By Canadian Press

OLYMPIC PREVIEW:Rio not the first host city to face questions ahead of the Games

Jul 22, 2016 | 6:30 AM

With fears over the Zika virus, the readiness of infrastructure, as well as Brazil’s current political and economic turmoil, Rio de Janeiro has been grabbing all the wrong headlines ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

But questions swirling around a host city and its preparations in the lead up to a Games is nothing new. The Canadian Press takes a look at some of the concerns that were front and centre prior to recent Olympics.

SOCHI

Controversy ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi included a Russian law that banned so-called gay “propaganda” to minors. 

The vague law passed in 2013 is punishable by fines and jail time. Russian President Vladimir Putin said gay athletes and visitors were welcome in his country for the Olympics, but also warned them to “leave kids alone.”

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The ballooning cost of Putin’s Games, which would turn out to be the most expensive in history at US$51 billion, the threat of terrorism and the balmy temperatures in the resort town on the shores of the Black Sea also made waves before the Olympic flame was even lit.

And controversy continues to swirl around Sochi two years later following an explosive investigation into widespread Russian doping.

LONDON

Terrorism was also a big concern heading into the 2012 Summer Games in the British capital.

The Associated Press reported a month before the Olympics that “not since World War II have Britain and the United States teamed up for such a massive security operation on British soil.”

Thousands of security and military personnel, anti-aircraft guns, military planes and even an aircraft carrier positioned on the River Thames were in place to deal with a possible attack.

Newspapers mused about plots by extremist groups, but the Games went off without incident.

VANCOUVER

A lack of snow and warm temperatures were big stories in the lead up to the 2010 Winter Games.

While the events held in Whistler, B.C., weren’t really impacted, the organizing committee trucked snow to the freestyle skiing and snowboard venue at Cypress Mountain on Vancouver’s North Shore.

Straw and wood were used to build up the courses, and some events ended up getting delayed by rain and fog.

BEIJING

Like the Sochi Games six years later, human rights — including Tibet protests and the jailing of dissidents — were on people’s minds ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics. 

But another issue was air pollution. The Chinese government promised to deal with the problem, but thick clouds of smog continued to blanket the city.

As a precaution, Canada kept its track and field team in Singapore for the first week of the Games until their events got underway.

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press