Olympics

[TheCatt]

Court upholds current ban

Sergey Shubenkov, the world champion in 110-meter hurdles, told the Russian sports site, R-Sport, the if the ruling goes against him, "I will get drunk."

[Malcolm]

Quote of the day.

[Malcolm]

Housing conditions are five-star.

Sunday was supposed to be move-in day for many athletes, but the leader of the Australian Olympic delegation said its athletes would not be checking in because of problems with the gas, electricity and plumbing.

The opening ceremony for the Rio Games is scheduled for Aug. 5.

Among the issues with housing units at the village are “blocked toilets, leaking pipes and exposed wiring,” said Kitty Chiller, a former Olympic pentathlete whose title is chef de mission in Rio de Janeiro for the Australian Olympic Committee. There is also bad lighting in many stairwells and “dirty floors in need of a massive clean,” she said in a written statement.

“Water has come through the ceiling resulting in large puddles on the floor around cabling and wiring,” Ms. Chiller said.

Ms. Chiller said that delegations from Britain, New Zealand and other countries were experiencing similar problems in the village, which is in an area of western Rio called Barra da Tijuca. Attempts to reach those delegations were not successful.

[Malcolm]

No ban for Russia, says IOC.

[Malcolm]

Individual bans appear to be a go.

even Russian swimmers have been barred from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, including three linked to recent allegations of a major doping cover-up by Russian authorities, world swimming’s governing body FINA said Monday.

Reigning world 100-meter breaststroke champion Yulia Efimova is among four Russian swimmers withdrawn by the Russian swimming federation because they previously served doping bans, FINA said.

IOC dude with a name that no doubt has haunted him throughout his life argues why not banning everyone is bullshit.

Former World Anti-Doping Agency president Dick Pound believes it was a "cop-out" by the IOC to leave the decision on participation of Russian athletes at the Rio Games to the global sports federations.

[Malcolm]

Jiu-jitsu competitor robbed in Rio.

“What did you guys get up to yesterday? I got kidnapped. Go Olympics! #Rio2016,” he tweeted.

In a more detailed post on his Facebook page, Lee claims the men threatened to apprehend him if he did not meet his demands for “a large sum of money.

“I’m not sure what’s more depressing, the fact this stuff is happening to foreigners so close to the Olympic Games or the fact that Brazilians have to live in a society that enables this absolute bulls*** on a daily basis,” he wrote.

“I was threatened with arrest if I did not get in their private car and accompany them to two ATMs to withdraw a large sum of money for a bribe.

“This place is well and truly f***ked in every sense of the word imaginable.”

[Malcolm]

Zika linked to miscarriages. So ... the athletes that juice and are banned might suffer lower reproductive rates from the 'roids, and the ones that end up going to Rio might also see lower reproductive rates. Bravo.

[Leisher]

Riots on the torch route.

NBC has different video.

Best Olympics ever!

[Malcolm]

Today's Olympic dump:

Guess whose weightlifters got banned?

Why the fuck would anyone host the Olympics?

The IOC loves to present itself as a force for good in international relations. But the Russian drug scandal is a reminder that, as in the three successive Games in the 1970s and 80s at which one bloc or another staged major boycotts, the Olympics can be an irritant rather than soothing balm.

The humanitarian cost? A decade ago the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) reckoned that in the previous 20 years, starting with 720,000 forced evictions before Seoul 1988, more than two million people had lost their homes to provide Olympic venues. That was before a final figure could be estimated for Beijing 2008, let alone Rio. Sadly COHRE now seems to be defunct; perhaps the office was demolished.

Cities backing out of hosting bids.

It was an extraordinary session, called to address “the challenges we are already facing and, more important, the challenges we can already see on the horizon”. Bach was not referring to Russia’s state doping regimen, or Rio’s readiness for the 31st Summer Games which begins a week on Friday, but another problem entirely, one that, to the International Olympic Committee’s hive mind, felt altogether more pressing. While those two headline issues have damaged its brand, this third, far less reported, may ruin its business.

Two months earlier, Oslo had cancelled its bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics because there was so little public support for it. Earlier in the year, Stockholm withdrew for similar reasons. Krakow also cancelled after a referendum found almost 70% of residents opposed the bid. For Munich’s bid, the figure was nearer 60%. For Davos, it was 53%. In Barcelona, the mayor deferred until 2026, then canned the plan altogether. A similar thing happened in Quebec City. So from nine candidates, the IOC was left with two potential hosts. One was Almaty, in the dictatorship of Kazakhstan, and the other was Beijing, not hitherto noted as one of the world’s great winter sports resorts. Beijing won, though most of the events will be held 140 miles away in Chongli.

