Rio's problems will disappear, for one night at least
Tonight, many of the problems that have beset Rio will be forgotten. The fans will come, the athletes will perform for them and we will watch and watch and watch, writes Kevin McCallum.
|||In a report on the opening football match of the Olympics between South Africa and Sweden, the Press Association noted that the official attendance in the 60 000-seater stadium was 13 439.
“Optimistic is putting it kindly,” wrote the PA, describing the venue as “deathly-quiet”, with fans drifting in as the game was in progress.
The IOC are a little worried. They don’t like empty seats.
They don’t like spaces. They want the world to see that the Games are popular.
That all sports are embraced: “Rio 2016 has a full venues policy and we will have to wait to see how they achieve that,” said an IOC spokesperson.
The way they are going to do it is via the magic of giving free tickets away to 240 000 under-privileged kids. These children, mostly from the favelas, will be squeezed in to watch the Blitzbokke play in the Sevens.
Hockey players will also be followed by the screams of kids. Golf may not want swathes of noisy kids walking around the course, though, although they are also on the list for free tickets.
With the opening ceremony only taking place tonight, Rio 2016 is not off to a flier.
It has been iffy, to be optimistic. The IOC has apologised for the athlete village not quite being ready, while the Games have said they have sacrificed some luxuries to make the Games more affordable.
When you decide to run an event of this magnitude with a balanced budget, no public money and without leaving bills for society to pay - it shakes.
Fasten your seatbelts because it’s going to be a bumpy road.
“We won’t sacrifice field of play or the health of the athletes, but we can sacrifice everything else,” Rio 2016 director of communications, Mario Andrada told the Guardian.
That means fewer volunteers, which seems a strange thing to cut back on. The volunteers were the heartbeat of London 2012, witty, helpful and warm.
Rio will be a little light on luxuries because of Athens, an Olympics that the city and the country could not afford, but were too proud to admit.
They overspent. They were barely ready. In 2004, the paving at the secondary Olympic park in the south of Athens was loose, laid in a rush. Built on the site of the old airport, that park now stands empty, hockey astroturf fields wilt in the sun and the softball fields are overrun.
Softball and baseball have been included as test sports for 2020, a choice possibly made easier by the fact that Japan loves baseball and Tokyo will have grounds ready built.
Tonight, many of the problems that have beset Rio will be forgotten. The fans will come, the athletes will perform for them and we will watch and watch and watch. - Independent Media