U.S. Olympic athletes use puppy power to prepare for Rio games

The upcoming Rio Olympics have been plagued by the specter of possible trouble in the city, from pollution, to Zika virus, to security concerns, but none of that matters because, as usual, puppies fix everything.

At least that's the message the NBC Olympics social media team transmitted this week when it posted a series of photos to Instagram and Facebook featuring your favorite Olympic athletes snuggling with the cutest puppies on the planet.

SEE ALSO: Researchers will conduct Zika study on U.S. Olympians in Brazil

Included in the furry fun are swimmers Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte and Missy Franklin, runner Allyson Felix, gymnasts Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas, soccer player Carli Lloyd, tennis player Venus Williams and many others.

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The adorable photo op the result of a recent People Magazinephoto shoot that used puppies held in Southern California animal shelters and provided by Good Dog Animals, according to NBC's Clear the Shelters organization. Clear the Shelters is NBC's initiative pairing 40 of the company's television stations with roughly 700 animal shelters in the U.S. to help drive pet adoption on Saturday.

We’ve got the world’s best athletes with the cutest puppies! 🏅🐶 Link in bio for more adorable pictures. #RoadToRio

A photo posted by NBC Olympics (@nbcolympics) on Jul 21, 2016 at 7:13am PDT

Like this? 🐶🏅🇧🇷 #RoadToRio Link in bio for more!

A photo posted by NBC Olympics (@nbcolympics) on Jul 21, 2016 at 8:20am PDT

Aly Raisman adopted this puppy! ❤️🐶 #RoadToRio Click link in bio for more pics!

A photo posted by NBC Olympics (@nbcolympics) on Jul 21, 2016 at 11:44am PDT

Venus Williams with furry friend. Credit: nbcolympics.com screen grab

You can check out the full gallery of athletes posing with puppies on the NBC Olympics site.

Dallas is going home! #desocuparlosalbergues #cleartheshelters @NBCDFW @Telemundo39 pic.twitter.com/VVS1tIyj24

— Yezmin Thomas (@yezminthomas) July 23, 2016

Now all this cute power won't help to protect the world-class athletes from the hopefully overblown concerns surrounding the Rio Olympics. But one good omen for the Rio Games: All the puppies in the photo shoot were later adopted, according to Good Dog Animals.