Air conditioning optional in Rio

Months after an AP report that the water venues for the Rio Olympics are teeming with viruses and human waste, AP released another report that shows the pollution hasn’t improved and is more widespread than before.

Expanded analysis of water bodies in Rio de Janeiro shows that high viral and in some cases bacterial counts are found not just along shorelines where raw sewage runs in, but far offshore where athletes will compete in sailing, rowing and canoeing. The level of pollution would likely result in the closure of the beaches in the USA or Europe, according to the report. Yet AP tests found its waters to be among the most polluted for Olympic sites. (Already some top athletes, including the NBA players who join the USA Basketball squad, choose luxury hotels over accommodations in the Olympic Village.) Those who can afford extra for air conditioning or who travel with laptops or iPads (the host committee has scrapped plans to provide TVs in individual bedrooms) will have it; others may not.

Thanks to budget cuts, the 10,500 athletes that will descend upon Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August will not have air conditioning in their residences. “If we saw those levels here in the United States on beaches, officials would likely close those beaches”.

Unfortunately, as the AP reported today, Olympic and World Health Organization officials haven’t done anything to make the water safer for athletes after the initial report caused outrage this summer.

October 24 – WHO, in an emailed statement, says its comment “not recommending “routine” viral testing is not analogous to WHO recommending that Brazil do nothing and that WHO is unconcerned with viral pathogens in water….”

The problem here is less the disgusting water (though that’s obviously a huge problem) than the unwillingness of Brazilian authorities and International Olympic Committee officials to actually address the issue ahead of the 2016 Olympics.

The results sent shockwaves through the global athletic community, with sports officials pledging to do their own viral testing to ensure the waters were safe for competition in next year’s games.

The Associated Press just dropped a bombshell report that finds Rio de Janeiro’s sewage-filled waterways are even worse than previously believed.

Brazil had won the Olympic bid on a promise to clean Rio’s contaminated waterways, but now concedes that will not happen.

For sailing athletes competing in Rio’s Guanabara Bay, all it takes is a spoonful of water – three teaspoons, to be exact – and the odds of catching a waterborne disease, according to virologists, is certain. Ipanema Beach, popular with tourists and where numerous expected 350,000 foreign visitors will take a dip during the games, was also tested.