The Olympics

The Olympics

Text

News, information and stories about the Olympics.

Monday, August 22, 2016

Britain Second in Medal Table

The Olympics in Rio are over, and Britain came second in the medal table with:

27 Gold

23 Silver

17 Bronze

Next stop Tokyo 2020!

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Friday, August 19, 2016

Ryan Lochte - Olympic Doofus

Oi doofus the next time you vandalise a bar, be a man and admit to it don't pretend you were robbed!

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Blooming Algae Turn Olympic Pools Green

Two Olympic pools have turned an unappetising shade of green in Rio.

Despite soothing words from the Rio2016 communication director that this was down to a change in alkalinity, the real cause (according to CNN) is algae blooming because the water hasn't been treated with the chemical necessary to kill it.


Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Thursday, August 4, 2016

IOC Fucks Up Russian Doping Ban


As per the Telegraph:
"Sports federations were ordered to lift bans already imposed on athletes cited in a damning report into state-sponsored doping in the country.

The International Olympic Committee issued a notice to governing bodies asking them urgently to reassess the suspensions of Russians under their jurisdiction following the revelation they had misinterpreted eligibility criteria laid down by its executive board."
Well done the IOC, two days until the start of the Olympics and chaos rules!


Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Olympic Torch Greeted By Riots In Rio

Police used stun grenades and tear gas to clear protesters in the path of the Olympic torch in a poor suburb of Rio de Janeiro yesterday.

Anti-government protesters in Duque de Caixas threw rocks and blocked the torch’s path. Police had to use pepper spray and rubber bullets to control the crowd.

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Rio's Polluted Waterways - Don't Put You Head Underwater!

A 16 month long study, commissioned by The Associated Press, has concluded that the waterways of Rio de Janeiro are as filthy as ever; contaminated with raw human sewage teeming with dangerous viruses and bacteria.

It's not just the athletes who are at risk of getting violently ill in water competitions, but the AP's tests indicate that tourists also face potentially serious health risks on the golden beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana.

Experts have advised athletes who compete in the water not to put their heads under the water. That advice sounds equally applicable to all no athletes who find themselves in the water.

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Monday, August 1, 2016

Bomb Scare at Olympic Stadium

The Herald Sun reports that a suspicious package, found at the Maracana Stadium (the venue that will host Rio's opening ceremony), was subjected to a controlled explosion.

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Rio Olympic Village is a Shithole

With less than two weeks until the start of the Rio Olympics, the Guardian reports that 19 of the 31 buildings in the Athletes Village have yet to pass safety tests.

Concerns have been heightened by gas and water leaks and at least one power outage. The Guardian has also learned that a short circuit caused a small fire on Saturday.

The shoddy conditions – which include flooded floors, broken elevators, mould and holes in the ceiling – have shocked some team managers, athletes and volunteers who have begun arriving.
The organisers promise to resolve the problems by Thursday, but in the interim the Australian team has decided to temporarily rehouse its athletes.

Stress tests – which should have been done months ago – are still less than halfway complete because the 17-storey buildings were delivered behind schedule and the water, gas and electricity were only recently connected.

This does not bode well for the Games!

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Russian Rio Athletic Ban Upheld


However, despite wholesale doping of Russian sportsmen/women, the IOC is reluctant to impose a 100% ban on all Russian competitors heading for Rio.

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

The Cursed Olympics - Jaguar Shot Dead During Flame Ceremony

In what will doubtless prove to be a highly unfavourable augury, a 17 year old jaguar called Juma (used for a photo shoot for the Olympic torch's passage through Brazil's Amazon) was shot dead shortly afterwards when it escaped its handlers and threatened a vet.

Killing the Olympic mascot does not bode well for the Games at all!

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Rio Declares State of "Public Calamity"


With less than 48 days until the 2016 Olympics in Rio, a major spanner has just been thrown in the works.

Rio has gone bust, and has declared a state of "public calamity".

What does this mean?

It means that there is no money left in the city's bank account to pay for anything including, but not limited to:

- security
- health
- public transport

and, of course, the Olympics!

As such the Rio state government, and everyone else, expects a total collapse in public security, health, education, mobility, education, environment.

Plus, of course, the Olympics!

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Friday, June 17, 2016

WHO Gives Rio Olympics The Green Light

The World Health Organization said that the 2016 Olympics do not need to be moved from Rio de Janeiro, or postponed, because there is "a very low risk" that holding the games there will cause further spread of the Zika virus.

The WHO's expert panel on Zika concluded that hosting the Olympics in August (during the Brazilian winter) means that the mosquito population will be smaller, and intensified mosquito-control measures to be in place around the competition venues "should further reduce the risk of transmission."

Let us trust that the WHO is coreect!

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Saturday, June 4, 2016

WHO To Asses If Rio Olympics Should Proceed

Following growing public pressure from doctors and health professionals about the Zika virus, the Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Dr. Margaret Chan has caved in and agreed to convene an expert committee to consider whether the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics should proceed as planned.

