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Olympics Tag

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 11, 2016 6 Comments
Brazil soccer star Rivaldo used his Instagram to encourage tourists to skip the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio due to violence and corruption. Translation via Google Translate:
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.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 23, 2016 10 Comments
Because yesterday was mostly a travel day for me, I missed the 36th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice, the 1980 U.S. defeat of the Soviet Union in Olympic ice hockey. Most people think it was the finals, but it actually was the semi-finals. The U.S. went on to defeat Finland for the gold. 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.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on December 01, 2015 18 Comments
This is one of those things that just leave you shaking your head. And it's an important lesson of why Israel can't lose any war -- there would be no mercy shown on the Jews. In early September we covered the anniversary of the 1972 Munich Massacre, in which 11 Israelis were murdered by PLO terrorists who took them hostage in the Olympic Village. Mahmoud Abbas, current President of the Palestinian Authority, reportedly financed the operation. https://youtu.be/4nOnRbTlWs0?t=32s Here are the images of the Israelis who died:

Posted by Amy Miller on July 27, 2015 7 Comments
Today Boston city officials announced that they have reached a mutual understanding with the United States Olympic Committee, and will be withdrawing Boston's bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The contract fell through after city officials refused to commit taxpayer dollars to cover any shortfalls encountered by local Olympic organizers. More from the Boston Globe:
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:

Posted by Anne Segal on August 07, 2012 39 Comments

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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