Rio Doc Warns: 2016 Olympic “Athletes Will Literally Be Swimming in Human Crap”

The water in Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay isn’t just dirty, it’s highly polluted to a nasty degree. Researchers have even likened it to the level of “raw sewage” in studies.

In a recent interview, a doctor did not even remotely mince words when discussing the quality of the water that the athletes will be competing in during the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Rio pediatrician Dr. Daniel Becker told The New York Times:

“Foreign athletes will literally be swimming in human crap, and they risk getting sick from all those microorganisms,” Becker said. “It’s sad but also worrisome.”

“Worrisome”? Local microbiologists who have tested the water for bacteria refuse to go anywhere near it (other than when they have to test it for bacteria).

Other phrases The Times used in its article to describe the water: “overwhelming odor,” “fetid canal,” and “putrid stew”.

Ew.

A fisherman on Rio’s Guanabara Bay, who personally calls it “disgusting,” went on to say human fecal matter is actually the least of the athlete’s worries, recounting the dead bodies, including dogs and humans, and voluminous amounts of trash like broken televisions he sees floating around in the water on a daily basis:

But Mr. Monteiro is most concerned with the shoreline factories that discharge chemical waste and the oil tankers that flush out their holds, giving the water’s surface a multicolored sheen…
“When you open up the fish, their innards are black with oil and muck,” he said. “But we clean them with soap and eat them anyway.”

This isn’t news, either. People in the area have known how bad the water is for years now, but demands to try to clean it up have been ignored.

You would think the Olympic Committee would have considered this when choosing where the 2016 games should be held, right? Instead, they rest their laurels on the claim that where the athletes will be competing, the water meets World Health Organization standards…as if that is somehow in any way reassuring.

Makes you wonder how much that Olympic medal is really worth…

The doctor’s advice to the Olympians? Keep their mouths closed.

Yeah. Good luck with that.