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Published: August 7th 2016
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While they call it Day #1 of the Olympics even tough competition has been happening for a few days and the Opening Ceremonies were yesterday. It is the first full day of competition throughout the various venues here in Rio and it was also our first day with tickets to an event. The men's cycling road race this morning was a non-ticketed event which allowed tons of locals and visitors to take in the race at various points throughout the course without a ticket. We've been big fans for Italy's Vincenzo Nibali and we were disappointed when he crashed out on the final decent of the day! These guys rode their guts out for over 6 hours on one of the toughest Olympic courses ever, for over 230km, only to lose out on a medal a few minutes from the finish line. It does show why the still 'run the race' -- you just never know what might happen, who might win and what that in turn can do for another rider's career and fortunes in the future.
We were able to be at the apartment to see the tip-off and almost all of Edmonton's Karen Lasuik officiating her first
Olympic game between Australia and the home team Brazil. This was very special for us. Karen has been a big part of our lives since moving out to Edmonton. She has been a mentor and no one more fun at a party! Congrats again Karen.
Our highlight today was most certainly getting to head to the Beach for Beach Volleyball's last evening session. It didn't even start until 9:00pm local time and we didn't get out of the stadium until close to 1:30am. The crowds were outstanding. The organizing committee has done a fantastic job creating a fun, friendly and supportive environment at this venue. Live entertainment, great music and cheers specific to the sport that we all learned prior to the first serve! The venue itself is amazing. It sits literally meters from the shore and is open like a horseshoe facing the ocean. You can hear the waves crashing up on shore from inside the stadium.
The competition tonight was really fantastic. We got to see four matches. Two on the men's side of the draw and two on the women's side of the draw. First match was Poland vs. Germany, which Poland won 2-0. Second
men's match was Spain vs. Austria. It was back and forth all match with Austria having most of the early breaks and momentum. Spain was able to claw their way back and force a third and deciding set and eventually went on to win 2-1. Our third match of the night was the women's teams from China vs. Switzerland. This one also went to three sets and China won 15-13 in the last set. Interesting side story, this is the first Olympics where they are using instant reply in Beach Volleyball. Each team has two challenges. There are about 50 extra cameras (they look like CCTV security cameras) positioned around the court for this function. We did see a few challenges throughout the night, but the most interesting one happened when it was 14-11 for China in the third and final set of their match against Switzerland. China challenged that the Swiss women had touched the net. They went to review, won the challenge and a net fault was called against the Swiss, in theory giving China the win (no one should want to win a game this way). Officials gathered for the handshake and the Chinese team shook hands
with the officials. All the while the Swiss girls were pleading with Canadian official Lucie Guillemette. She is the best of the best and this may be here second or even third Olympic Games. She's so good this was her second game of the night. Anyways, the Swiss women did not give up the fight. The Chinese players had practically left the court before Lucie over-ruled the challenge. It seemed everyone wasn't sure what to make of this and had Lucie felt she could've sooner, we think she would have. There is a rule in Beach Volleyball that if a net violation does not interfere with a play (and this particular instance it most certainly did not), then the net touch is essentially disregarded. Lucie called both teams back on the to court and they played two more points before China eventually secured the win -- the old fashioned way, with a neatly placed spike. Something tells us they may re-write the rules on how the challenge works on this particular play. If only MLB could be so wise with the 'no slide' rule at second base!
Our last match of the day was Australia vs. USA. If you're
going to watch Beach Volleyball, you might as well do it in Rio on the most famous beach in the world. And, if your going to watch Beach Volleyball there, you might as well watch the most successful and decorated women's player of all time, Kerri Walsh-Jennings. She has three World Championship and three Olympic Gold medals to her credit and WOW did she and her partner dominate. They won easily 2-0. As someone we talked to tonight said, she was 'super charged' all tonight, no question about it. This team, after tonight, should most certainly be a favourite for Gold here in Rio.
Last little note about the Games tonight. Something you may or may not know is that most venues have what is called a 'camera side' and 'non-camera side' of the venue. If cameras were on both sides, the TV audience would be confused which direction teams were going (for example in hockey). Common practice is that organizers would ensure the camera side always faces the benches and behind the benches are normal everyday fans in their seats. So far, including tonight, Rio has not adhered to this. So for example, when you watch the beach
volleyball on TV, you see empty orange and green seats for the Olympic Family (athletes, coaches, sponsors, etc.) and huge banks of media desks. Often these seats are empty and it gives the impression the venues are not full. Not sure why this happened and it certainly won't be fixed, but no doubt the media will be writing the stories in the next couple of days about empty venues. This is simply not true. We tried to get extra tickets to a few things today, every venue was sold out. If you don't see a seat occupied, please assume the person is getting food, in the washroom, running late or in some cases only stayed to watch the match where someone from their country was playing. The venue tonight was sold out, loud and full of excitement.
Quick shout-out to our Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay team tonight for winning Canada's first medal of the Games. Our favourite part of this story wasn't that it had been 40 years, or that they were all women, or that it was our first medal (all of those things are amazing)...it was that they are all first-time Olympians. This means on
the first full day of Olympic competition in their entire lives, they focused and went to work and were rewarded with Olympic Medals. Pretty special and a true reflection of their maturity, grit and determination. Congratulations to Sandrine Mainville, Chantal van Landeghem, Taylor Ruck and Penny Oleksiak.
On our way back to the apartment tonight we passed through the famous Lapa square again. Tonight, even by 2:00am it was still absolutely packed with people. Everyone enjoying music, street vendors, drinks and most importantly - each other! It was something to see for sure and in speaking with some locals, happens every Saturday night. We were able to find a street vendor with some candy in order to end an amazing 6th Anniversary together!
No misquotes or protesters again today and it was great to see Brazilians having their first Olympic experience and then immediately getting in line in order to buy more tickets to come back again as soon as possible. Safe and sound now, time for some sleep and then up tomorrow to head to the Deodoro cluster of Olympic venues and the Youth Arena for a full afternoon and evening of Women's Basketball.
More pictures
below.
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Kim Dupuis
non-member comment
:)
Having fun following you two on your Olympic journey:) Kinda cool....we watched women's volleyball with you!!!! So cool. Highlight of the day...reading your Blog xo