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Can Rio deliver a secure Olympic Games?
However, Paes insists, “We are sure
by 2016 we will deliver the Games and
hopefully in a way that the city will be
more peaceful and secure for all our
citizens.”
“We worry about security for our citizens,
for our everyday lives, for the visitors
that come on a regular basis. That’s our
challenge but things are moving forward.
... The violence we face in Rio will be
much, much better by 2016.”
Rio’s win to host the Olympics means
Brazil will host the world’s two biggest
sporting events back to back.
Many wondered whether hosting the
World Cup in 2014 would work against
Rio but Paes
said the
o p p o s i t e
ended up
being the case.
“It showed the International
Olympic Committee that Rio
would have to be ready two years in
advance,” he said.
Rio de Janeiro has won the bidding for
the 2016 Olympic Games, but the city has
a long way to go before it is ready to host
a secure games.
Recent violence across the Brazilian city
left 12 people dead. Rio’s mayor, Eduardo
Paes, said combating local warfare will
prove the biggest challenge for games
organisers.
“We never hid our problems during
the bid process. We always told
people -- and we are still facing
problems,” Paes told the Global
Sports Industry Summit in London.
“We still have a lot to do, we
have a long way to go and what
h a p p e n e d
this weekend showed that.”
Only two weeks after the city was awarded
the Olympics, beating out Madrid,
Chicago and Tokyo, drug traffickers shot
down a police helicopter in Rio killing two
officers. A further 10 suspected gang
members were killed in another outbreak
of violence.
While the city of six million people is
known for its beautiful beaches and
colourful partying, it is also one
of the world’s most violent cities.
Almost daily shoot-outs between
police and armed gangs that
control many of the city’s roughly
1,000 slums plague Olympic
preparations.
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) announced there
will be zero tolerance for hits to the head in hockey matches
played at the Vancouver Olympic Games.
This announcement sees the enforcement of a rule adopted in
2002 at the IIHF’s congress in Sweden.
“The calling of this rule follows the same principles as the rule
on checking from behind,” IIHF sport director Dave Fitzpatrick
said on the federation’s website. “This means; a two-minute
minor plus a 10-minute misconduct, a five-minute major plus an
automatic game misconduct or a match penalty.
Zero tolerance for head hits at Olympics
“The IIHF has a supplementary discipline rule where all such
calls can be reviewed and additional suspension added if deemed
necessary.”
While the National Hockey League continues to debate the issue
of hits to the head, the IIHF introduced its rule as a result of
research into concussions and their long-term effects.
“This rule is backed by scientific research and study,” said
Fitzpatrick. “The application of the rule begins to address the
insurance costs for medical attention of injured players plus the
insurance for contracts between injured players and their club for
missed time due to such head injury. We have learned through
our research that the recovery from a concussion and the return
to play is an individual one and can vary from player to player and
increases with each additional concussion sustained.”
Canada’s Murray Costello, who is the IIHF’s vice-president and
chairman of the federation’s medical committee, helped to
introduce Rule 540, which penalizes a player “who directs a check
or blow, with any part of his body, to the head and neck area of
an opposing player or `drives’ or `forces’ the head of an opposing
player into the protective glass on boards.”
“With the size and speed of today’s game, the players’ talents and
their lives are far too important to subject them to direct hits to
the head,” Costello said on the website. “We must eliminate them
from the game; in the same way we removed hitting from behind,
to avoid the threat of spinal injuries.”