 70,000 people arena without having nearly as many fans to begin with. It's not like there's any club that could easily sell 500k seats but don't want to, because that's just decadent.

The derby Bayern : Glubb can easily sell a quarter mio tickets every time.
That's an insane popular pairing.

Ah, football talk... the best there is!

indeed lol

[Felnoire]

The rise of Zika is likely the only real issue that's arisen in Brazil since they hosted the world cup that wasn't there before, yet were able to host the contest. Yes the olympics is bigger in scale, but if they've managed to keep up their bid's promises it shouldn't be any different. Zika's new, it's not fully understood, but with simple precautions the main method of transmission can be blocked. Though the sexual transmissible nature is a problem, if the likes of AIDS and HIV (which are worse than Zika) don't convince people to practice safe sex then it's likely there will be an increase in transmission rates. The worst aspect of Zika is it's links to the birth defect microcephaly, and the rarer adult condition Guillain-Barré syndrome. GBS is rare in Zika cases, while the birth defect effects are liable to increase depending how early the virus infects the developing fetus. Of course it's not recommended for a pregnant woman to be doing a lot of travelling to begin with (partially for this very reason of picking up viruses), so not sure how much this will be a problem during the Olympics.
But if the organizers and the visiting public take the appropriate preventative measures, the risk should be minimized. Probably should point out Zika isn't even the nastiest disease making the rounds in mosquito bites, nor is it the league of the big sexually transmitted diseases. So people going to Rio should've already been taking preventative measures centered around those transmission vectors.
So no, if people are aware and doing what they should've been doing anyway when visiting another country there is no reason to postpone the Olympics in Rio.

[breadisfunny]

Brazil hosted the world cup in 2014 just fine. I'm sure they will do just fine with hosting the olympics. Zika only really harms pregnant people, and the mosquitoes that carry it don't really live outside of the tropics, so yeah.

and from that world cup we got the zika virus.

[Felnoire]

and from that world cup we got the zika virus.

Brazil's outbreak began in 2015 around April. Zika was first isolated in 1947 with it first shown to have been able to infect humans in the 1950s. Though the first actual Zika infected human was earlier as they only discovered that due to antibodies and outright immunity of those within their study. So why do you think it was from the world cup we got Zika?

[Crissi]

Apparantly Zika region hopped to Brazil in mid 2013. So before the WC. I still think it's a bad idea to increase the chance of region hopping by holding a major event in an area with an epidemic