The Tokyo games of 2020 mark the first time the Olympics have been postponed for reason other than the World Wars. The Coronavirus pandemic has left space in the 4-year structure of the Olympic games to examine the footprint left behind in Rio. At this moment in history the people who suffered most to host the 2016 Olympics are in the greatest need of support, some doctors are calling the wave of COVID-19 hitting the slums in Rio a genocide (2). Social distancing is not possible in these slums called favelas where families of 10 share a 2-room home made of sheet metal and plywood. The population living here already has no food on their shelves, and their work is primarily self-made businesses—cleaning homes or selling goods on the streets. This is leaving thousands without jobs or access to medical care. Traffickers are often left to enforce quarantine, and the health system is greatly lacking infrastructure to care for all those in need (60). As the world waits and breathes through continued healing, we must remember that one summer game ago, this landscape was our stage. In the space of a 2020 Olympic presence, let us remember the words we spoke over Brazil when they were in the spotlight. Both Rio’s strengths and weaknesses were revealed during the games, and yet the legacy of the event is something much greater than construction investments. It is written on the hearts of the most vulnerable and incomplete without understanding a journey that began before and continues after the games. This journey can be followed in the coming pages, although it’s uncertain ending is partially in our hands.