Solo was mercilessly mocked for her comments by Brazil fans.
It seems like Brazil fans are in no mood to forgive and forget. While many sports stars have dropped out of the Rio Olympics over Zika concerns, US women team goalkeeper Hope Solo had voiced her concerns about the effects of the Zika virus. She also shared a picture on Twitter in which she was ‘dressed’ to protect herself from ‘mosquitoes. She had tweeted a picture of herself in a net, with mosquito repellent and written: “Not sharing this!!! Get your own! #zikaproof #RoadToRio”.
Solo was mercilessly taunted by Brazil fans throughout her first two matches. Every time she made a touch, the crown chanted Zika. She had earlier told Sports Illustrated: “I wish people would understand that I did my due diligence before coming to Brazil. It was a personal decision I had to make alongside my husband and it’s not something I just spoke about without getting educated on.”
However, Brazil captain Aline Pellegrino had claimed that Hope’s comments stemmed because she was angry that Rio had beaten Chicago in the voting to host the Olympics.
She told USA TODAY Sports earlier this year she believed Solo was making more of the Zika issue than necessary. Pellegrino attributed Solo’s decision to speak out to sour grapes regarding the allocation of the 2016 Games — Rio pipped Chicago to get hosting rights.
She had said: “I saw (Solo’s) interview and we talked about it. I think what is happening here also has to do with the rivalry between Rio and Chicago. Chicago wanted to host the games but it did not get it During our Carnival, Rio was full of Americans, men and women, they did not look at all concerned with Zika. Solo is like that,” Pellegrino added. “She likes to make comments, she likes to be polemic.”
Brazil supporters voice their ire against opponents and even govt officials
Olympic athletes and visitors might be forgiven if they feel like they accidentally stepped into one of Brazil's notoriously raucous football arenas, where insults, boos and outright hostility toward rival teams are common. Be it at boxing, judo, fencing, or even tennis, hometown Brazil fans are treating many Olympic sports as if they were at Flamengo vs. Fluminense, a crosstown Rio rivalry where passions, in addition to spit and occasionally fists, frequently fly.
Early on Sunday, as Brazilian fencer Ghislain Perrier, parried lunges by Ma Jianfei, the local crowd jeered the Chinese rival, even though he won. At Rio tennis, a far cry from the practiced seriousness of tournaments like Wimbledon, Brazilian fans mocked Germany's Dustin Brown, ranked 86 in the world, when he missed an easy shot.
''Brazilian fans have no manners,'' says Juca Kfouri, a prominent Brazilian sportswriter and commentator. ''You will not find any respect for rivals or any of the Olympic spirit you might have had in London.'' Brazil's sporting culture, largely defined by the country's past success in football, is dominated by an often jingoistic attitude toward anyone not donning the local yellow. ''People seem to think it's a football match,'' says Guilherme Toldo, a Brazilian fencer who on Sunday was surprised by local booing, air horns and stomping directed at foreign rivals in what is traditionally a more sombre sport.
At an event like the Olympics, where ticketholders hail mostly from an upper-middle and wealthy class that is used to being pampered, the chest-thumping can be especially jarring, even to many local fans. ''That was not elegant,'' said Thiago Pereira, a Brazilian who cringed as some compatriots booed when arch-rival Argentina's athletes paraded during the opening ceremony on Friday.
So rude can Brazil fans be that two years ago, at the inaugural game of the football World Cup in São Paulo, a largely upper-class crowd chanted for Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's first female president and one of many dignitaries in attendance, to ''go to take it in the (expletive).''
Athletes say the hostility can affect results. ''I am very disappointed,'' said Hassan N'Dam N'jikam, a Cameroonian fighter who was loudly booed and lost to a local on Saturday even though most boxing writers and foreigners in the audience thought he outpunched his Brazilian opponent. The noise, he said, ''plays into the judgement.''
For Brazilian athletes, or course, the climate can help. ''When you play in Europe, the people are more calm,'' said Thomaz Bellucci, the Brazilian tennis player who progressed after Brown, the German, twisted an ankle in their match. ''In Brazil, people go crazy and it's very nice.'' Sometimes, Brazil fans are protesting perceived slights.
American women's goalkeeper Hope Solo, for instance, was jeered by Brazilians after she joked about the Zika virus, which caused serious health issues in Brazil before it spread to other countries, including the United States. A boxer from Australia, whose delegation refused to move into Olympic housing before the Games because of plumbing and electrical flaws in their rooms, was taunted on Saturday before he even entered the ring -- against a Brazilian opponent, no less.
With agency inputs
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