Olympics Officials Try to Ease Concerns

At the International Olympic Committee offices in Lausanne, Switzerland, officials have to ease the concerns of those stakeholders planning to attend this summer’s Olympics. During the summer of this year, Rio de Janeiro will host the Olympics. Rio has a good reputation for being the home to 41,000 plant species and the largest urban rainforest in the world. However, the Olympics committee has to swallow the hard facts and arising issues and figure out how to ease some of this concerns to promote the competition. For instance, Brazil is facing an economic crisis and the country was recently hit by the Zika virus badly. This health issue was recently declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization.

Last Wednesday, the officials of the International Olympic Committee gathered for a closed-door meeting to discuss any potential impact of the virus on the Olympic games. The discussion also included other issues including the concerns of the city when it seeks to deliver on the promises made to make the Olympics successful and the first South American city to host the Olympics.

At the meeting at Lausanne Palace Hotel, President of the Organizing Committee Carlos Arthur Nuzman deliver updates to the Olympics executives including the Rio’s mayor who was connected by telephone. The updates touched on the transportation projects, venue logistics, Zika virus, budget details, and sluggish ticket sales. It is just five months left, and there are widespread concerns that the Zika virus could significantly undermine the attendance and cause anxiety among the athletes. According to Arthur, the ticket sales have increased a lot but still short of the projected levels. According to him, 47 percent of the tickets have been sold so far, and the generated income is $194 million in revenue.

About the Mosquito virus, the director of the World Health Organization was forced to visit Brazil to meet with the country’s president about the matter. So far there is a coordinated international response which does not include travel restrictions according to WHO officials. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S., however, has advised pregnant women to abstain from attending the games for birth defects related to the virus. This advisory had not gone well with some people and organizations especially when the IOC president stated that it only relies on World Health Organization for advice.

Due to this health problem, the Brazilian government has been advised to ensure there are not standing water that can facilitate the spreading of the virus. It is important to note that 500,000 people are expected to descend in Rio for this games, and the primary concerns are the spread of the virus to the whole world. With concerns over Zika virus being seen as a hindrance to the success of these games, it is quite obvious an Olympic betting will be affected by decisions taken by the IOC. If the advisory is issued for people traveling to Brazil, it could be too bad for the games and the people willing to play it on betting. However, the Olympics always provides an opportunity for online sports betting which makes the game more interesting and engaging.