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Olympics television is branching out into the fashion world, with NBC hiring two Brazilian supermodels to appear on the networks late-night coverage of Rio 2016.Alessandra Ambrosio and Adriana Lima, both of whom are Victorias Secret Angels in their day jobs, will feature primarily on Ryan Seacrests after-hours show, which will be largely human-interest and entertainment based.Adriana and Alessandra are the perfect ambassadors to guide viewers through the celebrations taking place outside of the competition, showcasing the off the field experience for Olympic fans, Jim Bell, NBC Olympics executive producer, said in a press release.Thats all well and good. Olympics coverage has long straddled the line between sports news and entertainment, with the expansion into the celebrity space borne out of the need to appeal to a broader audience beyond traditional sports fans -- not to mention fill 6,755 hours of coverage. (Personally, I wouldnt mind seeing that time filled with more Bob Costas.) Two famous Brazilians teaching us their native language and local cuisine does add some cultural dimension to what can be at times a rather bland broadcast. And with soccer as a way of life in Brazil, perhaps Ambrosio and Lima can offer some commentary on the sports themselves.But the move also reads as slightly cynical against the long-term backdrop of the situation in Rio. Amid the Zika and ISIS fears of the athletes, tourists and traveling press, theres also the constant state of fear in which the locals live -- fear of government, of police, of pollution, of poverty.The body parts that washed ashore near the Olympic beach volleyball courts, the thousands of displaced poor who watched their favelas bulldozed to make way for Olympic Village, the political turmoil of a corrupt congress ousting a very impeachable president, the protesters and police continuing to clash in the streets as calls for an Olympics boycott grow, the billions in cost overruns and public spending amid the countrys worst recession in 80 years, the unpaid officers warning tourists at the airport, Welcome to Hell ... whoever comes to Rio de Janeiro will not be safe, the sewage flowing in the waters where athletes will compete and through the streets where locals live and play, the diseases far worse than Zika that have plagued Brazilians long before sports fans began to take notice -- its much easier to overlook these and other harsh realities when you have two pretty faces guiding your view.The athletic achievement and heartwarming stories of triumph often serve to distract from the darker side of the Games, but the use of Ambrosio and Lima is problematic in other ways. Its a nod to the tired stereotype of hyper-sexualized Brazilian women, which was invoked to disastrous effect by sponsors of the 2014 World Cup in Rio. The local and Western elite have historically reduced Brazil to beachwear and body waxing, an image sold to tourists that largely boosts the sex -- and sex trafficking -- industry.The perception that Brazilians hold a liberal attitude toward sex and nudity comes at the expense of womens safety. A 2014 survey from Brazils Institute of Applied Economic Research found that 26 percent of respondents believed women who dressed in revealing clothing deserved to be raped, while 58.5 percent believed there would be fewer rapes if women behaved properly.Similarly, choosing supermodels to guide the cultural coverage shows a disregard for women Olympics fans. If its a ploy for viewers, its very clearly a ploy to gain male viewers. You could argue that that just makes strategic sense, because the majority of Olympics ratings are driven by female fans. But beautiful women are deployed throughout sports broadcasts whether or not male viewers are in the minority.Some writers more optimistic than I are holding out for the possibility that Ambrosio and Lima might lend their own perspectives as native Brazilians on whats going on in their country. That very well could be the case, and if so, I look forward to their insight. But neither woman has been particularly outspoken when it comes to politics -- nor should they have to be; thats not their job. And while Im sure they both have opinions on the state of affairs in their home country, I think it might be asking too much to expect a meaningful discussion on the social and economic impact of the Olympics on an entertainment show moderated by Seacrest.Hopefully NBC isnt using these two very beautiful women to mask the ugliness were seeing in Rio. 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NEW YORK -- Every morning, three young sisters wake up together with their mom in one bed in a Brooklyn homeless shelter. Every afternoon, they train in a sport that they hope will put them on a path to a better life.Tai Sheppard, 11, and sisters Rainn, 10, and Brooke, 8, have all blossomed since taking up track and field a year and a half ago, rising to the top tier of age-group national rankings and earning a spot in the Junior Olympic Games, now underway in Houston.This is a means to get them to college, says their mother, Tonia Handy, to opening doors that maybe I cant open for them.Handy, a 46-year-old who works answering phones at a car service, has been raising her family alone for nearly a decade, enduring constant financial hardship and even tragedy. Three years ago, the girls 17-year-old half-brother was fatally shot in the street by another teen over what investigators said was a perceived insult.She always managed to make ends meet, though, until early last year, when she and the girls were evicted from their apartment in Brooklyns Bedford-Stuyvesant section for failing to pay the rent, landing them first in a motel shelter in Queens and then in the apartment shelter on a gritty Bed-Stuy street.The first time we got there, there was just roaches everywhere, Tai says. Every time I looked on the floor, a roach. And every time I looked on the ceiling there was a roach. It was horrible.Handy, however, has worked to make the apartment clean and livable. But she has also made a point of not getting too comfortable in what she hopes is a temporary situation. The only decorations are the many awards the girls have won on the track, with trophies crowding the top of the lone dresser and medals hanging from every doorknob.I dont bring in anything, she says. When Im ready and I have an apartment, Im just gone.The girls, who still have their estranged fathers last name, Sheppard, got into track in January 2015 when their baby sitter, looking for some kind of activity to keep them occupied, signed them up for a track meet that did not require any entry fees.It just so happened that the founder of the Brooklyn-based Jeunness Track Club was at the competition scouting for new talent.dddddddddddd By the end of the first day, Jean Bell had given her business cards to each of the girls separately with the instructions to have their mother call or just show up to practice.It wasnt until they turned out for practice together that Bell realized the girls were sisters.Its been very tough for them, says Bell, an administrative law judge who grew up in the nearby projects. Theyve been moved from one shelter to the next. Their belongings are shuffled around. They dont have a lot to work with but they do the best with what they have.The 20 girls on the Jeuness team come from a variety of backgrounds, but none of them are rich. Parents and coaches pool their money to provide the funds for the girls to go to the Junior Olympics.The mission of the team is to keep girls on track, both academically and athletically to set them up for college scholarships.The sisters are well on their way.Each has qualified for the Junior Olympics in multiple events. Rainn was the top qualifier for the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10 minutes, 44 seconds -- 30 seconds faster than the next-closest qualifier.Tai runs the 400 and 800, as well as the 80-meter hurdles.Brooke, the youngest, qualified for the 800, the 1,500 and the high jump, even though the team doesnt have the equipment to allow her to practice. Her only jumps have come in competitions.The girls are set to board a plane with the rest of their team for their first time Sunday to head to Houston for the track and field events, which begin Monday. But their mother wont be with them.Im not going because the shelter has a curfew and I still have to work, Handy says. Its not that kind of job where you can take time off. You dont go, you dont get paid.But Handy is hopeful she will soon land a new job that would make it possible to get a place of her own again, and to get most weekends off so she could attend more of her daughters meets.Next year, she says, I think it will be different. ' ' '