Is It Worth It?

If anyone can find a good news story coming out of Rio de Janeiro, please let us know. The upcoming Olympic Games, a seeming disaster in the making, continue to make news, all of it bad.

The filthy water where rowing and sailing events will take place has been well-documented and not remedied. The country is in political turmoil. Athletes are either refusing to go to Rio or on the verge of making that decision because of fears of the Zika virus, which can cause birth defects. Golfer Rory McIlroy pulled out last week.

Now, just six weeks before the scheduled opening of the games, the World Anti-Doping Agency has suspended the laboratory that was supposed to handle testing due to “non-conformity” with international standards. World governing bodies had already banned Russian track and field athletes from competing due to that country’s widespread doping irregularities and violations.

According to the New York Times, the International Olympic Committee will have to arrange for doping samples to be taken to and tested at another WADA-approved lab if Rio cannot be re-certified in time, which seems unlikely.

The Olympics should be safe, secure and exciting time for world sports. Instead it has devolved into a series of messes that will only further tarnish this spectacle.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman