Rio judge seizes broadcaster’s assets in Olympic aftermath

Italy’s Giovanni Achenza competes in the men’s triathlon PT1 athletics event at the Paralympic Games at Copacabana beach, in Rio de Janeiro

Brazilian justice has blocked assets of the company that serves as the host broadcaster organization for the Olympic Games.
The decision announced on Monday impacts any financial resources, trucks, equipment and furniture used in Brazil by Spanish-based company Olympic Broadcasting Services, known as OBS.
The objective of Brazilian authorities is to assure “compensation for possible damages to workers hired by OBS”, the ruling says. The company can still appeal the decision.
Investigators that moved the suit claim that OBS has to pay damages to overworked employees of its operations at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic and Paralympic Games, which ended on Sunday.
OBS is a company created by the International Olympic Committee in 2001. It produces and transmits live radio and television coverage of every sport from every venue.
The company said in a statement that it was taking all legal measures in its defense, but did not comment on the accusations since the case is under judicial review.
“OBS takes pride in ensuring that regardless of where the Games take place the professionals participating in the operation are provided with working conditions which are in line with the best practices of the industry at an international level,” the statement said.
More than 7,000 professionals from more than 70 different countries worked for OBS during the Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Separately, in another spillover from the Olympic games, President Vladimir Putin says the hack of athletes’ data has cast a spotlight on a “hypocritical” decision to bar Russian athletes from the Rio Paralympics.
Putin spoke on Monday as the hackers’ group known as Fancy Bears, which the World Anti-Doping Agency said was linked to Russia, unloaded another package of Olympic athletes’ data. The athletes had permission from sports or anti-doping bodies to use medications that would otherwise be banned.
Putin says that while “we don’t approve of the hackers’ action, it has helped reveal that people, who took part in the Olympics and looked absolutely healthy, had taken banned medicines giving them an edge in competition.”
In contrast, he adds, Russian Paralympic athletes were banned from the Rio Games on a suspicion, a decision he slammed as “dishonest, hypocritical and cowardly.” MDT/AP