Samit Sharma
Published August 5, 2016
Olá!
Welcome to quadrennial summer Olympics Weekly Email Blast!
The world’s foremost sporting marvel has brought us to Rio, Brazil. Home of Christ the Redeemer, the Maracanã stadium, thousands of Favelas and the Zika virus.
Say what you want, the Olympics are the bona fide, certified biggest competition in the world. It’s where sportspeople from 206 nations compete for Olympic glory and the medals that come with it. This year, Rio is riosponsible (hehe) for hosting this massive extravaganza that will see over 11 thousand athletes competing and half a million tourists attending the Olympic Games.
Rio has been under serious criticism for its unpreparedness for the Games, for everything from the Stadia, the Arenas to the Olympic village and the transport system that connects them all. Rio spent more than 11 billion Dollars over seven years preparing for the games, and only finished most of the work earlier this week. The city’s waterways are still terribly polluted, and the Zika virus has been ‘looming’ over the whole event. Out of the 175,000 Zika cases in Brazil, a quarter are from Rio.
So, things aren’t exactly in Rio’s favor, but it was the same before FIFA in 2014 and everything worked out fine. The Olympics are almost too big to be beaten by crowded streets and mosquitoes.
Like most years, USA might top the medals tally, probably because they also have the biggest, 756 player strong contingent to qualify for the games. India has a 120 member contingent for Rio, and should probably bring more Olympic glory to India than ever before.
The Olympic Games kick off at 4:30 am tomorrow morning with the opening ceremony at the Maracanã Stadium. Should be epic. The next time there’s gonna be a summer Olympics special WEB is gonna be around WEB 280, and in Tokyo, and I don’t even know if the internet is gonna survive till then. Let’s make Rio Olympics count.
Tis, mate was the Weekly Email Blast, email 72. Happy Olympic Weekend !!!
All Things Sam 