The Real Dangers of Competing in the Olympics

First, I want to say that I am not sure if this is the best place for this post. Mods please feel free to move it at your discretion if you feel it best somewhere else.

With that said, it seems that getting hurt is not the most dangerous thing to Olympic athletes this year. Instead they should be worried about street violence and muggings. The latest incident involved the US swim team. On the plus side, it does not appear that any of the athletes have lost their medals in a mugging . . . yet.

American Olympic champion swimmer Ryan Lochte became the latest victim of Rio's street crime early Sunday morning when he was robbed at gunpoint after attending a party. That follows robberies of representatives from Portugal, China, Australia, Russia, and even an attempted mugging on the chief of security for the Games outside the opening ceremony, which ended with a bodyguard shooting and killing the assailant. Olympic officials have found two bullets that tore through a media tent at the equestrian center and reporters claim their bus was shot at while driving along a highway from a basketball arena.

USA Today

Even worse thought . . . they want to hold the 2024 Olympics in L.A. That is just asking for trouble. If you absolutely must hold Olympics in America, by all means DO NOT hold them in a liberal city where only the criminals are well armed and the cops' hands are tied. It is simply asking for trouble. But back to Brazil, it seems like this may be a national hobby for them and thus why their tourism is low.

a reply to: JDeLattre89

Everywhere has slums and gangs, if you visit a foreign country best to know ahead of time where the hot spots are before you go bee-bopping into town. Don't wander alone, be situationally aware, don't dangle valuables in plain site.

a reply to: JDeLattre89

Considering the challenges involved in this round of Olympics, I expected something a bit different when I clicked on your thread.

Just about everyone has heard of the dead body in the bay where competition was to take place. Also the "warm-up pool" that turned green over night and developed a strong smell.

I don't remember which competition or what country, but the other evening my wife had the coverage on and I overheard a coach talking about one of the women that his team had expected to take a gold. At the time she'd had to take to her room and was very ill with what sounded as if it might be some kind of infection she'd picked up out of the offshore water.

Everyone here that knows me knows that I tend to have a "dark" sense of humor. It's not really funny and the host country has tried hard to make this a positive experience for all the athletes involves. Still... It does lend itself to an ironic sort of humor. For instance:

My wife noticed yesterday that I was at the computer chuckling while she watched the Olympics. Following our usual pattern, she said, "Okay... You might as well tell me what you're laughing about."

I said, "I was just thinking of all the younger athletes not too long from now. I can just hear it. "Hey! The Olympics have been over for almost a year. This is the Third time I've asked you to clean up your room. Get the sh*t out of your ears!!"

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: JDeLattre89

Everywhere has slums and gangs, if you visit a foreign country best to know ahead of time where the hot spots are before you go bee-bopping into town. Don't wander alone, be situationally aware, don't dangle valuables in plain site.

Good advice... I do that in my own state! As you said, every major city has areas that are dangerous.

That's why I always feel bad for the locals when I see some kind of crime that goes national. I think some people forget that regardless of where something happens, that's where a lot of people Live.

I know my wife & I couldn't afford to relocate if our lives depended on it.

Hopefully, the games will go well and no outside influences will damage the spirit they are meant to show. If we could have an Olympics with Hitler in power (Kudos to Jesse Owens!) surely we can get through this one. [We don't have a "smiley" for 'fingers crossed']

a reply to: CornShucker

Also the "warm-up pool" that turned green over night and developed a strong smell.

Yeah, I thought that one was pretty funny myself. And personally, I have never seen the acidity level of a pool turn it green.

But yes, there has been many strange things going on at these games. I just wanted to bring attention to the violence surrounding the games. I mean, is there no security there at all?

Sigh.

Zebraman, that is me, thinks more money should be spent on getting rid of poverty than sports. Sports are fun to watch but can used to distract the masses from the world's problems.

WE NEED A GLOBAL REVOLUTION!

ACTUALLY, GLOBAL REBELLION IS BETTER!

Rebellion means no allegiance to any power and always opposing any form of power.

Revolutions can lead to tyranny.
But rebellion means opposes tyrannical revolutionary governments!

a reply to: JDeLattre89

In the US, there aren't any cities I know of where only the criminals are well armed. Even Chicago, which tried harder than any other city to ban guns allows legal concealed carry of firearms. The most so-called liberal cities in America also have very robust police forces whose hands are anything BUT tied.

I think what you're missing is that Rio is a crime-riddled slum, and the government of Brasíl had no business hosting an Olympics, knowing they had no chance whatsoever at controlling crime, or any of their myriad other problems. Pretty much any major city in the US would do fine, though as a taxpayer, I hope and pray that the Olympics are never again held in the US. Why spend all that money just to host biochemistry experiments?

a reply to: dogstar23

OK, I concede that Chicago has updated its gun laws in the last five years. Nonetheless, bringing that much tourism to a crime riddled city such as LA (like they want to do) or any such city is just bad mojo.

And again going back to the actual topic. It is a shame that there is this much violence going on at these Olympic games.

And no I don't think the games should be eliminated, they do wonders to actually bring the people around the world together for a few weeks. Down-scaling them a good bit might be useful though. I mean there are plenty of things we could get rid of such as ping pong (table tenniss for those of you whom actually watch it) and volleyball just to name a couple.

originally posted by: JDeLattre89
a reply to: CornShucker

Also the "warm-up pool" that turned green over night and developed a strong smell.

Yeah, I thought that one was pretty funny myself. And personally, I have never seen the acidity level of a pool turn it green.

But yes, there has been many strange things going on at these games. I just wanted to bring attention to the violence surrounding the games. I mean, is there no security there at all?

Have you seen the protest banner police and fire-fighters were holding up at the airport?

Also, when my wife showed me the side by side photo of the warm up pool next to the diving pool I couldn't resist. "Ya know... Somebody would have to have one H*ll of a kidney problem to turn a Blue pool that Green!"

a reply to: CornShucker

That was my original thought as well.

Well, if there starts showing up red spots in with the green, maybe one of the divers is cheating by using stones to weigh them down.

Ok, so it has come out today that the swim team from US was NOT mugged. They were just trying to get more attention. Brazil is understandably upset because of this negative publicity on top of the previous incidents at the Olympics this year. Basically they think it will hurt tourism even more.