While I’m sure that there will be a 2016 Olympics, I found this article about Rio de Janiero’s finances interesting.

It takes a lot of work (and money) to pull off a successful Olympics. Rio de Janiero (evidently) gets a lot of their money from oil revenues. Brazil has recently passed a law that would reduce the amount of revenue that goes to Rio, which could leave the state with less money, making it difficult to fund the games.

The Brazilian president says that he will veto the bill if provisions aren’t made to allow funding for the games to be available. So the Olympics will probably be okay.

There have been situations in the past where the Olympics were relocated because the original host city wasn’t able to host the games. This was the case with the London games of 1908. The games were originally assigned to Rome, but then Mount Vesuvius erupted prior to the Olympics. Italy decided that their money was better off going to rebuild Naples, so the Olympics were switched to London.

While there isn’t a reason to believe that the 2016 Olympics will have to be moved, if Brazil is unable to come up with the funding, it could be.

As you may remember, Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed a month ago today, while making a luge training run hours prior to the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Aside from a few minor glitches, his death seemed to be the one black spot of the otherwise well-done games.

I know that many people around the world are having difficult financial times right now. Not only are we in the middle of a global recession, but places like Haiti and Chile have been hit with devastating earthquakes. We want to give, but it seems like we don’t have much.

The International Luge Federation (IFL) is collecting donations for the family of Nodar Kumaritashvili. His family could use their help. They lost their home to fire a few years ago, and I guess they have never fully recovered. I know what it’s like to have my house catch on fire, it happened to me in 2008… it was not a fun experience, and I had fire insurance. I’m not sure if they have that kind of security in Georgia.

If you have a little extra money, please consider making a donation to the Kumaritashvili family. While the majority of us will go on with our lives, his family has been altered forever. If you don’t, that’s understandable, but if you could, then that’s wonderful. Thanks.