adminRIO DE JANEIRO. — After a checkered build-up headlined by doping scandals and over-hyped media scare stories about everything from mosquitoes to water to stadiums, we finally get down to Olympics business here with the official opening ceremony set for tonight. The Games will be spectacular as they are being held in a city which is tailor-made for a sporting carnival like the Olympics.If, as some amateur stand-up comedians like to proclaim, Cape Town can be described as a “great location, shame about the cast”, the same certainly cannot be said about Rio de Janeiro.
Great location, great cast too.
The Cariocas, as Rio residents are named, are some of the friendliest, fittest and fun-loving souls on the planet.
These Olympics have landed in party-town central.
The Games have long been overdue a stop in South America and Brazil’s most iconic city will do them proud.
There’s no doubt that the biggest events at the Olympic Games are still the greatest sports show on earth.
Swimming in the first week and track and field in the second will attract television eyeballs by the hundreds of millions. Particularly if Michael Phelps shows form in the pool and Usain Bolt shapes up on the track.
Nevertheless, the IOC need to probably take a step back and see how the Olympic Games fits into the Pokemon-Go, Twitter-scape world we now inhabit. Some of the peripheral sports need to be scrutinised for relevance.
Does football really belong at an Olympic Games?
Or tennis?
Surely golf will not be invited back after the multiple withdrawals from men far more interested in money than medals.
What about modern pentathlon?
A sport that surely belongs in the 19th century.
Greco-Roman wrestling may have been big during Asterix’s time, but is it still relevant in today’s world?
Perhaps a look at the six new sports that have been approved for Tokyo 2020 gives an idea where the Olympics may be heading as the 21st Century gathers steam. — SuperSport.
Online Reporter