Olympics are considered to be one of the biggest events. Likewise, it brings huge media and tourist attention and offers many opportunities for the host city and even the whole host country itself. In this paper, Rio de Janeiro Olympics, 2016 will be analyzed and discussed.
How Brazil got the Olympics is a controversy itself. It has since been revealed that an Olympic committee member, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, had agreed with the Brazilian government in exchange for $2 million to guarantee Brazil winning the Olympic host country. At the time, Rio was already in debt of $107 billion and the cost of the event was well over $13 billion. These costs included transport, hotel rooms, sports complexes as well as environmental clean-ups. Subsequently, about one and a half months till the Olympics, the state of Rio had to ask the government for financial support. Additionally, many families were forced out of their homes for the creation of the Olympics stadiums, causing huge distress to the residents of the city. (USA Today, 2017, pg. 1)
The problem of clean water was also major, they had an ongoing battle with Zika, a virus that spread through water. Statistically speaking, government spending on the Olympics was about 15 times the budget to battle the virus. Considering that water games are a part of the Olympics as well, enough precaution for the safety of the sportsmen weren’t taken.
Brazil is known for the large-scale crime going on in the country. In Rio, the most common crimes include drug dealing, petty theft, and vehicle break-ins. As the games approached, police brutality increased in the streets under the name of cleaning the streets for the Rio games. One week before the Olympics began, there were body parts found on the beaches in Rio de Janeiro, and those were the beaches on which Olympics sportsmen were planned to play volleyball on. Nonetheless, the Olympics were held in the city, showing low to no commitment towards ensuring the safety of the general public, visiting sportspersons, and expected tourists. (ABC News, 2016, pg.2)
Additionally, the government came up with 27 projects that were supposed to be completed before the start of the Olympic games in 2016, most of them being not very related to the event itself. These projects were an attempt to form a legacy for the city and the country. The construction plan that was most connected to the event was the expansion of transport lines. Metro line 4, Olympic Boulevard which runs from the port to downtown, the Olympic Park, and the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) are some of the major projects but none of them were completed before the event. The estimated loss endured because of these constructions is said to be around $3.1 billion. These costs were not very well taken by the general public. The government spendings were not even remotely close to resolve it’s relative issues. (Goldenbaum, 2021, pg.3).
To conclude, it is safe to say there were many problems from the acquisition of the Olympics to the execution. I believe the government didn’t do a good enough job to foresee the amount of requirements the production will bring, therefore failed to support the size of the event. Considering the state the country was in regarding the virus and safety, the event was carried out with the least amount of effect possible. Still, it’s not possible to overlook the fact that Brazil is one of the biggest economies in the world therefore Rio had the power to carry out the Olympics with great success and achieve the legacy the country wanted.
