/r/apocalympics2016

88,578 people who paid for snacks for 1 month!

Rio de Janeiro was chosen as the host city of the 2016 Olympic Summer Games back in 2009. At that time Brazil was in a state of economic growth, and the seven years it had to prepare for the games seemed like it was plenty of time. After all, South America had never played host to any Olympics, and the hosting the games had the potential to positively transform the economics of the city. Plus Brazilians love sports more than pretty much anyone.

As the Olympics approached, it became clear that there were serious problems. First off was construction. With less than a month to go, more than half of the athlete's villages, where they live before the games, were not finished. To make matters worse, only 12 of the 31 buildings passed safety inspections. The USA basketball team must've taken one look and said, "Nope, dude!" Because they opted to reside on a cruise ship instead. There were floods, other plumbing issues, and one guy fell through a hole in the floor.

Crime is another major problem. Thieves robbed the media inside their own rooms. A New Zealand athlete was kidnapped and robbed by people wearing police uniforms. China actually sent its own police to protect its athletes. Oh and remember how earlier I said there were floods? There was fire too. And rooms were robbed during the evacuation.

We've touched on construction and crime, but an even larger concern for athletes than being kidnapped, burgled, and mugged is health. The Zika virus became an epidemic in South America to the point where the U.S. Centers for Disease Control issued travel warnings.

Hope Solo (perhaps a relative of Han), is a U.S. woman's soccer player. She stated that she had fears about the Zika virus which caused reservations about going to Rio. Her concerns are sanity, as the virus is spread by common mosquitoes. But she was booed by the crowed apparently for being rational. Seven of the world's top male golfers decided to pass on the chance for Olympic gold, citing the outbreak. That's just health risks due to Zika. The waters are so polluted that swimmers need to ingest only three teaspoons of water to be almost certain of contracting a virus. With the water filled with raw sewage, athletes have already begun to fall ill.

Can we talk about the green pool for a moment? I want to. The diving pool turned green on Tuesday. It eventually became a shade of green darker than an unused Athens pool from the 2004 games. A day later the pool next to it used for water polo began to turn green. Officials still claimed that the green water was safe, but really, who would want to swim in that? (They also didn't know why it was green.) After the second pool was returned to blue, the water began to hurt people's eyes. How are you supposed to play water polo if you can't see? What the fuck.

This post is getting long so I think that's enough. Before you head off to /r/apocalympics2016, I'll leave you with this final fact: Bars in Rio have been taking bets as to which day the games will be struck by a terrorist attack.

---

That's the end. Please sound off in the comments to tell us what you think has been the craziest thing about the 2016 Rio Games.