Rio, Rio, Rio.
What a mess. Zika. Polluted water. Political chaos. Recession bordering on depression. Unfinished venues. Crime.
Understandably, every few days now, a call comes for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games to be postponed, cancelled or moved. I say understandably because you know things are bad when terrorism, always a haunting threat and sometimes a terrible reality at an Olympic Games, doesn’t even make Rio’s top six.
No matter how bad things might be, though, it’s time to acknowledge a reality that has been in place for years:
The 2016 Summer Olympic Games are going to be held in Rio this August. The International Olympic Committee has no contingency plan to postpone them, cancel them or move them, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who request anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the topic.
Let’s examine that last option. Some have called for the Games to be moved from Rio, even now, little more than two months before the Aug. 5 opening ceremony. Just up and move the largest regularly scheduled gathering of the world.
Give London, the last Summer Olympic city, track and field and, say, volleyball. How about swimming and boxing for Sydney, the 2000 Olympic host? Los Angeles is always ready. Give it gymnastics and basketball.
Remember the 1976 Winter Olympics in Denver?
You can’t, because they didn’t exist. They were moved when Colorado voters rejected a bond issue to finance the Games with public funds.
When did voters do this? Two months before the Olympics? A year out?
Try more than three years. Even then, that relatively short lead time forced the IOC to choose a familiar old friend to replace Denver as host of the 1976 Winter Games: Innsbruck, Austria, which had hosted the Winter Olympics 12 years earlier, in 1964. And the Olympics back then were much smaller, requiring far less infrastructure, than they do now. There were only 1,123 athletes in Innsbruck in 1976. There will be nearly 10 times that – 10,500 – in Rio.
So, here’s a suggestion for any expert or official who is still calling for the Olympics to be moved from Rio. Please stop. The notion is ridiculous.
As for postponing or cancelling the Rio Games, you’ll be happy to know that would take an international catastrophe. The last time an Olympic Games was cancelled was because of World War II. Before that, it was World War I.
So, fingers crossed, we’re stuck with Rio.
Things have looked bleak before many an Olympic Games. I’ve covered 16 in a row, winter and summer, and I can’t remember a one that didn’t provoke concern, some of it graver than others.
In 1984, Los Angeles was supposed to be a traffic nightmare, and tainted, too, because of the Soviet-led boycott. Never happened.
In 1988, the North Koreans were going to open their dams and flood Seoul. Never happened.
In 1992, construction, traffic and pollution were supposed to ruin Barcelona. In 2004, Athens wasn’t going to be ready in time while facing the massive burden of being a home game for terrorists as the first Summer Games after Sept. 11. In 2008, athletes were going to keel over after breathing Beijing’s awful air. In 2012, protests were expected to choke London. In 2014, terrorists were supposedly wandering the streets of Sochi.
Never happened. Never happened. Never happened.
Enter Rio. Of all the Olympics I’ve covered, none has faced so many problems so close to the opening ceremony. Perhaps this time, serious issues actually will get the best of the host city. Or perhaps we’ll all be lucky once again.
Whatever the case, it’s Rio or bust. Or maybe both.
Follow Christine Brennan on Twitter @CBrennansports
