With only six months to go until the Olympic Games in Brazil, even the Zika crisis doesn’t seem to be slowing down the momentum for this event. Here are some great reasons to still be enthusiastic about the Olympics:

A Continental First

Rio de Janeiro happens to be the first city in the continent of South America to host the Summer Olympics! It is also the second city in Latin America to host the games after Mexico City in 1998, and the first city since the year 2000 to host the event in the southern hemisphere. The fact that Rio was chosen to be the first place to host the Olympics in South America is also a great win for Brazil.

The Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony of the 2016 Olympic games will take place in the Maracanã stadium on Friday, August 5. According to the Olympic Charter, the event will include a parade of athletes, with an artistic extravaganza to display the host nation’s culture. The artistic portion of the opening ceremonies is what truly makes each one different, and allows the globe to witness the host country’s specialities.

The Mascots

For this Olympic Games, the mascot is called Vinicius, named after the musician Vinicius de Moraes. For the Paralympic games, the mascot is called Tom, and is named after another musician called Tom Jobim. Vinicius is supposed to represent Brazilian wildlife, carrying mainly the traits of cats, monkeys, and birds. According to olympic.org, “Alongside his Paralympic Games colleague, Vinicius represents the diversity of the Brazilian people and culture, as well as its exuberant nature.”

New Games

This year, new games such as golf, sevens rugby, and kitesurfing will be added to the Olympics. Kitesurfing in particular, is a surface water sport which combines the aspects of wakeboarding, snowboarding, windsurfing, surfing, paragliding, skateboarding, and gymnastics into one. There are 42 sports in total which will be contested.

Venues

Residents in Manaus, Brasília, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, and São Paulo will be able to witness the football games as they will be held in these cities as well. All the other games however, will be held in Rio de Janeiro. This will provide a change for people who do not live in Rio to still experience a little bit of the Olympics in their cities.

Tourism
Though controversy has arisen about traveling to Brazil for the Olympics due to the Zika outbreak, water pollution in Rio, and Brazil’s recession, there will still be an increase in tourism in the country as people from all around the world including athletes, journalists, and press will be there to experience the games. August 2016 is bound to look like a mini globe melting into the streets of Rio.

Since hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2014, Rio 2016 provides Brazil with a brand new opportunity to further present its attractions and its unique culture to the world. While it is true that the social, political, and economic situation is not ideal at the moment for Brazil to be hosting such a financially draining event, there is still room for excitement and anticipation for the world’s biggest international sporting event!

(Sources: olympic.org, rio2016.com, theguardian.com)