RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — For months, fears about the Rio de Janeiro Olympics have been hogging the spotlight.
There are concerns about safety amid a surge of murders in Rio and terrorist attacks in Europe and the United States. Polluted beaches and other waterways could make athletes and visitors ill, and the Zika virus has scared some competitors away.
If all that wasn't enough, the state of Rio is so broke that months ago it stopped paying thousands of public employees; Angry police have periodically been greeting tourists in the international airport with signs that say, "Welcome to hell!