It is not just the winter cities with cold feet. In 2015 the US nominated Boston for the 2024 Summer Games, until Boston withdrew because of low public support. Germany nominated Hamburg but it pulled out after the local government lost another referendum. Toronto’s mooted bid was scrapped when its economic development committee voted against it. Right now, the four candidate cities are Rome, Budapest, Los Angeles and Paris. In Hungary, the supreme court has just blocked a proposed referendum. And in Italy, Rome’s new mayor, Virginia Raggi, has repeatedly said she opposes the bid, and the Italian Radical Party has been gathering signatures needed to force a referendum.

And finally, Rio looks forward to the games.

Journalist Helena Chagas is former communications minister to suspended Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, who is facing an impeachment trial for breaking budget laws.

She told The Sun said: “There is not a shred of enthusiasm among the population for the Olympics.

“Most people feel the same as they did before the 2014 World Cup — they think it’s a waste of time, energy and money, and resources would be better spent on health and education.” ...
Last month even the state governor of Rio, Francisco Dornelles, admitted that the Games could be a “huge flop”.

Authorities did begin efforts to clean up the Guanabara but last year the effort was interrupted after money dried up and workers went unpaid for five months.

The International Olympic Committee and the Government insist they are only using the cleanest sections of the bay for competitions and that the risk to competitors is minimal.

Translation: if you capsize in the water, we hope you brought your own mobile hospital. Otherwise you have the finest Brazilian doctors available. They just might not be medical doctors.

[Leisher]

Security team fired.

The unpaid cops will be taking over.

Of the 3,400 people they were supposed to hire for security, they currently have 500.

[Malcolm]

If only the mayor of Rio got caught on tape playing a fiddle or lyre when the eventual shit goes down.

[Leisher]

To the 1,400 athletes who compete in water sports (not the peeing kind you sick bastards), Try not to go underwater or you're probably going to get really, really sick.

[Leisher]

Brazilians are pissed at Hope Solo.

Because fearing all the dangers of where you're going is somehow wrong?

[Malcolm]

Want to molest potential future gold medal winners but don't want all the busywork of stalking multiple targets? You can always coach gymnastics.

An IndyStar investigation uncovered multiple examples of children suffering the consequences, including a Georgia case in which a coach preyed on young female athletes for seven years after USA Gymnastics dismissed the first of four warnings about him.

In a 2013 lawsuit filed by one of that coach’s victims, two former USA Gymnastics officials admitted under oath that the organization routinely dismissed sexual abuse allegations as hearsay unless they came directly from a victim or victim’s parent.

Legal experts and child advocates expressed alarm about that approach, saying the best practice is to report every allegation to authorities. Laws in every state require people to report suspected child abuse.

[Leisher]

They lost the keys to the fucking stadium and had to break in...

If someone wrote a movie about Olympics gone wrong and included all the stuff that's actually happening in Rio, people would bash it for being unrealistic.

[Malcolm]

That seems like the premise for a K&P sketch.

[Stranger]

Looks like I'll be watching some Olympic golf.

http://nesn.com/2016/08/rios-olympic-go ... ts-snakes/

Supposedly the course is overrun with rodents, snakes, crocs and other critters.

“There are also three-toed sloths, monkeys, boa constrictors and caimans, a small crocodile that doesn’t usually grow beyond five feet in length. They frequent holes 2, 3, 5 and 9.”

HAHA! I can't wait to watch Bubba Watson try and hit a golf shot with a 150 pound rodent hovering over his golf ball!

[Malcolm]

A large rodent chewing grass on a golf course is still a million times more entertaining than golf itself.

[TPRJones]

It sounds like the golfers will only have the potential to come into contact with any of that wildlife if they end up in a water hazard or in the rough. I would hope that olympic level golfers aren't likely to end up in either.

[Stranger]

It sounds like the golfers will only have the potential to come into contact with any of that wildlife if they end up in a water hazard or in the rough. I would hope that olympic level golfers aren't likely to end up in either.

The best thing about golf is that sometimes even the best look like the everyday joe and shank a shot. I'm sure that some Olympian from Costa Rica will shoot something like a 90-100, and there will be plenty of shots in the rough and in the water.