We are just four days out from the Olympic opening ceremony in Rio De Janeiro, and each day there seems to be some new drama, accident or embarrassment to add to the litany of errors that have marked the leadup to the Brazilian games.
The games of the 31st Olympiad will kick off on Friday. The teams are settling into their accommodation and trying to get their game faces on for competition -- but that has proven difficult with dodgy lodgings, fire evacuations, bad smoke alarms, muggings, filthy water, collapsing facilities and more.
It's hardly the ideal environment to perform world-beating feats of human athleticism and skill.
Sunday night in Rio saw reports of a 'suspicious package' inside the main Maracana stadium, with a police bomb robot sent in to investigate. The item, reported to be a toolbox, was detonated in a controlled explosion by police. More likely a very overly cautious safety measure, hardly much cause of alarm according to those on the ground, but it is just the latest in a string of unsettling and distracting incidents for athletes.
Over the weekend, big political protests erupted near Copacabana beach, calling for the call for Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to be removed from office. The president is currently suspended over claims of accounting discrepancies, and with the world's media in Rio, protesters made their voices heard.
On Saturday morning, the accommodation for Australian athletes was evacuated after a fire started in the building. It was reported the blaze may have started after a worker carelessly tossed a cigarette butt into a rubbish pile, and even though damage to the hotel was minor, it still gave the athletes some unnecessary stress.
Add to that reports that clothes and laptops were stolen from the hotel while the Aussie team was evacuated from their lodgings, and that's a big headache for team officials.
Of course, you'll remember that this was the same hotel that Australian athletes were actually not able to move into initially, due to a myriad of problems. Aussie officials cited " blocked toilets, leaking pipes, exposed wiring, darkened stairwells where no lighting has been installed and dirty floors in need of a massive clean" as just some of the issues, forcing athletes to move into other hotels temporarily while those problems were sorted out.
This came as Australian journalist Christine Ahern reported that she and her TV crew were almost mugged at Copacabana beach by locals, and after team officials banned our athletes from visiting Brazil's famous favelas.
The problems are not confined to just Australians, though. The main launch ramp for the sailing competitions has collapsed after high tides. It is on the same water where dead bodies are often found, and where athletes have been advised not to open their mouths due to the seriously polluted water.
All in all, there's a lot going wrong in Rio right now. Here's hoping all the issues get sorted out ASAP, so we can enjoy what is shaping up to be -- in a strictly sporting sense, at least -- a fantastic Olympic Games.