Day 13: Rio (mostly pics again)

Day 13: Rio

 

Finally, used up the Grape Nuts; the new Breakfast of Champions

Weather: Hot

QOTD:

Tall and tan and young and lovely
The girl from Ipanema goes walking and
When she passes, each one she passes goes "ah"

After finishing up breakfast, THB and DA head back out for another tripleheader.

The day in pics and captions:

Had 3 of the top six jumps, finished second

The winner, with the 3 other best jumps of the event

Amazingly, more people at morning session than evening session. The short version: THB has never, ever, been at an O's track meet where the stands had such  few people in the stands. Very disconcerting...more analysis much later, when THB is awake

It's lunch time

We brought our own: leftover roti-chicken, cheese, one carrot, "specialty" bread; needless to say, food at venues is extremely limited and universally awful (almost and O's tradition)

THB bought a supplement on the train with a local's assistance

The first to ten 200M Men's heat. First starting gun: false start and disqualification

His O's can be summed up: less than a second of action

A number of seats are now dysfunctional, coming loose from bearings and rocking. We decide, after getting into the morning session late due to horrible metro delays, to just sit in prime A seats (we're supposed to be upstairs, in B seats). It turns out, probably 1/2 the people around us have seat-switched. On metro going home near midnight, DA talked to a Brit. He and his 7 travel companions have bought cheapest tix in Rio to many events and are doing the same: sitting in top spots. THB has no idea what PHO means

Bolt does his thing in Heat 9. We head to VB before the last event of the morning, Heat 10

Something weird happened: though we were not the first to arrive THB and DA are basically in the first 25 admitted. Security line karma?

Karma is saving a cap for later use

This guy was in his seat before us, and he is meditating (??) before the USA takes on Japan in the quarterfinals. Another THB one-of-a-kind Ommmmmm moment

DA is not actually laying down, THB doesn't have the strength to go through pics and rotate them

Somehow, USA's pool swept the quarterfinals with China, seeded 4th in the pool, eliminating Brazil well after midnight. THB and DA actually watched the last 10 minutes of the event when we got back to apartment after midnight. Above, beyond, deprived behavior

This guy was walking alone after VB match carrying a ticket

Every O has a "where should we have stayed now that it's over" analysis. This is where THB and DA should have stayed: upscale, 1 mile from VB and a 25 minutes taxi ride in rush hour from T&F. That's using 150% "woulda shoulda coulda" thinking. On zero sleep.

Same-same? No

Foursies

THB got help ordering and still did it wrong: much better without the chocolate sauce. Too late

It's a pic of mini-TV on the dashboard of the taxi taking us to T&F. THB rests his eyes, DA reports it took around 25 minutes, the taxi was using a bus/taxi lane, cost $9. THB was awake for the flag-drop: 90 cents!! In Japan, it is $7

Dinner purchased at the mall's only health food store 

THB bought two

Hot

An A ticket

We're in our paid for A, sitting in A seats. They are terrific. Oh, same section as the morning session, where we just plopped down. This is the left side of upper deck

This is the right side. The seats remained this empty throughout the evening. VERY DISCONCERTING! How can the best track meet, held once every four years, be grossly under attended. THB thought the stadium was maybe 35% full. He will expound in the Observations next week. 

A repeat

Another O's (infamous) moment: for some reason the French guy was booed for coming in second. THB thinks the Brazilians really wanted Da Silva on the stand by himself. BTW, THB and DA had left by the time Da Silva went Gold; because of the rain and various mechanical difficulties, nobody knew when PV would end

A visitor from another planet drifted onto the field. No clues as to why or where from, thank goodness it wasn't a drone!

They've finished their event and are being escorted off 

Can you figure out the flaw in this picture?

Here's another hint

She's the only Russian competing in T&F. THB thinks (actually a gross overstatement on sleep deprivation) she's the whistleblower that was admitted for good behavior #putinmademedoit

Kushina will be in the finals tomorrow night (or day?)

We have great seats and watch up close many of the jumps. Canadian was terrific

This is late in the evening, a great race for Simpson and Rowbury in a very tough event

This Frenchwoman was not booed

Our last event of the day, THB got this one as we were leaving for the train. Omar blew them away. France having a very good meet.

Metro stories abound. Tonight we get on a Line 2 train planning to transfer to Line 1 at the last stop, Botafogo. Yes, we are zombies. We managed to get off at Botafogo, which usually pretty easy: everybody gets off. Tonight, half get off and half stay on. A few people on the station get on, everybody else stays on platform. The "ghost" train pulls out. It must have been a very fast transgender metro change. THB asks a metro employee (i.e., he's wearing a dayglo vest) and the guy understands THB's English and answers in Portuguese. THB makes translates for you: shit happens all the time on the metro. If both out 7 day cards work when we go through turnstiles, it is unique. If the train is an espresso instead of a local, we rejoice. Even upmarket locals who have never been on them metro are riding it, which tells the taxis (the normal mode) are unable to get through the traffic generated by the O's

Enough whining, time to take a shower, have the Breakfast of Champions, and head out...only a doubleheader today, and if we're lucky, a chance to get back to the apartment for a nap.