Analysis of the Success and Failures of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report analyzes the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Introduction
In the recent decade Olympic games have become more developed and transformed itself into a
premier international sporting events with participants from more than 70 countries. The number of
bidding for the games has increased many fold and the increasing funds invested in the bids tend to
indicate that the global leaders of the country tend to perceive the securing of such event as an
opportunity to enhance their economic and social aspects of their country and city with the investment
in staging the games. This shows that there is an increased interest on the impacts of the Olympics on
the socio-economic aspects and increased political life for the city, region and for the country. This task
is mainly intended to analyse the success and failures of Olympics in the current context. The analysis
focus on the Rio Olympics and London Olympics and their contribution in converting the city to be more
successful after the sporting event. (IOC, 2016)
Analysis
Brazil Olympics
The government of Brazil has been willing to bid for the Olympics for 10 years and was granted the
permission to conduct the game in 2016. The nation has planned to invest nearly $4.5 billion on
infrastructure and other areas in order to conduct the event a grand success. However, when the
sporting event was nearing there were more political issues and the nation was in dismay in organizing
the sporting event. On the overall aspect the games were successfully organized and completed in the
stipulated time, there were many issues which were faced by the organizing committee and government
of Brazil like robberies in the Olympics village, there were attacks on the media buses, crashes happened
during the cycling events, broken toilets in the accommodation of the players etc. But the Olympics has
helped many individuals and people of the country together and contribute in an effective manner so
that the events were completed successfully. (Geiling, 2016)
The political turmoil before the event has impacted the country to a large extent, the government has
invested more money in the games by building new infrastructure and accommodation for players and
others with the needed facilities. It is noted that the country has capitalized to an extent to transform
various sports in the country to their children and teenagers and it enables in growing all the sports to a
professional level and build champions in various games. The Olympics has provided the platform for the
children to pursue their career in sports and can concentrate in various other games apart from Football
which was the main sporting events of the country. (Trendafilova, 2017)
Furthermore, the economic issues and the credit crisis has impacted heavily before the game and there
were shortfalls in the funding to build the games, there were lack of commitment by the sponsors and
funding agents who have initially signed up to provide the needed resources to build the infrastructure.
It is noted that nearly 8% of the volunteers who have agreed to provide their services to the gaming

events have failed to participate or show up, which makes the organizers more stressed and find quick
alternative plan to support the event. The government of Brazil focused that by organizing the gaming
event in the country will enable them to grow more sporting professionals in the country and makes the
country be a world power by showing dominance in various sports. However during and after the event
there were many bad experiences and poor investment decisions has made the opportunity to convert
itself into a threat. (Axon, 2016). The government was faced with political corruption and large
economic crisis in their history, the hosting of continuous games like 2014 FIFA and 2016 Olympics has
resulted in a unfulfilled promises to their citizens, increased investments in other infrastructures and
corruption in the government.
