Will blackouts force IOC to reconsider Rio for 2016 Olympics?

I was as proud as any non-Brazilian could have been last month when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the 2016 Summer Olympics to Rio – despite high-profile lobbying by President Obama and Oprah for Chicago.

[S]ince I was rooting for Brazil, my shock turned immediately to vindication because I knew that Chicago’s loss meant that Rio’s win was inevitable. 

[Olympic 2016…, TIJ, October 3, 2009]

But I thought it was ominous when 60 Minutes reported on Sunday that Brazil’s power grid is so susceptible to attack that hackers have plunged Rio and other cities into darkness with relative ease.  

After all, what better time to launch a terrorist attack than during an orchestrated blackout at the Olympic Games?  Indeed, the potential for carnage and terror under such circumstances would make what happened at the 1972 Munich Games seem like an ordinary drive-by shooting in LA.

Now come news reports that:

A massive power failure swept over Brazil’s two largest cities Tuesday night along with other parts of Latin America’s largest nation, leaving millions of people [60M] in the dark.

Frankly, whether by hackers or because of a reported breakdown at the country’s hydroelectric dam, the timing of these latest blackouts must be as troubling for IOC officials as it is embarrassing for Brazilian authorities.

More to the point, reports are that IOC members are now thinking that Madrid, the runner up for 2016, might be a more reliable host city…. 

But I’m sure cooler heads will prevail and that Brazilians will be given time to provide adequate assurances that they can keep their city electrified (in every sense) during the Olympic Games.  And it is fortuitous in this respect that hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2014 can now serve as a de facto dress rehearsal for 2016 (for Brazil, but for the terrorists too…).

Related commentaries:
Olympic 2016…