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posted by CoolHand on Friday July 31 2015, @04:24PM   Printer-friendly
from the caught-in-the-storm dept.

The Associated Press reports some disturbing data on the water quality in Rio De Janeiro, site of the 2016 Summer Olympics. Sewage treatment in Rio is in a sad state. There have been some half-assed efforts to build treatment plants, but they haven't kept pace with the city's rapid population growth, and most of the sewage just flows into rivers and streams untreated. The AP commissioned a study to measure bacteria and viruses in the outdoor water sport venues as well as some tourist beaches, and found dangerously high levels of pathogens in all of them.

Ivan Bulaja, the Croatian-born coach of Austria's 49er-class sailing team, has seen it firsthand. His sailors have lost valuable training days after falling ill with vomiting and diarrhea. "This is by far the worst water quality we've ever seen in our sailing careers," said Bulaja.

Training earlier this month in Guanabara Bay, Austrian sailor David Hussl said he and his teammates take precautions, washing their faces immediately with bottled water when they get splashed by waves and showering the minute they return to shore. And yet Hussl said he's fallen ill several times.

"I've had high temperatures and problems with my stomach," he said. "It's always one day completely in bed and then usually not sailing for two or three days." It is a huge risk for the athletes, the coach said.

"The Olympic medal is something that you live your life for," Bulaja said, "and it can really happen that just a few days before the competition you get ill and you're not able to perform at all."

Dr. Alberto Chebabo, who heads Rio's Infectious Diseases Society, said the raw sewage has led to "endemic" public health woes among Brazilians, primarily infectious diarrhea in children. By adolescence, he said, people in Rio have been so exposed to the viruses they build up antibodies. But foreign athletes and tourists won't have that protection.


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  • (Score: 5, Funny) by Thexalon on Friday July 31 2015, @04:39PM

    by Thexalon (636) on Friday July 31 2015, @04:39PM (#216381)

    See, I had thought this was going to be about how the International Olympic Committee is a decaying full-of-crap cesspool of slime and corruption that ruins everything it comes in contact with.

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  • (Score: 2) by ragequit on Friday July 31 2015, @04:43PM

    by ragequit (44) on Friday July 31 2015, @04:43PM (#216383) Journal

    so...

    fight fire with fire.

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    • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Friday July 31 2015, @07:29PM

      by LoRdTAW (3755) on Friday July 31 2015, @07:29PM (#216494) Journal

      Sigh... sadly, no. They will be right at home is those polluted beaches and rivers. In fact, the IOC might never want to leave.

  • (Score: 2) by Tork on Friday July 31 2015, @05:41PM

    by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Friday July 31 2015, @05:41PM (#216410)
    I didn't see any mention of FIFA.
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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by DeathMonkey on Friday July 31 2015, @05:50PM

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Friday July 31 2015, @05:50PM (#216416) Journal

    See, I had thought this was going to be about how the International Olympic Committee is a decaying full-of-crap cesspool of slime and corruption that ruins everything it comes in contact with.
     
    Hey now, I don't think the IOC appreciates being compared to FIFA.

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Friday July 31 2015, @06:34PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday July 31 2015, @06:34PM (#216462) Journal

    Well, on that note I did submit a story this morning about Beijing's being selected for the Winter Olympics. The reason the IOC gave for their decision was, "vast commercial opportunities in a new winter sports market of more than 300 million people in northern China." Right there you have the raison d'etre of the Olympics now, to make money. Nothing else matters, not even the inconvenient fact that Beijing really doesn't get snow.

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    Washington DC delenda est.
    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Friday July 31 2015, @06:54PM

      by Thexalon (636) on Friday July 31 2015, @06:54PM (#216474)

      And on a related note, kudos to Boston for refusing to agree to what is apparently standard language in Olympics bid contracts, which states that all cost overruns will be paid by the host city. Of course, this might have something to do with Boston's past experience with staggering cost overruns [wikipedia.org].

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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @07:28PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @07:28PM (#216493)
        Wicked pissah! Best news to come out of Boston all week.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @07:31PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @07:31PM (#216496)

    Indeed. I shit on the Olympics!