On Wednesday’s “SportsCenter” on ESPN, host Scott Van Pelt weighed in on the upcoming 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, saying the state of the country means Brazil “had no business” getting to host or even attempting to host the Olympics.
“Brazil’s economy is bottoming out before even attempting to put on a smile & welcome the world,” Van Pelt said.
Van Pelt named the numerous issues in Brazil right now, from body parts washing up on the same shore Olympic beach volleyball games will be played, to the Zika virus, to the potential “total collapse in public security, health, education, mobility and environmental management.”
He later added, “Carrying on with the games feels absolutely reckless. It seems that so much could go wrong, but given the amount invested to put on an incredibly popular and compelling television show worldwide, and the amount of money that Brazil has been asked to spend that it doesn’t have in the first place, we all know that the games will indeed go on. And they will cross their fingers and hope they can pull off an Olympic games. When they end, Brazil’s problems will still exist and they will be theirs and theirs alone, no longer an inconvenience to the folks who turn up for a few weeks to try to win some medals; no longer headlines across the world far removed from a place that had no business getting the games or attempting to host them.”
Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent
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