Rio 2016 Olympic Update (Day 0)
The Rio Games officially opened with Day 0 of the games and the Opening Ceremonies kicking off the two-week sporting event.
Many didn’t think that this day was going to come after the Olympics were surrounded by controversy from the time they were given to Rio until the opening ceremonies.
From the start, the decision to bring the Olympics to South American was controversial because the region has never been the most stable.
With other options that seemed to be in a better spot than South America or Brazil.
They have been in economic trouble for years while their government had been accused of corruption for years.
Despite this, the IOC decided that the Olympics needed to be spread around to different regions and it was South America’s time.
When the IOC decided on Brazil the country was in a decent position although they were still dealing with issues.
As the Olympics approached, though, the country began reeling from the biggest economic downturn in the history of the country.
The government corruption that had been in the background came to the forefront with the Brazilian President seeing more evidence against her regarding corruption.
Protests erupted and Brazil was thrown into turmoil with little money to do anything.
They still had to spend to put on one of the biggest sporting events in the world and the economy was beginning to take its toll.
Water treatment plants that were set to be built to clean the water and improve the city’s water were cancelled due to the lack of money.
It left a black eye on the games right away as venues that were to host events now had contaminated water that put athletes at risk.
The Olympics continued to get closer and the issues continued to pile up as Brazil found more protests that eventually led to their president losing her job.
Then came the Zika Virus that began to spread around South America creating birth defects across the region.
The virus became a major concern for so many and the Olympics began to lose major athletes.
In a year where golf returned to the games, the top four golfers in the world dropped out over concerns from the virus.
Meanwhile, basketball stars dropped out for a variety of reasons and many of the best tennis players in the world began to pull out.
The concerns over the virus left the games without those major names on some very big events in the Olympic program.
The concerns over the games had many thinking that the Olympics may not even happen with so many concerns causing so many problems.
It is one of the most controversial Olympics in recent memory but the power of the Olympics is an interesting thing.
There have been games that have started out with plenty of controversies only for that controversy to be completely forgotten once the games are open.
When the ceremonies are over the focus turns to the sports and more often than not that means the biggest issues are forgotten.
That phenomenon will be tested in the next two weeks as the Rio Games have seen plenty of controversies and if anything does happen it could become a disaster.
Then again if nothing happens will the games once again prevail and silence the issues until the world leaves.
Only time will tell but the two-week sports showcase will put the power of the games to the test this year.
The Canadian Story:
Flag Bearer
The country was enthralled by the emergence of a new Olympic star in Rosie MacLennan when she won gold in the trampoline in London and the star continued to shine this time as the flag bearer for Team Canada
A Good Start
Although the Olympics officially kicked off on Day 0 the Olympics have been going on for a few days as the soccer tournament has already started and the Canadian women started well winning their first game of the tournament
Day 1 Medal Events:
Archery
Men’s Team
Cycling
Men’s Road Race Final
Fencing
Women’s Individual Épée
Judo
Women’s 48kg
Men’s 60kg
Shooting
Women’s 10m Air Rifle
Men’s 10m Air Rifle
Swimming
Men’s 400m Individual Medley
Men’s 400m Freestyle
Women’s 400m Individual Medley
Women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay
Weight Lifting
Women’s 48kg
The Sport Addiction 