Positive Publicity

7.8.2016.

A more positive publicity for the just-started Rio Olympics would do wonders.

My impression is that the press, through all its media, is slanted negatively. Is there a bias against the staging of the Games for the first time in South America, a "summer" event being held in a southern "winter"?

From the beginning the news was rampant with all the problems with the constructions of the different venues and infrastructures, as if London in 2012 and the preceeding cities did not have them. But for poor Brazil they were made more stark.

Then there was the Zika scare being given maximum exposure, so much so many otherwise stout-hearted athletes suddenly became faint-hearted and too scared to come. As a keen follower of golf, I was particularly disappointed that some of the leading professional golfers have used this health scare as their excuse for not going to Rio, never mind the huge historic effort at introducing golf to these Games.  Except that just very recently Florida also announced the finding of zika there, where many of these millionaire players live. Now let's see what they say about leaving the state !

Brazilian politics haven't helped. We all know the mess they've made for themselves, and that was sufficient to next make the western political leaders, led by USA, to decide to skip the opening ceremonies yesterday.

Of course the downturn of the bullish Brazilian economy that made their bid for the game years ago seemed triumphant now seem foolhardy. The talk of playing to empty stadiums has been nicely played up in the  media.

But watching the opening ceremonies (even these were sabotagued by US Networks showing delayed telecast) we can make an excellent comparison with the best staging of world-class sporting events elsewhere. I think the Brazilians have put up a show worthy of these Games.

To think that even in days prior to the start of the Rio Olympics, Western media still found it newsworthy to dwell on the petty street crimes, the sewage spill in the bay, the cracks on the newly paved roads, the lodging problems in the Olympics Village and other nasty creature comfort issues that actually right now plague all the leading Western capital cities.

Expect mishaps in the next two weeks. These always happen when you put a million human beings in one place. But let's also appreciate the good things that are achieved, not least of which is the spirit of goodwill sought for, and the contribution of  everybody who tries very hard to make these Games a success. When that happens, and I'm sure it will, we all owe Brazil a big "bravo".  

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