Judge Says Rio Olympic Course Can Be Completed As Is

You do have to wonder at this point if the saga of the Rio Olympic golf course would have been much of a saga if not for the Associated Press and its reporting of every filing, gripe and leak from the publicity-seeking Rio prosecutor's office determined to stop the fully permitted project. That's because after months of reports suggesting the project was doomed and that the Judge had decided against the course, the news agency reports the Judge has ruled against the prosecutor seeking to stop the project.

Gotta love Brazil!

Judge Eduardo Antonio Klausner has given the approval for the fully permitted Rio 2016 golf course project to continue forward with only the 12th tee having been moved to make way for wildlife.

This is the same judge, who was said by the AP to have previously decided to stop the project in five days pending the creation of three news holes, according to an AP report. Those five days turned into nearly a month.

This is the same judge who prosecutors tried to influence with this leaked tale, which followed another leak of prosecutorial frustration during negotiations with the land owner controlling the site of 2016 Olympic golf. And these are the same prosecutors who just a few days ago were asking for new reasons to stop the project (miraculously reported by the AP) while the judge was weighing his final decision.

It all adds up to a whole bunch of nothing.

There was also the land dispute reported on numerous occasions by only the AP and which has, so far, ended up not impacting the project other than saddling the 2016 course with poor press.

So while you may take the latest story with a grain of salt based on the accuracy of previous reports, I'm pretty sure the Tales Azzoni AP item about the Judge's decision to let the project go forward is to be believed.

Judge Eduardo Antonio Klausner said in his decision that there is "no new fact justifying ... a halt in the implementation of the golf course for the Olympics."

He said changes made by the city and the course developer partially attended to the prosecutors' demands to protect the local environment.

Although the decision represented a loss for the prosecutors and environmentalists, it was only part of the ongoing legal battle. The judge can still reconsider his decision not to stop construction based on new evidence provided by the participants.

It wasn't clear if state prosecutors would seek to appeal Wednesday's ruling, but legal challenges were expected to continue.

Of course they are. And we will read all about them.