Olympic preparations reveal a few weird bugs
New ways to fight Rio mosquitoes
Welcome to the weird, mosquito-infested road to the Rio Olympics, where scientists are trying to figure out how to integrate bug spray into clothing.
Bugging off
Success! The South Korean Olympic athletes are the lucky beneficiaries of the breakthrough.
Zika-proof Olympic uniforms unveiled by South Korea<a href="https://t.co/yUZtxS6WUW">https://t.co/yUZtxS6WUW</a> <a href="https://t.co/E1R22tjQXT">pic.twitter.com/E1R22tjQXT</a>
—@CBCOlympics
Though it looks like regular clothing, the South Korean Olympic uniform is infused with mosquito-repellant, to ward off bugs carrying the dangerous Zika virus.
Unfortunately, the uniforms don't have personalized drop-down, spring-loaded mosquito netting to cover athletes' faces, nor do they contain fly swatters in every pocket, nor can the athletes wear these uniforms during competition, making these uniforms somewhat less useful.
In Tokyo, circle gets the square
The suspense has been killing everyone, and so finally, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic committee has selected their logo for the Games. It means we can all go back to our regularly scheduled lives and stop worrying about which circle they were going to pick.
The Tokyo Olympics gets a new, Kabuki-inspired logo <a href="https://t.co/1wxZMbufGJ">https://t.co/1wxZMbufGJ</a> <a href="https://t.co/dnxHwlFAle">pic.twitter.com/dnxHwlFAle</a>
—@WIRED
It was the circle made of squares, or more accurately it is a circle made up of squares and rectangles, which, according to the committee, represents "different countries, cultures and ways of thinking." It also might be known as "forgetting to hold down the 'Shift' key when drawing a square in Photoshop."
V.I.P. Security
One of Brazil's top security officials is concerned about athletes' safety, particularly with regard to those who choose to stay outside the Athletes' Village. Andrei Rodrigues told The Associated Press it may create the need for extra security measures.
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/businessinsider?src=hash">#businessinsider</a> Olympic officials are worried about athletes' safety outside the Olympic V... <a href="https://t.co/wC9trY2h0z">https://t.co/wC9trY2h0z</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/news?src=hash">#news</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/lancehulsey">@lancehulsey</a>
—@lancehulsey
Rodrigues, who is overseeing Brazil's security in special events, was reacting to news that Rafael Nadal indicated that he wants to stay at a friend's house, instead of in the Village. Nadal has since denied his intention.
Testing, testing
On reaching the 100-day milestone in the countdown to the Olympic Games, we posed a question:
Zika, pollution, politics: Will Rio be ready for the Olympics? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rio2016?src=hash">#Rio2016</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/100DaysOut?src=hash">#100DaysOut</a> <a href="https://t.co/vs5luq4NX9">https://t.co/vs5luq4NX9</a> <a href="https://t.co/G3Uf4rtl6R">pic.twitter.com/G3Uf4rtl6R</a>
—@CBCOlympics
According to the recent test events, not so much.
Rio Olympics fall short in test events <a href="https://t.co/LtunvQbA7H">https://t.co/LtunvQbA7H</a> <a href="https://t.co/02aYvGwWh5">pic.twitter.com/02aYvGwWh5</a>
—@AFP
The wire service AFP posted a summary of the issues, which included:
- Five power outages during the gymnastics test event at the Rio Olympic Arena, causing delays of 15 to 90 minutes for each one. One of the outages took place right when gymnasts were training, which could've caused serious injury.
- Outages at the swimming and diving test events at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium. Faulty air conditioning turned the lower level into a sauna, overheating the spectators and cooking the athletes.
- Athletes trying to get in some practice early during the shooting test event at Deodoro Stadium were met with a surprise: there was nothing to shoot at. The range hadn't been set up yet. There were also complaints about the lack of proper lighting, and faulty air conditioning. The latter of which was so bad that it caused Olympic champion Du Li to succumb to dizziness, and she was taken away in an ambulance.
Biblical proportions
And, finally, something very fitting, considering the lead-up to the Games has looked more like the end of days:
The 410-foot, 2,500 ton <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ark?src=hash">#ark</a> will travel 5,000 miles across the Atlantic to Brazil for the 2016 Olympics <a href="https://twitter.com/CNN">@CNN</a> <a href="https://t.co/X2kgaPxSHp">https://t.co/X2kgaPxSHp</a>
—@HBR_COOP
Hope it has mosquito repellant.
With files from The Associated Press