Travels of THB: Day 17: Rio

Day 17: Rio

Not since 1908...the event of the O's?

Weather: Pleasant, then light rain in late afternoon, warm and sultry in the evening and light rain again nearing midnight

79 degrees at 9:30pm

QOTD:

Tall and tan and young and lovely
The girl from Ipanema goes walking and
When she passes, I smile but she doesn't see, doesn't see

Olha que coisa mais linda mais cheia de graça
ela menina que vem e que passa
Num doce balanço a caminho do mar

VB filling up for Bronze match

Some may not have gone to sleep last night

Up too early one more time. We had discussed a walk on Ipanema Beach in the morning: that slips away. Breakfast of coffee and toast, All-Bran and apple, melon. THB takes his lunch of top shelf roti chicken and bakery purchased rolls to the Women’s VB Bronze match, USA vs Netherlands.

USA wins game 1 behind Kim Hill, she was consistently good all tournament long

Guy next to THB was on phone non-stop the first two games

Least fave announcer has got a haircut and shaved

Bronze

The teams are playing in jello: nobody looks crisp, the hitting is light, the passes stink, the setting is spotty, and USA somehow wins 3-1 while looking like a shadow of their former self.

Empty train on way to O Stadium

As usual, it's pretty empty when we arrive

The last night, no need to restock

The first of the medal ceremonies from early victories

We are swimming upstream back to the metro: Brazil is playing Germany in soccer in the big stadium next door and the crowds are flowing in; it appears that Brazilians will get to a soccer match early.

Cal student, knows one of the 1500M contestants running for another country

And his mother, a Cal supporter

It’s raining slightly on our return, and that does not keep us from taking naps. DA’s nap is interrupted by screaming in our building, horns honking outside, and general mayhem. Your reporting genius and DA somehow manage to figure it out: Brazil has scored a ggggggggggooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllllll.

The world record in javelin is some 10 meters past the O record

It's the second to last day, they must be staying on if he is looking at a map

Best name at the O'S (do you think her parents planned this?)

We put on our game faces and trudge to the metro and the train and in to the O Stadium for our last session of T&F (coincidentally, it is the O’s last session of T&F, nice planning on their part to synchronize with THB).

Another medal ceremony

Bolt goes Gold one last time (can he really be in Tokyo, the guy is invincible)

He ran a great race: strategic + last lap speed

The favorite

She coasts, nobody close in last 300 meters

The walk to the metro is a bit eerie: everybody is inside watching the futbol match. Still, the metro train is crowded, there are still plenty of Cariocas and O types around to fill up the car (not stuff the car); that’s not the case for the train train: we walk to the end of the train (insider knowledge: that is closer to security entrance at O Stadium) and we are in a practically empty car, which gives us entire ride to talk to a pair of young Vancouverites who had also attended London.

The USA women do better than the men when it comes to handling batons

The USA is rejuvenated in the middle and longer distance races and Mo goes double Gold again, another unbelievable accomplishment

German wins Javelin with a huge throw on his second to last effort; the guy who finished second withdrew after 1st or 2nd round

They have been here for around 10 days, and we exchanged impressions. Pretty much the same except they didn’t realize how TV dependent most Brazilians are for their news, by and large few read here (while there are plenty of kiosks, you almost never see anyone buy a newspaper or magazine). They also didn’t know about the back way to O Park and complained about lack of commute info distribution (which means for this generation: why wasn’t it on-line like the signs outside the key metro stations). THB explained why tickets seem cheaper here; they both ordered from Cosport (USA and Canadian distributor) and didn’t realize that Cosport manipulates the exchange rate. Discuss Tokyo, they are clearly hooked.

USA goes Gold one last time

Held the lead the entire race

Security is a breeze because a) lot of Brazilians are glued to their TV sets for futbol and get a late start and b) we head right to the “priority” lane for those needing a bit more help. DA doesn’t even get wanded. The security guys are keeping the terrorists wondering: easy at O Stadium and they’ve tightened up at VB.

DA caught the last few strides of USA victory

Another glorious evening to finish off T&F including what has to be the shocker of the meet: Matthew Centrowitz becomes first American in 108 years to win the marquee 1500M race. Leads from start to finish, has a great (to put it mildly) last leg after keeping a slow pace for the first 1100 meters (don’t think that will happen again in a big meet).

Fora Temer = Out of Fear

THB chats up a couple to discuss the Brazilian movement, Fora Temer, contesting Dilma's impeachment and what they are calling a coup that followed.

Except we saw a train leave the station with the doors open at O Stadium and tonight the train starts to move while the doors were open, then close quickly

USA goes gold in the two 4x400M relays, we race to the metro and DA is turning papaya yellow as we get to the apartment just before midnight.

One last event: the Asynchronous metro train gymnastics for men