Modern Ruins
Rubble
Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images
Built specifically for the Olympics, this is what the public of Rio was left with for months after the media center was demolished…
It doesn’t help that the local government is still in a major financial crisis.
Empty Stadiums
Credit: Vanderlei Almeida/Getty Images
Once packed with eager fans waiting to get into sporting events, arenas like this one are now barren, save for a few sleepy stragglers.
Dirty Water
Credit: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images
The Rio Olympics had their fair share of issues with clean (and green) water, both in the pools and the natural bodies of water around the city, but looking at this picture taken just six months after the games is like looking at an ancient ruin.
As the 2016 Olympic Games descended on Rio, the Brazilian government couldn’t deny that the city had serious problem with pollution, and many athletes and coaches were worried about harmful health implications caused by contaminated waters.
Just weeks before the games began, raw sewage flowed openly into the waterways where some athletes would be competing. Journalists and environmental activists complained that the country had years to prepare and establish a plan to clean the water around Río, and still the government did nothing.
The Associated Press released a report that stated an Olympic swimmer would just have to consume some three teaspoons of water before they would almost certainly contract a virus. The viral levels in the water were 1.7 million times greater than what would be considered ‘risky’ in the United States. While the world’s focus was on Brazil during the Olympics, this is some people’s reality every day!