Brazil Opens Record-Breaking Olympics in Midst of Worst Recession in Decades
From 8 p.m. this Friday (5) Brazil will open the biggest Olympic championships in history. Over 19 days, close to 10,500 athletes from 205 countries will flock to Rio de Janeiro to compete for 2,488 medals: all three numbers are record-breaking.
And all that considering Brazil is undergoing one of the worst financial and political crises it has seen for decades, with a recession and the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff to deal with.
There are contrasting expectations surrounding the Games. The Brazilian Olympic Committee predicts a record number of medals among home-grown athletes: the country has favourites in the canoeing, volleyball, football, judo, gymnastics and sailing competitions.
However, issues of security and public health have already been bandied about the world's headlines in the run-up to this year's Games.
Terrorist attacks linked to the Islamic State in Europe last month have increased concerns about Rio's ability to ward off similar incidents. Security measures have been duly tightened. Terrorist suspects were detained for the first time ever in Brazil.
The concerns grew amidst internal confusion about a last-minute reshuffle of security personnel. Now, retired police and fire agents will be performing body scans and bag checks at the access points to stadiums.
Moreover, zika virus also put many tourists off visiting the Southern Hemisphere, despite the fact that, as we head into the winter months, cases of the virus are increasingly rarer.
Rio was picked to host the Games in 2009, after three unsuccessful bids. Since then, parts of the city that were previously considered dangerous have been pacified.
However, many Olympic goals, such as the cleaning up of Guanabara bay, were abandoned. Between the second quarter of 2014 and now, economic activity in the country fell by 7.5%.
Rio's government called for a state of public emergency because it could not pay contractors for the Olympic Games. The Treasury was forced to step in and fork up: it paid R$ 17 billion (US$ 5 billion) of the R$ 39 billion (US$ 12 billion) needed.
All signs point to the fact that today Brazil is living through the worst financial moment it has seen in recent history. But things seem to be on the turn for the better.
The end seems nigh also for the chaos that has been taking its toll on Brazilian politics. Interim President, Michel Temer (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party), could assume the role definitively if Dilma Rousseff (PT) is deposed officially in the Senate this month.
The organisers of the Games are conscious there might be anti-Temer protests during the opening ceremony, and have planned for this accordingly.
It is hoped that the starry line up of Brazilian hotshots Pelé, Gisele Bündchen and Caetano Veloso will dazzle the audience so much that they fail to notice anything awry.
Translated by GILLIAN SOPHIE HARRIS