Two Years to Rio Olympics -- Media Watch

(ATR) Today reporter Amy Eley says "get ready for one big party" because the 2016 Rio Olympics are just two years away.

Executive producer for NBC's Olympic coverage, Jim Bell,and Today's executive producer Don Nash went to Rio de Janeiro recently to explore the city's preparations for the Games. The pair took photos and posted their reactions on social media. "You can almost see Kerri Walsh Jennings spiking a volleyball on the beach volleyball court," Eley says of Bell and Nash's photos from Rio.

BBC News reportsthere is "concern about whether the city will be ready for the Games which start in two years time." Reporter Julia Carneiro says the area where the "stadiums should stand are still construction sites" and Olympic officials have expressed worries about water pollution.

Aljazeera discusses comments from Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates, who in April "branded preparations for the 2016 Rio Olympics as the worst ever." On Tuesday, during a speech at an event marking two years to Rio 2016, Coates said the "prognosis was now much, much better."

The Associated Press has an exclusive look at Olympian Michael Phelps as he prepares for "more Olympic gold in his familiar surroundings of Baltimore."

Commonwealth Games

The Age's Phil Lutton says Glasgow, Scotland "saved" the Commonwealth Games. "Glasgow may well be looked upon as the city that saved a dying movement from itself," Lutton writes, "finding character in a competition that was hopelessly spinning its wheels in the modern sporting landscape."

Wallstreet Journal blogger Atish Patel claimsIndia’s "gold medal haul" at the 2014 Commonwealth Games was "not as impressive as it looks."

Past Olympics

The Boston Globe'sMark Arsenault saysvenues used during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics "left lessons" for Boston, a city "flirting" with a bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

Curbed Los Angeles writer Bianca Barragan features"14 secrets of the 1932 Olympic Village" near Baldwin Hills in central Loa Angeles.

Founder and columnist of3 Wire SportsAlan Abrahamson "revisits" the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.The Los Angeles Games "didn’t just save the modern Olympic movement," Abrahamson writes, "they set the standard for sustainability and legacy, too."

The Houston Chronicle's John Boyd also takes a look back at the 1984 Olympics, specifically at performances from four-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis and Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton. Boyd describes the 1984 Games as a time "when Houston ruled" the Olympics.

Runner's World & Running Times writer Roger Robinson remembers the legacy of Joan Benoit Samuelson's Olympic marathon win at the 1984 Games. "That moment on August 5, 1984," Robinson writes, "was the perfect symbol for the final full acceptance of women's running."

In Other News

New York Times writer Binyamin Appelbaum asks, "Does hosting the Olympics really pay off?"

Japan Today predicts the 2020 Summer Olympic Games will provide"cozy second careers with generous salaries in construction firms and other major corporations" for over 1,000 ex-bureaucrats.

"Almost on cue, and not out of character, Mark Cuban took a verbal sledgehammer to the NBA's participation in international basketball," New York Times writer Harvey Araton says. Cuban, according to Araton, is "losing sight of the benefits of international play."

Boston.com staffer Roberto Scalese explores why Boston wants to host the Olympics when "no one else wants to" take on the responsibility.

Compiled byNicole Bennett

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