Why hosting the Olympics is bad for Rio

Imagine walking the trash-filled and rat-infested streets without any money clothes, shelter, or even food. Then imagine that your own government decides to pay for the Olympics rather that its own citizens. This is what many of the 5,500 adults and millions of children living on the streets of Rio have to deal with.

Rio has decided to invest $39.1 billion reais or about $11 billion dollars in the Olympics and many even spend up to $25 billion, instead of paying for public health services for its citizens. Services that would allow hospitals to stop turning away patients and to stop reducing units. In addition to this, Rio could have spent more money on helping to build more homes for the homeless, instead of doing to opposite. Rio has decided to tear down many of its favelas, or shanty towns, leaving 800,000 families homeless.

Some people might say that the Rio Olympics will bring in money from tourism and investors, in addition to adding jobs for construction, but this is all only temporary. Rio plans to hire 900,000 people to work at the Olympic games, but after the Olympics they will once again no longer have jobs. Rio however will earn about $15 billion from the Olympics, but that is not enough to cover the safety and peace taken from their citizens.

Brazil also faces many health effects from the Olympics including environment effects and the Zika virus. According to the Associated Press, the water that the sailors and swimmers will be swimming in have the same amount of viruses as raw sewage and swallowing 3 teaspoons also gives you a 99% risk of infection. In fact, according to Dr. Kathryn Ackerman, a US team physician, 13 out of the 40 members of the US rowing team have fallen ill due to the waters. This is because all the sewage from Rio’s urban areas gets dumped into the rivers. The Zika virus, which cause microcephaly, is also a danger that pregnant mothers will have to face when visiting Rio.  

So, when faced with all these problems that could danger and alter lives, the Rio Olympics should be cancelled.