Playing at home, with its biggest star onboard and an unexpected last-minute change at the helm, Brazil is looking to win its first Olympic men’s soccer gold medal in Rio de Janeiro.
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A contingent of Zambian athletes this morning left the country to participate at the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Summer Olympic games in Brazil.
Yet the giddy euphoria that invariably accompanies the opening of an Olympic Games has been notably absent as Brazil grapples with a tanking economy and a grim litany of social problems. The IOC set up a panel of three executive board members to review the entries and make the final call, taking into account the advice of an independent sports arbitrator.
IOC President Thomas Bach said that all of the relevant worldwide sports federations also had to be informed before the final list could be announced. “The crisis the country is in is maybe the worst crisis in the history of Brazil”.
“I think it’s going to be great”, said Braulio Ferreira, 38, who runs a small shop in the Jardim Botanico neighbourhood, near the lagoon where rowing and canoeing races will be held. “The majority of the sports have been admitted in full”. The International Judo Federation also said it was expecting all 11 Russian judokas to take part in the Games.
Russia’s track and field team remains barred following an earlier decision by the IAAF.
“Athletes such as Yelena Isinbayeva. are absolutely clean”, he said.
“Long live the Olympics and welcome to the Olympic flame in the most attractive and incredible of all cities, the love of my life, Rio de Janeiro”, Paes said. India is expected to surpass their haul of six medals which came in the 2012 Games.
CAS rejected the athletes’ appeal to be granted direct entry into the games, saying it was now up to the worldwide rowing and swimming federations to decide whether to let them in or not. “. WADA waited until the 11th hour, only once it was exposed to the public by [leaked media reports] and so the International Olympic Committee could say there wasn’t enough time”.
Zhukov said it was unfair that Russian sports stars such as double Olympic champion pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva would now watch the Games from home while past doping offenders including top US runner Justin Gatlin took to the field.
“But I would have to say from a personal standpoint, it’s very concerning to me that our governing bodies have dropped the ball in many ways on this”.
Lars Grael said his role in bringing the flame prompted “huge emotions”. This is destroying justice. Sports promote the values of fair play, passion for achievement and respect for process rather than instant results: the basic qualities a nation has to fulfill to rise to greatness.
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The torch, meant to be a symbol of hope and unity, has had a troubled 20,000 km journey around Brazil, featuring attempts to put out the flame with buckets of water, the shooting dead of a rare, captive jaguar, and violent protests by Brazilians angry at the cost of the Games.