She is quoted by the Telegraph:
"Given the current level of international concern, I have decided to ask members of the Zika Emergency Committee to examine the risks of holding the Olympic Summer Games as currently scheduled."
The date of the meeting will be fixed next week.

However, given the alleged close connections between WHO and the IOC, WHO is not expected to nix the Games.

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Doctors Call For Postponement/Relocation of Rio Olympics

More than 100 doctors, researchers and health experts from around globe signed an open letter published Friday urging the United Nation's World Health Organization to either move the summer games from Rio de Janeiro or to delay them, saying they are concerned about the virus' potential impact on global health. 

Unsurprisingly, as it would reflect badly on the organisations, WHO and the IOC have rejected the call.

Here is the full text of the letter.

Open Letter to Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General, WHO
(Copied to the International Olympic Committee) 


We are writing to express our concern about the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. WHO’s declaration of Zika as a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” coupled with new scientific findings that underscore the seriousness of that problem, call for the Rio 2016 Games to be postponed and/or moved to another location—but not cancelled—in the name of public health.

We make this call despite the widespread fatalism that the Rio 2016 Games are inevitable or “too big to fail”. History teaches this is wrong: the 1916, 1940, and 1944 Olympic Games were not just postponed, but cancelled, and other sporting events were moved because of disease, as Major League Baseball did for Zika, and the Africa Cup of Nations did for Ebola.

Currently, many athletes, delegations, and journalists are struggling with the decision of whether to participate in the Rio 2016 Games. We agree with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control recommendation that workers should “Consider delaying travel to areas with active Zika virus transmission”.1 If that advice were followed uniformly, no athlete would have to choose between risking disease and participating in a competition that many have trained for their whole lives.

But our greater concern is for global health. The Brazilian strain of Zika virus harms health in ways that science has not observed before. An unnecessary risk is posed when 500,000 foreign tourists from all countries attend the Games, potentially acquire that strain, and return home to places where it can become endemic. Should that happen to poor, as-yet unaffected places (e.g., most of South Asia and Africa) the suffering can be great. It is unethical to run the risk, just for Games that could proceed anyway, if postponed and/or moved.

In our view, several new scientific findings require WHO to reconsider its advice on the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. For example:

1. That the Brazilian viral strain causes microcephaly2 and probably Guillain-Barré syndrome3. Further, because human4, animal5 and in vitro studies6 demonstrate that the virus is neurotrophic and causes cell death, it is biologically plausible that there are other as yet undiscovered neurological injuries, as exist for similar viruses (e.g. dengue).7

2. That while Zika’s risk to any single individual is low, the risk to a population is undeniably high. Currently, Brazil’s government reports 120,000 probable Zika cases,8 and 1,300 confirmed cases of microcephaly (with another 3,300 under investigation)9, which is above the historical level of microcephaly.10

3. That Rio de Janeiro is highly affected by Zika. Brazil’s government reports Rio de Janeiro state has the second-highest number of probable Zika cases in the country (32,000) and the fourth-highest incidence rate (195 per 100,000), demonstrating active transmission.8
4. That despite Rio’s new mosquito-killing program, the transmission of mosquito-borne disease has gone up rather than down. While Zika is a new epidemic and lacks historical data, using dengue fever as a proxy, cases in Rio from January thru April 2016 are up 320% and 1150% over the same periods in 2015 and 2014, respectively.11 In the specific neighborhood of the Olympic Park (Barra da Tijuca) there have been more dengue cases in just the first quarter of 2016 than in all of 2015.11

5. That Rio’s health system is so severely weakened as to make a last-minute push against Zika impossible. Recently Rio’s state government declared a health sector emergency,12 and Rio’s city government cut funding against mosquito-borne disease by 20%.13 While the virus is the infectious agent of Zika, its real cause is Rio’s poor social conditions and sanitation—factors that lack a quick fix, and that are not helped when shrinking health resources are diverted to the Games.

6. That it is possible to eradicate the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits Zika, from Rio. Actually that mosquito was totally eradicated from Brazil in the 1950s, but came back after control efforts lapsed.14 Thus holding the Games, in the presence of Zika-carrying mosquitoes, is a choice and not necessary.

7. That one cannot count on nature for defence. While lower mosquito activity during Rio’s winter months reduces the individual risk to travelers of infection, that is partly offset when travelers who became infected return home during the northern hemisphere's summer months and peak mosquito activity, which increases the public health risk that local mosquitos acquire and spread the virus—meaning that both seasons are relevant to the epidemic's course.15 Also, infection can spread through blood donations and transfusions, particularly in poor countries that lack screening for Zika.16

In sum, the evidence shows: (i) that Brazil’s Zika virus strain has more serious medical consequences than previously known, (ii) that Rio de Janeiro is one of the most affected parts of Brazil, and (iii) that Rio’s mosquito-killing efforts are not meeting expectations, but rather mosquito-borne disease is up this year. It is therefore imperative that WHO conduct a fresh, evidence-based assessment of Zika and the Games, and its recommendations for travelers.

