When Brazil faced off against Germany in the 2014 Fifa World Cup semi-finals, they lost 7 to 1 to Germany. This surprised many people and led to Germany setting a multitude of records, one of which was the largest marginal loss in a Fifa World Cup semi-finals. As you could imagine this was a national disgrace for Brazil. Sadly with Brazil’s Olympics just down the road, it is starting to look like they may face another national disgrace; however this one won’t come on the soccer field. There has been a major amount of controversy surrounding these Olympics, for a variety of reasons. Today the Olympic Committee is starting to see that Brazil is going to get shut out yet again, but by four, with the upcoming Olympics. Brazil just can’t sufficiently host these Olympics because they have been struggling with water quality, the economy, corruption in the country, and poor infrastructure paired with the Zika virus.

The first goal that is going to get scored on Brazil is by the fantastic forward, poor water quality. Brazil has been having water problems for quite some time now and Germany’s sailor of the year, Heiko Kroeger, is taking a huge offense to this. In a Telegraph article published on February 23 of 2016, he was quoted as saying “Domestic waste, sewage, dead rats and fish, used condoms- it’s really disgusting.”. This has lead him to try and get the DSOB (the German Olympic Committee) to boycott the games. He also stated that this water is not only dangerous to the health of the sailors, but also to the health of their boats. Along with all the previously mentioned things floating in the water, there are also tree trunks, chairs, large boxes, and branches all floating around. This is leading to some of the athletes wanting to boycott the games. The drinking water is also being plagued by sewage from Rio, which was a problem Brazil said they were going to have fixed by 2016. This is leading many experts to believe that this water will not be safe or ready by the time the Olympics take place. A Washington Post article published on February 18 of 2016 entitled “Rio water will still be polluted for Summer Olympics” talks about how and why countries like the USA are briefing their athletes for exposure to the polluted water. Some athletes are choosing to push forward and risk getting sick, while others are trying to boycott the games. This water is so polluted that the venues where the athletes will be competing contain high levels of bacteria and viruses, leading many athletes like Heiko to get as many vaccinations as possible so they don’t contract any of the diseases those waters are said to hold. Now the Olympic commitee can see why Brazil simply can’t host these Olympics, but this is just the beginning of their problems. 

Luckily for Brazil they got to start with the ball after poor water quality scored the goal, but sadly economy stole it and scored again. When Brazil was first chosen to host the 2016 Olympics their economy was exploding with growth. At the time they had a growing middle class and it seemed like nothing lousy was going to happen; however, something horrible did happen and their economy crashed. According to the World Debt Clock, Brazil’s debt is a bit under 700 billion dollars and it is growing steadily. This has lead many people to come to the conclusion that Brazil simply isn’t ready to host these Olympics. Many people have been critical of Brazil because right now they have more debt than any of the past years, and yet they are still continuing on with their plans to host these Olympics. In a Reuters article published on January 19 of 2016, it stated that because of Brazil’s economic crash, the Olympic planners in the country are having to cut on costs. They are shrinking the stadium sizes and while this means they have to pay less to build the stadium, it also means they won’t sell as many tickets. They also had to drop around 20,000 workers which will make it harder to control the massive crowds that are expected for the upcoming games. The fact that their economy is growing slower now than ever before isn’t helping their current problems. According to an article by The Economist published on March 31st of 2016 entitled “Brazilian Waxing and Waning” it stated that Brazil’s economy grew by 2.2% per year while Dilma Rousseff was in office. That is a much smaller growth rate than the surrounding countries, and just hasn’t helped Brazil out at all with their economic troubles. Now with the score at 2-0 the Olympic committee is probably thinking it can’t get much worse than slow economic growth and more debt than ever before, but yet it can.

