On October 2nd, 2009, nearly 100,000 ecstatic Rio de Janeiro residents celebrated on Copacabana beach after hearing that their cherished city was elected to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Although 2016 seemed very distant at the time, Brazilians were proud to have been chosen to host the globally renowned and tourist attracting event, showing to the world that Brazil was a strong and spirited nation. Their morale was boosted even more by the fact that the Olympics had never before been hosted in a South American city. Part of the reason why Rio was selected as the host city was because of their comprehensive plan that was satisfactorily rated based on accommodation, environmental conditions and impact, experience in holding sporting events, funding, infrastructure, government support, safety, sports facilities, and transportation. The government of Rio was honored to have been elected to host the games, and certainly did not want to disappoint for such a significant and greatly publicized event. In the process of preparing for the games, Rio has ensured transparency in terms of funding by posting the approximate revenues and expenses of the games (currently, both are $7.4 billion dollars) and where the money came from or is going towards. But what is the real cost of the Rio 2016 Olympics, meaning the cost of the games for the millions of Rio inhabitants living in poverty or suffering in favelas?
Recently, human rights champions have revealed the detrimental effects that the games have had on Rio’s more vulnerable communities. Ranging from the forced eviction of people and destruction of their former homes, to police violence towards protesters, many human rights violations have occurred amidst Rio’s preparation for the games. Even before the preparation for the games commenced, Rio was a domestically unstable city; one citizen states that they suffer due to the “precarious situation of the education and transport systems, and in particular the health system, where people die from not having medical staff, basic tools for procedures and blood transfusions.” He further denounces the Rio government for spending excessive amounts of money beautifying the cities that the sports events will occur in to attract tourists, while ignoring the high death rate in favelas due to police confrontations with illegal drug dealers among other problems. Also, not only have struggling communities’ been marginalized and neglected in this process, but the government has even forcibly moved people out of their homes to clear the land for sports stadiums or resorts, and those who resisted were met with violent police response.
Similarly, when Rio protesters formed a barrier to prevent the Olympic torch from continuing its path, some throwing stones and shouting as well, police forces suppressed them with stun grenades, tear gas, and pepper spray. The clash, which injured three people, only worsened the protesters’ discontent with the government. One citizen claims that the Olympics are a “waste of time” that “do not bring any benefits to Rio,” since the games are diverting the government’s attention and funds from economic, social, and transportation issues. Although Rio’s economy was booming in 2009 when it won the bid to host the 2016 games, it is now going through its worst recession in 25 years. People in favelas are struggling with a shortage of food and clothing, and traffic has been atrocious due to new express bus lanes carrying athletes and visitors to sport venues that occupy highway space.
But in spite of the disturbing chaos that the Brazilian government is trying to hide behind the magnificence of the Olympic games, could the Olympic games potentially act as a stabilizer for Brazil? Regardless of the host, the Olympics have the capability of uniting people across the world, as well as people of one country. Hosting the Olympics presents the country with an opportunity to create more jobs, ameliorate poorer communities, and increase nationalism. So instead of wasting money on glamorizing resorts and sports venues, which is really “gilding the lily,” Rio should be spending money on reducing unemployment, poverty, shortages of food and other basic necessities, and unhygienic conditions in favelas. By improving life in the favelas, which 1 in every 5 Rio citizens live in, there will be much less domestic violence and division, and then Rio can truly embody the unity and pride that the Olympics are all about.