Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), announced on October 2, 2009, that Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, had been selected to host the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in 2016. The selection of Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 games marks the first time a South American city has been selected to host an Olympics. Rio de Janeiro was an applicant city for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Rio de Janeiro does have experience hosting major international sporting events, however. The city hosted the 2007 Pan-American Games and the 2014 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup. The Olympic Games will be held August 5-21, 2016. It is expected that 10,500 athletes from 206 countries will participate in 42 sports, including 555 athletes on the U.S. Olympic team. Most events will be held at 32 competition venues in 4 main regions, or neighborhoods, in Rio de Janeiro: Barra de Tijuca (Barra), Copacabana, Deodoro, and Maracanã. Figure 1 below shows the four neighborhoods and the specific venues located in each. In addition to Rio de Janeiro (which has two soccer stadiums), soccer matches will be held in the cities of Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Manaus, São Paulo, and Salvador. Figure 2 below shows all six cities. For the first time, the 2016 Rio Games will feature a team consisting of athletes who are refugees. Created by the IOC's Executive Board, the Refugee Olympic Team (ROT) for the 2016 Summer Games has 10 members who were selected from a pool of 43 athletes. The origin countries of the ROT athletes are the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2), Ethiopia (1), South Sudan (5), and Syria (2). The IOC will ensure that the ROT receives uniforms, housing, and technical assistance (e.g., coaches and support staff). The Olympic flag and the Olympic anthem will be used for any official representations, such as possible medal ceremonies, involving ROT. Over the years, host countries and cities have had to deal with a variety of concerns, problems, or criticisms, and Rio de Janeiro is no exception. Separately or collectively, a variety of issues might pose risks to the health, safety, and general well-being of athletes and their families, team personnel, and spectators participating in or attending the 2016 Games. Chief among these are the Zika virus, public safety threats, security concerns, and environmental conditions. This report also discusses the possible implications of hosting the Olympics for Brazil and the issue of doping. Each candidate city for the 2016 Games was required to address 14 themes in its bid—such as environment and meteorology, finance, security, medical services, and doping control. However, in 2009 no one could have foreseen the outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus in 2016. The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) has stated publicly that the decision to participate in the 2016 Games is up to each member of the U.S. Olympic team, which will include approximately 550 athletes. In March 2016, the USOC announced that it had recently established an Infectious Disease Advisory Group consisting of three physicians who are infectious disease experts and who have experience managing "infectious disease in patient populations that frequently travel internationally." The advisory group is to assist the USOC by establishing best practices for "the mitigation, assessment and management of infectious disease.... " Other steps taken, or planned, by the USOC include making information available to athletes and the public via the Internet and providing Team USA athletes with mosquito netting, bug repellent, and informational materials. The Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic Games described, in the candidature file it submitted to the IOC, the exiting health care resources that could be used in support of the Games and committed to providing a series of Games-specific health services. However, shortages of health care workers and supplies might compromise the medical services available. Public safety is also a key concern, given the prevalence of criminal activity in and around Rio de Janeiro. More recently, as reported by the Wall Street Journal , criminals stole a truck loaded with broadcasting equipment for the Games, and athletes training in Rio de Janeiro have been robbed on the street. Although it does not mention the Olympics specifically, the State Department's information page for travelers to Brazil cautions that the city of Rio de Janeiro continues to "experience high incidences of crime, including armed robberies.... Tourists are particularly vulnerable to street thefts and robberies in the evening and at night especially in areas adjacent to major tourist attractions." However, U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) officials reportedly have stated that "the athletes' and competition venues would be 'the safest place in the world'" and U.S. "'athletes will be among the safest people in Rio, just because of all the security there's going to be.'" The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States and recent attacks in Belgium, France, and the United States have heightened concerns that the Olympics could be targeted by terrorists. As reported by the Washington Post , Brazil is revising its security plans for the Games in the wake of the incident in Nice, France, in July 2016. On the other hand, the Wall Street Journal reported that a contract for providing screeners who will staff security checkpoints was not awarded until July 1, 2016, and the company awarded the contract is "a small employment outsourcing firm." Hosting the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games may have implications for Brazil that extend beyond the actual events. Although the Brazilian government viewed hosting the Olympics as an opportunity to showcase the country's progress, its international stature has generally declined in recent years and Olympics-related problems that have emerged, or may emerge, could adversely affect the country's standing. For example, as countries' Olympic teams began moving into the Olympic Village in July, they discovered a variety of infrastructure problems. At least one country's delegation chose to stay in a hotel while the plumbing, electricity, and gas problems were fixed. Additionally, the backdrop to the Olympics is a country beset by political and economic issues. Although a host country may anticipate that being selected to stage the Games will enhance its standing in the world, serve as a catalyst for ameliorating (for example) environmental issues, or prompt economic development, hosting the Games may fall short of the Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic Games' (Rio Organising Committee or Rio2016™) goals or exacerbate existing problems or issues. If Brazil's efforts are successful, the country may regain some of the prestige it may have lost in recent years, and, turning to politics, a successful Games might improve the standing of the interim president. While the city of Rio de Janeiro may benefit from infrastructure improvements, it is unclear how hosting the Games might affect the country (including the city and state of Rio de Janeiro) financially. Of particular to concern to athletes who compete in open water events, such as sailing and rowing, is the quality of the water where those events will take place. Although the Rio 2016 Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (Rio Organising Committee or Rio2016™) had committed, for example, to ensuring to improve the quality of the water at the venue for canoeing, kayaking, and rowing events, the efforts apparently have fallen short. As reported by ESPN .com in early 2016, a USOC memorandum on water quality read, in part, that "The IOC and Rio Organizing Committee recognize that the water quality in and around Rio is for the most part not at an acceptable level and there [are] significant fluctuations in the bacterial and viral contaminants at the competition venues." Precautions taken by the U.S. rowing team include wearing a training suit that has anti-microbial properties. Doping, which is a perennial concern, has taken on added importance in the year leading up to the Rio Games because of revelations regarding Russia's national governing body (NGB) for track and field. Publication of a World Anti-Doping Agency-commissioned report in November 2015 revealed that individuals and sports organizations in Russia had engaged in an orchestrated doping scheme involving track and field athletes. A second WADA report, released in July 2016, documents Russian doping practices during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and a multi-year doping methodology that involved the Russian Ministry of Sport. While the relevant international organizations, such as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), denounced the doping schemes and practices and used their respective authorities to sanction individuals and organizations involved, lingering questions remain regarding, in particular, other Russian Olympic athletes and teams. In late 2015, health officials in Brazil saw a spike in the number of infants born with microcephaly, a birth defect that may accompany significant, permanent brain damage. The increase in microcephaly was later linked to prenatal infection with the Zika virus, which appears to have arrived in Brazil early in 2015. Between October 2015 and July 2016, more than 1,600 cases of Zika-related microcephaly and other congenital malformations of the central nervous system have been reported among newborns in Brazil. Zika virus is transmitted through the bite of an infected mosquito, or through sexual transmission or blood transfusion from an infected person. No vaccine or specific treatment is available. Most Zika infections are mild. However, rare but serious neurologic disorders may occur in anyone who is infected, and the risk of fetal abnormalities among infected pregnant women may be as high as 13%. Some have voiced concerns that the travel of thousands of tourists and athletes to the Olympic and Paralympic Games and back to their homes could enhance the regional and global spread of the Zika virus.