"After much thought and deliberation, I have decided to withdraw my name from consideration for this summer's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. "After speaking with those closest to me, I've come to realise that my health and my family's health comes before anything else. "Even though the risk of infection from the Zika virus is considered low, it is a risk nonetheless and a risk I am unwilling to take. "I trust the Irish people will understand my decision. The unwavering support I receive every time I compete in a golf tournament at home or abroad means the world to me. "I will continue to endeavour to make my fans and fans of golf proud with my play on the course and my actions off it."Scientists have connected Zika to birth defects, including microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome. Numerous athletes have withdrawn from the Olympics because of Zika while some have expressed doubt they will play, but have not made up their mind yet.
By declaring a state of calamity, interim Gov. Francisco Dornelles authorized his subordinates to adopt “exceptional measures necessary for the rationalization of essential public services” to meet Rio’s commitments for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The move further allows the government to skip the bidding process to hire some contractors and loosens minimum spending requirements on mandatory items like education and health care. An official in Brazil’s Finance Ministry said the decree would also enable Rio to obtain federal resources more quickly.
Scientists have found dangerous drug-resistant "super bacteria" off beaches in Rio de Janeiro that will host Olympic swimming events and in a lagoon where rowing and canoe athletes will compete when the Games start on Aug. 5. The findings from two unpublished academic studies seen by Reuters concern Rio's most popular spots for tourists and greatly increase the areas known to be infected by the microbes normally found only in hospitals. They also heighten concerns that Rio's sewage-infested waterways are unsafe.
“I’m not going to be able to go to Rio ... The doctors say that we shouldn’t because of the CDC, because of the Zika virus, so I’ll miss it,” she said. “You’re going to have to go to female beach volleyball without me, Matt (Lauer). Try to carry on,” she joked. “You guys will have a great time, and I’ll hold down the fort.”The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended pregnant women not travel to Zika hot spots. Experts have linked the virus to microcephaly, a birth defect that occurs when the brain does not form properly during pregnancy snd results in a small head.
“If Jessica were not pregnant right now, assuming I was selected, I would go,” van Garderen told CyclingTips. “But the fact is, she is pregnant. If we were just going to start trying, I’d say we could start trying six months after the Olympics. But when she has a baby in her belly, I don’t want to take any chances.”His statement comes a week after 150 of the world's top doctors demanded the Olympic Committee either move or postpone the games.
Bandits in Rio de Janeiro killed this 17-year-old girl. Things are getting uglier in Brazil. I advise everyone who wants to visit Brazil or come to the Olympics in Rio to remain in their country of origin. Your life will be in danger here. Not to mention the fact that the public hospitals are useless and the mess in Brazilian politics. Only God can change the situation in our Brazil.Rivaldo used a picture of 17-year-old Ana Beatriz Pereira Frade. Armed robbers surrounded Frade and her stepfather on their way to the airport. One of the men shot her in the head after her stepfather attempted to run into the gang to escape. A baby in the back of the car did not receive any injuries.
A photo posted by Rivaldo Ferreira (@rivaldooficial) on
For me it holds a very special memory, even though I didn't watch the game live. I was a student in Moscow at the time, living in a large dorm just inside the city limits, on the last Metro stop before the ring road. I studied at the Pushkin Russian Language Institute, which trained foreigners to become Russian language teachers, the theory being that the adoption of English as the international language was harmful to Soviet interests. I had no intention of becoming a Russian language teacher, but the experience was unique.On this day 36 years ago, a group of American college kids pulled off the greatest upset in sports history. pic.twitter.com/SdOZ1NGKdu
— ESPN (@espn) February 23, 2016
The Boston bid has been in peril for months, due to a string of controversies and low poll numbers. “Notwithstanding the promise of the original vision for the bid, and the soundness of the plan developed under Steve Pagliuca, we have not been able to get a majority of the citizens of Boston to support hosting the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” [USOC Chairman Scott] Blackmun said. “Therefore, the USOC does not think that the level of support enjoyed by Boston’s bid would allow it to prevail over great bids from Paris, Rome, Hamburg, Budapest or Toronto.” James E. Rooney, chief executive of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement that “while hosting the Olympic Games could have been an exciting opportunity for Boston, I believe Mayor Walsh and Governor Baker were right to be cautious about assuming too much taxpayer risk.” USOC members chose Boston in January as the US bid city for the 2024 Games, over Washington, D.C., San Francisco and LA.Boston Mayor Randy Walsh took to Facebook to offer an explanation for why the city's bid fell apart:
The Economist published a list of discontinued Olympic sports since the games of 1896. While this year we can count on such sports as Synchronized Diving, Beach Volleyball, and Water Polo, other events have come and gone. What many of these discontinued events have in common,...
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