With 100 days until the Games begin, Brazil is unraveling fast -- largely overshadowing the impending arrival of sport's greatest showpiece.
Who needs the staple pre-Olympic media diet of venue delays and security fears when you have a leader facing impeachment, a gigantic corruption scandal and a global public health emergency?
As the clock ticks, it is impossible to know who will occupy the seat reserved for the Brazilian president at the August 5 opening ceremony.
The incumbent, Dilma Rousseff, is alleged to have manipulated her government's economic figures prior to 2014's election. She says the consequent impeachment proceedings against her are a "coup" she will fight to the last.
Leading her opponents is Eduardo Cunha, speaker of Brazil's lower house. He says Rousseff has brought "economic chaos" on Brazil, but is facing his own series of proceedings related to corruption and money-laundering allegations.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters on both sides routinely take to Brazil's streets. Forgive them if they haven't yet bought badminton tickets.
"If it was a normal situation, the excitement would be starting to grow somewhere around May or June," says Regys Silva, one of the few Brazilians for whom the Olympics remain a daily priority.
A lawyer in the northeastern city of Fortaleza, he and a group of friends run a daily Portuguese-language Olympics website named Surto Olimpico.
"But it's Brazil," he continues. "The country always has a crisis. And now the Olympics have to compete with this crisis."
Crises
Crisis, singular, may understate matters.
Behind the presidential drama simmers a countrywide corruption scandal featuring partly state-owned oil giant Petrobras. Since late last year, investigators have explored ties between that scandal and Olympic infrastructure projects.
Meanwhile, Brazil is in its worst recession since the 1930s by some measures. Government data released at the start of April showed industrial output down by 9% year-on-year. The World Bank says the shrinking of Brazil's economy by 3.8% last year represents its worst performance since 1981.
Source :CNN
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