After Brazil got scored on by economy, they got a fresh start, but the the midfielder corruption took a shot from midfield and scored. In recent months many scandals have come to light causing mass protests to break out all across Brazil. Many of the participants have been calling for the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff. In a Wall Street Journal Article published on February of 2016 entitled “Brazil’s President’s Approval Rating Remains Near All-Time Low”, it stated that just around 11% of the people who responded to their survey approve of Dilma Rousseff. It also stated that around 64% rated Ms. Rousseff at bad or terrible and only around 8% of people approved of her administration. To put that into perspective, that is the lowest approval rating for any Brazilian president since 1990. This is all because of the previously mentioned economic problems Brazil has been having and the money laundering scheme Ms. Rousseff was said to be a part of. These schemes were between an oil company and the government of Brazil that amounted to around 1.6 billion dollars.  It stated in that same article that Ms.Rousseff denies any claims about her being involved in these money laundering schemes; nevertheless, this isn’t changing the public opinion. These scandals aren’t just with Dilma Rousseff. Another one is highlighted in a Time article published on March 6th of 2016 and talked about how the former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and about how now that his scandals have come to light. At the time of his presidency many people hailed him as the savior of Brazil and they had good reason to as well. He boosted Brazil’s economy and lifted around 35 million people out of poverty. He had around a 90% approval when he left office in 2011; however, now that he has been charged with money laundering and for giving out around 3 billion bribes, the public has changed their mind’s about  him. Those charges were another cause of the millions of protesters that took to the streets on March 13 of 2016, calling for the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff and for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to be thrown into jail.  Now the Olympic Committee can see that Brazil isn’t ready to host the Olympics because they can’t even keep their government officials or the people of their country in line.

The fourth goal getting scored on Brazil is by the fantastic duo, Zika virus and poor infrastructure. This dynamic duo has scored big time on Brazil bringing the score up to four nothing, but they couldn’t do it without each other. Infrastructure sets it up for Zika Virus to score and it works every time. In a Reuters article published on March 16th of 2016 entitled “Infrastructure inequality is catalyst for Brazil’s Zika epidemic”,  it talks about how the poor infrastructure in the country has led to a more widespread Zika virus. It stated that around 8 million people have no regular garbage services, around 35 million have no access to clean running water, and around 100 million have no access to sewage. All of this has made the perfect breeding ground for viruses, like the Zika virus. One of the other major viruses that has spread throughout the slums of Brazil is the dengue virus. In the same article it stated that around 1.6 million cases of the dengue virus were reported last year, leading to hundreds of deaths. All of that is because of poor infrastructure. The only way these problems will go away, is if they invest an immense amount of time and money into improving the living conditions in these areas. They aren’t however, because they find the Olympics to be more important than their own people. Which leads into a serious situation for Brazil. To effectively control the Zika virus, they need to invest more time into health care as well. According to an Economic Times article published on March 18 of 2016, a healthcare firm has opened in Brazil, but that is not enough. They need to get this ball rolling and stop focusing on the Olympics, when they should focus on their people who are living in conditions that would be unbearable to the average person. The Zika outbreak has only worsened the previously mentioned economic problems and public opinions, as Brazil has barely invested any money into controlling or preventing the spread of this virus. None of this will ever change until Brazil realizes where their priorities need to be at, which is with the people of their country and not the Olympics. For these final reasons, the Zika Virus, poor infrastructure, and poor health care, we can see that Brazil cannot adequately host their own Olympics.

When Brazil lost in the 2014 Fifa World Cup Semi-Finals, it came as a huge surprise to everyone. However the 4 to 0 loss they will be facing with these upcoming Olympics shouldn’t, in fact we should just be expecting it. First bad water quality scored because of the backlash coming from the Olympic athletes competing in the upcoming games, followed by the economy coming in and stealing the show with it’s slow growth and inability to host the games because of its crippling debt. Third was from the midfielder, corruption, but he couldn’t have done it without the support of Dilma Rousseff and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The final goal was scored by the Zika virus, with an assist from the oh so wonderful poor infrastructure, without each other they wouldn’t have been able to put Brazil even deeper into the hole. All of this adds up to show that Brazil is unfit to host these Olympics, and sadly for them it isn’t going to be a close one.