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    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    Is Rio ready for the Olympic Games?

    Just four days before South America's first Summer Olympic Games, there's still widespread fear that Rio is unprepared to stage a global spectacle. There's a crime spree, corruption and shoddy construction of major venues. Water contamination is a threat to the health of swimmers and sailors.

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    By Warren Olney • Aug 1, 2016 • 32m Listen

    Just four days before South America's first Summer Olympic Games, there's still widespread fear that Rio is unprepared to stage a global spectacle. There's a crime spree, corruption and shoddy construction of major venues. Water contamination is a threat to the health of swimmers and sailors. And the Russian doping scandal has cast doubt on the integrity of world-class athletics. We hear what all this means for the quality of the competition, the size of the crowds and rules for staging Olympiads of the future.

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Hype and worry ahead of the Rio games
    1. 1:53US Launches air offensive against ISIS in Libya
    2. 8:38Is Rio ready for the Olympic Games?You’re reading this
    3. 42:02Trump's unforced error on Gold Star Family
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Warren Olney

      former KCRW broadcaster

    • KCRW placeholder

      Katie Cooper

      Producer, 'One year Later'

    • KCRW placeholder

      Paul von Zielbauer

      Co-founder of Geezer magazine, former producer for To the Point and Which Way LA?; former reporter for the New York Times

    • KCRW placeholder

      Andrea Brody

      Senior Producer, KCRW's Life Examined and To the Point podcast

    • KCRW placeholder

      Matthew Futterman

      senior writer covering tennis for The Athletic

    • KCRW placeholder

      David Wallechinsky

      International Society of Olympics Historians

    • KCRW placeholder

      Will Carless

      PRI / Global Post

      NewsNationalPolitics

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    Hype and worry ahead of the Rio games
    1. 1:53US Launches air offensive against ISIS in Libya
    2. 8:38Is Rio ready for the Olympic Games?You’re reading this
    3. 42:02Trump's unforced error on Gold Star Family
    Back to To the Point