After two years of organizing the gaming event it is noted that nearly 15 venues of the 26 major venues
have hosted few gaming events whereas the remaining venues were abandoned, these venues began to
decay and needs repairs to host any event. Hence, the huge investment made in enhancing the gaming
aspects has found to be in huge crisis. The investments has turned out to be futile as these venues are
abandons and not being used for other purposes. It is identified that one of the important soccer
stadium, Maracana, has been vandalized and its power has been shut off due to high electricity billing of
nearly $900,000. (National Geographic Society 2016). Also, another venue, Deodoro Park which was
focused in enhancing the poor neighborhood of Rio has been shuttered showing that the promises were
not fulfilled to the communities. Also, the pool which was focused in enhancing the swimming event and
culture has been closed in December 2017 and has not been re-opened since then . The Federal court of
the country has identified that another swimming pool venue, Aquatics is covered will more mud,
rodent feces and bugs, the elevator which was created to lift the fans in a busy road is malfunctioning
and has been stopped completely from usage. (Geiling, 2016). Furthermore, even after 2 years of the
closing of the gaming event the organizing committee is yet to pay more than $35 million to their
creditors. It is noted that the organizing committee has also prepared to repay the creditors through the
available infrastructure products like air coolers, energy units, wiring cables etc. so as to settle the debts,
also in July 2017 the organizing committee has made a proposal for assistance from the International
Olympics Committee to assist them in clearing the available debts, however this proposal was rejected
which made the committee to look for other sources in settling the claims. (IOC, 2017)
Conclusion
In the final of the tennis tournament, there were thousands of vacancies, the finals of the sport and
even beach volleyball. Volleyball competitions were held at Copacabana Beach, located in the southern
region of Rio de Janeiro. The Olympics, when pressed, recognize that the awkward defeat - sponsors
who do not use or distribute their tickets - is responsible for many empty bleachers. Brazilians who do
not participate in sports that are not traditionally enthusiastic, such as hockey, rugby or badminton, also
have many weaknesses. For the most part, locals show high fares, some tickets to the most popular
events, up to $ 900 ($ 280- $ 215), which exceeds the Brazilian monthly minimum wage. Although the
floating debris detected helicopters and tracking clean ships removed the remains of the ship, many
competitors have accused bitter plastic bags and other debris that prevented the race from progressing
at the final stage of navigation experiments. (Long, 2016). More seriously, at least one of the team
coaches, Belgian Will van Bladen, one of his competitors, Eve van Acken, had no chance of winning a

medal after arresting dysentery. The car claims that there was a large amount of untreated wastewater
in the bay.
Eighty-five thousand soldiers in the Rio streets helped maintain peace in this seemingly violent city, at
least in areas where sport is practiced or where tourists work. Olympia leaders recognize that they are
"down" and that the challenge for the games is to be a city where many things were ready for the end,
and where they have four separate sports facilities in the city, they presented their own logistics
problems. Mark Adams, Communications Director for the International Olympic Committee, said that
Rio's choice was regrettable. "People really need a political, economic and political crisis, but it's worth
it," Adams said. "If the Olympic Games need one thing, this spread of values from around the world has
been working in South America, so why not the next Africa?" . The last two weeks, the Brazilians seemed
to have forgotten the country's wider problems, including the serious financial crisis ahead of the
upcoming paralympics. They take advantage of the fantastic success of their fleets, athletes and judokas,
but give a strong impression that Brazil does not hold another major global event. He promises that the
Olympic Games will modernize Rio and make the roads safer and cleaner.
References
Axon, R. (2016, July 30). How rowers will protect themselves in Rio's polluted waters. USA Today.
Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/rio2016/2016/07/30/rowers-protect-
themselves-rio-polluted-waters/87773228/
Geiling, N. (2016). We were promised the greenest Olympics ever, we got an ecological disaster. Think
Progress. Retrieved from https://thinkprogress.org/we-were-promised-thegreenest-olympics-ever-we-
got-an-ecological-disaster-6fba72f30aad#.lt0wcgeot
International Olympic Committee (IOC). (2016). Discover the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Competition
Venues! Lausanne: International Olympic Committee. Retrieved from
https://www.olympic.org/news/discover-the-rio-2016-olympic-games-competitionvenues
International Olympic Committee (IOC). (2017). The Organization. Lausanne: International Olympic
Committee. Retrieved from https://www.olympic.org/about-ioc-institution
Long, J. G. (2016). Rethinking Olympic infrastructure. London School of Economics and Political Science.
Retrieved from https://lsecities.net/media/objects/articles/rethinkingolympic-infrastructure/en-gb/
National Geographic Society. (2016). National geographic explorer: Seven natural wonders. Retrieved
from www.nationalgeographic.com/microsoft/sevenwonders/
Trendafilova, Sylvia. (2017). Sustainability and the Olympics: The case of the 2016 Rio Summer Games.
Retrieved from http://www.susted.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Trendafilova-
Graham-Bemiller-JSE-Fall-2017-General-PDF.pdf