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Home / Sport

Horrific and hilarious: #Rioproblems tweets are gold

By Debbie Schipp
news.com.au·
5 Aug, 2016 07:49 AM2 mins to read

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This sink is missing something rather important.

This sink is missing something rather important.

There's a Twitter hashtag chronicling Rio de Janeiro's Olympic dramas - and it's simultaneously horrific and hilarious.

Before the opening ceremony tomorrow, the litany of hurdles is so varied and vast that it has spawned its own hashtag - #rioproblems.

And the biggest prediction from the @rioproblems Twitter handle so far is: "At this rate gold medals will be handed out just for surviving the Olympics".

The 2014 Winter Olympics Games in Sochi spawned #sochiproblems, but it seems #rioproblems is set to blow that out of the (contaminated) water.

A quick glance at the Twitter feed is a chronicle of the disasters - everything from a recent demonstration at Rio's airport that greeted visitors with a sign reading, "Welcome to hell," to swimmers told to keep their heads out of the polluted water.

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Zika virus is an ever-present threat, crime is up, and with long queues for tickets which don't seem to exist, preparedness is way, way down.

There are even helpful suggestions for new Zika-inspired Olympics logos.

The @RioProblems Twitter handle features everything from ramp collapses at the sailing venue to a group of protesters extinguishing the Olympic torch as it made its way through a seaside town earlier this week.

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At this rate gold medals will be handed out just for surviving the olympics #rioproblems pic.twitter.com/oHyPsdzPLo

— Rio Problems (@RioProblems) April 22, 2016

Other revelations include officials having to open a soccer stadium with bolt cutters during the week because someone had lost the key.

Dozens of posts show the unpreparedness of Rio's Olympic accommodations.
Sports writer Eric Adelsen filed a picture of a missing stadium sink.

This stadium sink isn't quite completed. #RioProblems pic.twitter.com/f6CWVQqRQB

— Eric Adelson (@eric_adelson) August 3, 2016

And last week the Australian team refused to move into the athlete's village until electrical and plumbing concerns were fixed. Italy's Olympic team hired their own plumbers and electricians to sort its accommodation. Maybe they should head direct them to Jamaica's pad, where the latest video shows work still in progress around the athletes.

In today's edition of #RioProblems, the Jamaican team's room in Olympic Village is a disaster.
(via @JamaicaGleaner)pic.twitter.com/WwyNqAu1GL

— Stadium (@Stadium) August 4, 2016

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