Should the 2016 Olympics be ditched in its entirety?

Expert to Rio athletes: 'Don't put your head under water'

By JENNY BARCHFIELD, Aug. 1, 2016

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Just days ahead of the Olympic Games the waterways of Rio de Janeiro are as filthy as ever, contaminated with raw human sewage teeming with dangerous viruses and bacteria, according to a 16-month-long study commissioned by The Associated Press.

Not only are some 1,400 athletes at risk of getting violently ill in water competitions, but the AP's tests indicate that tourists also face potentially serious health risks on the golden beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana.

The AP's survey of the aquatic Olympic and Paralympic venues has revealed consistent and dangerously high levels of viruses from the pollution, a major black eye on Rio's Olympic project that has set off alarm bells among sailors, rowers and open-water swimmers.

In light of the findings, biomedical expert Valerie Harwood had one piece of advice for travelers to Rio: "Don't put your head under water."

The most contaminated points are the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, where Olympic rowing will take place, and the Gloria Marina, the starting point for the sailing races.

Sampling at the Lagoon in March 2015 revealed an astounding 1.73 billion adenoviruses per liter. By this June, adenovirus readings were lower but still hair-raising at 248 million adenoviruses per liter. By comparison, in California, viral readings in the thousands per liter set off alarm bells.

Despite a project aimed at preventing raw sewage from flowing into the Gloria Marina through storm drains, the waters remain just as contaminated. The first sampling there, in March 2015, showed over 26 million adenoviruses per liter. This June, over 37 million adenoviruses per liter were detected.

Danger is lurking even in the sand. Samples from the beaches at Copacabana and Ipanema revealed high levels of viruses, which recent studies have suggested can pose a health risk -- particularly to babies and small children.

"Both of them have pretty high levels of infectious adenovirus," said Harwood, adding that the virus could be particularly hazardous to babies and toddlers who play in the sand.

The testing also revealed alarming spikes in fecal coliform levels -- the very measure the state government uses to determine the safety of Rio's recreational waters.

"If these were the reported values in the United States, let's say in California, there is definitely an indication of a problem," said Dr. Kristina Mena, a waterborne virus expert at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

According to California's bacterial tests standards, 400 fecal coliforms per 100 milliliters is the upper limit for a beach to be considered safe for swimming. AP's tests revealed that Copacabana Beach, where the marathon and triathlon swimming are to be held and thousands of tourists are likely to take a dip, exceeded California's limit five times over 13 months of testing.

Nearby Ipanema Beach, which is not playing host to any Olympic sports but is among the city's most popular tourist spots, exceeded California standards five times over 12 months, once spiking to nearly 50 times what would be permitted in California. One of two testing spots along the beach in the Olympic hub neighborhood of Barra da Tijuca once hit more than 60 times that limit over the five months testing was conducted there.

"If we had exceedances that consistently were in the thousands like I'm seeing here, there would be a high likelihood that that beach would be put on our list of impaired water bodies," said Rik Rasmussen, manager of surface water quality standards at California's State Water Board. That would lead to water quality warnings posted on the beach, possible beach closure, and the development of a program to root out the source of the contamination, he said.

The beaches even violate Rio state's own standards, which are much less stringent than those in California, many other U.S. states and beach-loving countries such as Australia and New Zealand. In Rio, beaches are considered unfit if bacterial tests turn up more than 2,500 fecal coliforms per 100 milliliters -- more than six times higher than the upper limit in California. But Copacabana and Ipanema even violated those much higher limits on three separate occasions. The state environmental agency, INEA, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

This kind of musing in the US media happens almost every time a non-first-world country hosts the Olympics. Remember Sochi was supposed to be awful too? And China? And Mexico City? And the World Cup that Brazil just hosted?

This kind of musing in the US media happens almost every time a non-first-world country hosts the Olympics. Remember Sochi was supposed to be awful too? And China? And Mexico City? And the World Cup that Brazil just hosted?

The Olympics are a corrupt institution. I don't mind sneering a bit.

Socchi was a disaster. #coughcough

This sneering is a first-world problem.

Sochi was not a disaster in any way except that some athletes had culture shock from visiting a developing nation.

No, it wasn't. Just the same sneering at developing nations that always happens yet the games went off without a hitch.

London beat New York for 2012, and that's what riled.

But Russia ISN'T a developing country. It's a slowly collapsing/devolving country.

You're mixing up your political metaphors because the initial definition for 1st World/2nd World/3rd World wasn't a straight on definition created to discuss developing countries and their burgeoning economies. It's a cold war system depicting the clash between 1st World: US and its cold war allies VS 2nd World: USSR and its cold war allies while 3rd World: being any other country attempting to remain neutral in that decades long political, cultural, military clash.

You can also take the flipside to your argument. There are two types of people in the world. One group that has high standards for civil and political rights and another group which lazily or (far far worse) takes pride in or for other reasons fully accepts the petty corruption, violent tribalism, quasifeudalism, etc... often seen in allegedly developing countries and ... well... gives them a free pass or worse gives them a political high-five and say ... they should be allowed to do whatever nasty thing they're presently doing because... it's their culture. They're in their learning adolescent stage (despite the fact their country or cultures are centuries if not millennia old).

And before you call me a hypocrite, I am very critical of my own culture, government and society.

According to your broken logic: If 1st world scientists have proven that eating copious amounts of lead or mercury can lead to toxic death, you have to stand behind the notion that ... underdeveloped and developing societies/countries don't have to heed said warnings.

They can disregard those warnings ... because... not really sure.

They need to learn that lesson by themselves?! I'm not the one claiming that people in third world countries should take pride in ingesting dangerous levels of lead, mercury, in this present day Olympic case, copious amounts of pollution and FECAL MATTER exposure.

It certainly was novel for Russia to have young women horsewhipped in public at the Olympics (to punish them for peacefully protesting for democracy and human rights).

But when the US hosted the Olympics once an idiot bombed and killed people. You didn't call those Olympics a disaster and some idiots whipping people certainly doesn't make a games a disaster either.

And while Brazil may be eager to signal its economic might, the Games can also tarnish a host country’s reputation. The enduring image of the Munich Olympics is a man in a ski mask; decaying venues from the 2004 Olympics became a metaphor for Greece’s economic crisis. Sochi’s legacy was overshadowed by security concerns and warm weather — even before Russia ended hopes for a tourism boom by annexing Crimea.

Athletes at the Winter Olympics have reported yet more embarrassing - and dangerous - problems with the accommodation in Sochi.

Paula Walker, Team GB's women's bobsleigh driver was nearly missing her brake women after they found their hotel room's lift doors wide open, exposing a perilous drop down the lift shaft.

American Olympic star Johnny Quinn had to use his bobsled training to break through a hotel bathroom door, after getting locked in the shower without his phone to call for help.

Slovakian Ice Hockey player Zdeno Chára was up against a different problem - being too big for his bed.

At 6ft 9in, he's too tall for the twin beds in his hotel room and was forced to improvise - adding a footstool at the foot of the bed.

Furlong said all the buildings and infrastructure are currently in use and board chairman Ken Dobell said the Games left a debt-free legacy for the country.

"First of all, it cost what it was supposed to cost," Dobell said.

Significant capital upgrades were made that had to happen sooner or later, and the host communities now have recreation and community facilities for residents.

"Was it a worthwhile endeavour? The way Vancouver did it, for sure," he said.

There's "FECAL MATTER" in pools too! It's just at perhaps a lower concentration and millions of people swim in waters near Rio every year. While some certainly is too polluted there is water suitable for these games to be found. These concerns are real, but they are being inflated to Biblical proportions.