Because Zika is a new emergency, its many uncertainties—of travel flows during the Games, of epidemiology, and of entomology—currently make it impossible for mathematical models to predict the epidemic’s course accurately. Therefore, for now, any decision about Zika and the Games has to be more qualitative than quantitative. If one considers the following options:

(a) Holding the Games in Rio in 2016 as scheduled;
(b) Holding the Games in Rio at a later date after Zika is controlled, and;
(c) Holding the Games at Zika-free sites having Olympic-standard facilities.

It is indisputable that option (a) of holding the Games as scheduled has a greater risk of
accelerating the spread of the Brazilian viral strain than the alternatives. Postponing and/or moving the Games also mitigates other risks brought on by historic turbulence in Brazil’s economy, governance, and society at large—which are not isolated problems, but context that makes the Zika problem all but impossible to solve with the Games fast approaching.

We are concerned that WHO is rejecting these alternatives because of a conflict of interest. Specifically, WHO entered into an official partnership with the International Olympic Committee, in a Memorandum of Understanding that remains secret.17 There is no good reason for WHO not to disclose this Memorandum of Understanding, as is standard practice for conflicts of interest. Not doing so casts doubt on WHO’s neutrality, for reasons described further in the Appendix.


WHO must revisit the question of Zika and postponing and/or moving the Games. We recommend that WHO convene an independent group to advise it and the IOC in a transparent, evidence-based process in which science, public health, and the spirit of sport come first. Given the public health and ethical consequences, not doing so is irresponsible.

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Brazil's Massive Mosquito Control Failures


As the WHO warns:

"Do not travel to areas with ongoing transmission".

Is Brazil really the right place to hold the Olympics at the moment?

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Monday, May 16, 2016

Zika "Not a Big Issue"


Amid calls for the postponement of the 2016 Olympics in Rio, because of Zika, the Mayor has said that Zika is not a big issue.

Whilst that may, or may not be, the case Zika is not the only issue affecting Brazil. The economy is in free fall and the President has been impeached. These issues seriously affect how Brazil will manage the forthcoming Games.

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Thursday, May 12, 2016

President Dilma Rousseff Impeachment Trial


Whither the Olympics?

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Brazil Squanders $11BN On The Olympics


Money that Brazil can ill afford to waste!

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

On, Off, On Again Brazil Impeachment Farce

As a grim augury for the forthcoming Olympics in Rio, the farce over the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff continues unabated.

Just hours after the head of Brazil's lower house Waldir Maranhao said he would annul the soon to be former president's impeachment process, Maranhao reversed a decision that had earlier threatened to throw the entire impeachment process into chaos.

Maranhao released a statement revoking his own call to annul impeachment sessions in the lower house. Maranhao did not cite any reason for backtracking on his surprise announcement on Monday to annul last month's lower house vote to recommend the Senate try Rousseff for breaking budgetary laws.

The farce continues and the Olympics opening ceremony grows ever closer day by day!

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

100 Days Until The 2016 Rio Olympics


With 100 days to go until the start of the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Brazil, the question everyone is asking is will Brazil be ready to host the Games?


Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Impeachment Debate for Dilma Rousseff

The wheels appear to be falling off Brazil and the forthcoming Olympics.

As per the Guardian:
"Like crowds drawn to a lynching, thousands of Brasilians descended on the nation’s capital on Friday as the country’s notoriously corrupt lawmakers began an impeachment debate that looks likely to drive President Dilma Rousseff from power."
A country that is so seriously distracted by political, economic and Zika chaos cannot possibly hope to host the Olympics in an effective or organised manner.

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Brazil Votes To Impeach President

The ongoing clusterfuck that is battering Brazil (due to host the 2016 Olympics) shows no sign of abating.

As per the BBC Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff has suffered a blow to her hopes of staving off impeachment proceedings, after a committee voted they should go ahead.

The 65-member congressional committee voted 38 to 27 to recommend impeachment over claims she manipulated government accounts to hide a growing deficit.

Will the country be functioning in any coordinated manner by the time the Olympics begin?


Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Friday, April 1, 2016

Will Brazil Host The 2016 Olympics?

Given the political, economic and health chaos that is currently engulfing Brazil it does not need any more problems in order to put its hosting of the 2016 Olympics in doubt.

Step forward George Hilton, Brazil’s sports minister, who has just announced that he is resigning four months before the country hosts the Olympics.

What more can go wrong?

Plenty!

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"

Friday, March 18, 2016

Friday, February 19, 2016

Good Luck To Brazil


Good luck to Brazil which will be hosting the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro (5th - 21st August 2016).

The country has a host of problems to deal with including the Zika epidemic and a cocktail of political and economic woes.

Don't forget to visit www.olympicswarehouse.com

www.olympicsdiary.com brought to you by www.kenfrost.com "The Living Brand"