The Tribune

(CNN) — The Olympic Games arrive in Brazil at a time when the country is ravaged by crises.

With two months to go until the cauldron is lit in Rio de Janeiro,  the host of South America’s first Games is grappling with a public health emergency, a governmental meltdown and economic woes.

While pressure and scrutiny in the build up to a major sports event is nothing new, Brazil faces a unique cocktail of difficulties.

But despite the spread of the Zika virus throughout the region, President Dilma Rousseff standing down amid corruption allegations and Brazil’s worst recession in over two decades, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) insist the show will go on.

And as Brazil fights fires within its own borders, the international sporting community is battling its own controversies.

Allegations of doping hang over track and field.

Russia faces the prospect of its athletes missing the Games, while the IOC revealed samples taken from participants at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympics have tested positive for banned substances.

It is against this backdrop that the world’s biggest celebration of sport begins on August 5.

“I think it’s all a perfect storm,” Ed Hula, Olympics expert and founder and editor of online publication Around the Rings, told CNN’s Connect The World.

“Anything bad that could happen to Rio de Janeiro seems to be happening at this point.”

ZIKA

It’s caused athletes to pull out of the Games and some countries to unveil special protective uniforms. But it seems the Zika virus won’t derail Rio 2016. While the symptoms of the virus -- which include a rash, headaches and joint pain -- aren’t severe, Zika has been linked to microcephaly in newborn badies and some cases of the muscle-weakening disease Guillain-Barré syndrome in adults.

With this in mind, more than 100 prominent doctors and professors recently wrote an open letter to the WHO urging that the Olympics be moved or postponed “in the name of public health.”

“It is unprecedented,” Hula said of the calls to stop the Games going ahead. “But there have been major sports events that have been moved because of concerns about health.

“The Women’s World Cup (soccer) in 2002 was moved from China over fears about the Swine flu virus. “So it has happened before, it won’t happen to the Olympics this time around.”

• The Tribune is following Team Bahamas in the build up to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and will be reporting from Brazil this summer. The ‘242 on the Road to Rio series’ will appear every Monday and Thursday. Comments and responses to bstubbs@tribunemedia.net