A disaster? Let´s see...
As a Brazilian, and following the news and social media, I could tell you that it is already a disaster, from the organization / management perspective.
There so many problems that I would need many forum pages to detail. But some key problems right now are:
- Transportation - the Olympic Park and Village are located very far from the other regions of the city, the bus service is messy and the traffic is really heavy.
- Water - still polluted and unsafe in natural venues.
- Security - athletes had personal belongings stolen inside the Olympic Village, while other already had issues in other parts of the city. The chinese basketball team was caught in a cross-fire while going from the airport to the village.
- Incomplete constructions / infrastructure - several issues still unsolved in the Olympic Village and in some competition venues.
As from the competition perspective, I think the Olympics may deliver as always.
This is what people will actually see when they turn their TVs on:
- athletes displaying great performances and, hopefully, great sportsmanship, some of them getting surprise wins against favourites,
- the enthusiastic Brazilian fans enjoying the Games and making a hell of a party everywhere, with their humorous and laid-back behavior, even if they don´t understand most of the sports contested.
- tourists having fun and enjoying the beautiful sights of the city, its fun tours and breathtaking natural landscapes.
(I hope that local fans at least try to be polite.....bad ' 07 PanAm Games memories..... some people were rude in the USA x NZ soccer match yesterday but fortunately they were a minority)
On Saturday I´ll be attending women´s soccer, but not in Rio. I ´ve already seen many volunteers complaining about the lack of a work schedule and insufficient people, but soon I will find out by myself.
