Commentary: Brazil not prepared to handle Olympics

By Gregory Clay

Hospital wards. Security breaches. Cops and robbers. Sum of all fears. International intrigue.

The International Olympic Committee thought it was doing South America a favor by granting the continent its first Summer Games. Bad move. World developments affecting the Olympics tell us so.

Start with health: The Zika virus has been a nightmare. The mosquito-transmitted infection was discovered in the Zika forest in Uganda in 1947 and is common in Africa and parts of Asia. It began to spread to the Western Hemisphere in 2015 with outbreaks in Brazil. An infection is especially troublesome to pregnant women because it can cause microcephaly in babies, in which their heads are smaller than normal and deformed, as well as blindness and deafness.

Savannah Guthrie, an anchorwoman for NBC's Today show who is pregnant, announced that she would not cover the Summer Olympics because of concerns regarding the virus. And several of the world's top golfers and other athletes have withdrawn.

The over-budget, $20 billion Brazilian boondoggle should be a lesson to us all:

The preparation for these Olympics could use the likes of Hercules and Zeus to right the ship and make opening deadline. Rio de Janeiro, which beat out Chicago, Madrid, and Tokyo for the right to host the Games, is facing venue construction issues. Will all of the structures be ready by Friday? Time will tell.

The IOC should either choose four or five sophisticated cities to host the Olympics on a rotating basis or showcase the Games in their birthplace, Greece, and have regular infrastructure improvements subsidized by the IOC.

Rio de Janeiro also is known for major traffic congestion; that's why state officials ordered schools closed during the Games. So students will pay the price while athletes compete for glory.

Some of them will do so in some of the dirtiest water in the world. It seems every sordid object and substance, from dead bodies to raw sewage, has been seen in Rio's waters. Brazil's lack of water management surely will affect athletes.

The IOC should be ashamed of itself for awarding the Games to Rio. One commenter on social media recently posted, "Any country where people regularly eat from dumpsters and landfills should reevaluate their priorities."

What about guns, thieves, and fear?

In June, two members of the Australian Paralympic sailing squad were robbed of their bicycles at gunpoint, prompting Australia's exasperated Olympic team leader to plead with Brazilian authorities to implement Olympic-scale security "before an athlete gets hurt." The Australian Olympic Committee also is boycotting the athletes' village, claiming the housing quarters are unsafe, unsanitary, and unready.

New Zealand's Jason Lee, a jiu-jitsu athlete living in Rio, was kidnapped on July 23 and forced to withdraw money from an ATM at gunpoint.

"Things are getting uglier here every day," posted Brazilian soccer great Rivaldo. "I advise everyone with plans to visit Brazil for the Olympics in Rio to stay home. You'll be putting your life at risk here. This is without even speaking about the state of public hospitals and all the Brazilian political mess. Only God can change the situation in our Brazil."

God is a much higher order than Hercules or Zeus. Brazil may need all three to prevent a terrorist attack. In mid-July, Brazilian law enforcement agencies arrested at least 10 members of an Islamist extremist group scattered across nine states called the Defenders of Sharia; they reportedly were an "amateur cell" plotting to wage attacks at the Games.

Something tells me the Olympics won't resurface in South America again. And if that part of the globe cannot handle the Games, then any city in Africa, from Cairo to Casablanca to Capetown, can forget about it, too.

Gregory Clay is a Washington columnist. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.