Stories: Olympics
-
Olympic Abandonment
The behemoth sports stadiums on the sprawling grounds of Rio’s Olympic Park were built to impress international visitors for the 2016 Summer Games. Today, they are eerily deserted. The space re-opened as a public recreation area in January, but aside from the occasional security guard, there is hardly a human in sight at the 2.5 billion real ($800 million), 300-acre complex. ...
-
Trump Towers Rio still hasn’t been built—and the residents it pushed out couldn’t be happier
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil –– José Paulo Simplicio de Souza was devastated when the government forced him out of his home near the commercial center of Rio de Janeiro to make way for a luxury waterfront property three years ago. The 33-year old food-vendor’s sorrow later turned to disgust when he found out the 45th U...
-
Rio hits the brakes on controversial favela cable car
The black cables scarring the skyline of Complexo do Alemao stopped running months ago. For the residents of the favelas below, they're a constant reminder of how even one of Rio de Janeiro's most ostentatious projects built ahead of the 2016 Olympics has fallen victim to the financial crisis gripping the state. From the start, plans for the...
-
This Abandoned Island Near Rio Could Be in Store for a Miraculous Comeback
Ilha Seca is the closest island to Rio, but humans have barely touched it in the last half century, leaving it overgrown with weeds and dotted with crumbling buildings. Now it's newsworthy, thanks to the 2016 Olympics sailing competition, which will happen in the surrounding Guanabara Bay. The Bay has been making headlines for its...
-
Large Alligator-Like Creatures Are Living Around Rio’s Olympic Sites
In Florida, you don't have to look too far to find alligators. And in Rio de Janeiro, you only have to poke your head into one of the city's many waterways to get a good look at a caiman, an alligator-like animal with a wide snout and narrow teeth. When the 2016 Olympics roll...
-
Inside the Desolate Rio Neighborhood Being Bulldozed for the Olympics
At first, you don't see it. Hidden near the gargantuan Athletes Village, the gleaming media center, and under-construction Olympic stadiums is a ramshackle set of homes. Before the city bulldozed most of the neighborhood, known as Vila Autodromo, there were about 700 families living here. Vila Autodromo, located behind a former racetrack (...
-
A Look Inside Rio De Janeiro’s Oldest Favela, Threatened by Gentrification and the 2016 Olympics
Brazil's favelas are translated as "slums" in English, but they're really more comparable to U.S. public housing. Favelas are more than just a place to live--they're often tight-knit communities inhabited by families who have lived there for generations. Nowhere is this more true than in Providencia, which at an age of over 100 years, is the oldest...
-
The Site of Several 2016 Olympic Aquatic Events Has 195 Times the Safe Amount of Sewage in the Water
Tall and tan and young and lovely, the girl from Ipanema goes … “Ew, what’s that smell?” At Ipanema beach in January, the organization Meu Rio staged a protest in an attempt to make it known that thousands of gallons of raw sewage are dumped into the ocean off Rio’s coast...