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Published: August 8th 2016
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Day 2 here at the Olympics was a full day of Women's Basketball. We woke up early in order to travel to the Deodoro cluster of Olympic sites. Part of the Rio Organizing Committee's strategy was to spread the Olympic sites out around Rio. The Deodoro cluster is about an hour train ride northwest of the city centre. The cluster hosts all of equestrian events, handball, field hockey, shooting and women's basketball. There is a practice pool there too. The cluster itself actually is completely within a huge military base. Picture the Olympic venues sitting inside CFB Borden or CFB Garrison. To say that security was at a maximum at this location would be an understatement. We felt extremely safe, as we have during the entire trip so far. When you consider we have roughly 30,000 police in all of Canada and that there are over 100,000+ security forces here (security, police and military) it is tough not to feel safe! The security forces have done a really outstanding job to ensure that all of the fans and participants feel comfortable and confident moving from one venue to another, taking transit and walking down the street. We've hardly been outside of
eyesight of a member of the security force since arriving almost a week ago.
The Basketball venue for Women's Basketball preliminary games is called the Youth Arena. It has 3,000 permanent seats and 2,000 temporary seats that will be removed after the Games. It will also play host to the fencing matches that are part of the modern pentathlon event. The venue is brand new and amazing. Not a bad seat in the house. We were lucky to be about 10 rows up at centre court for all of the games.
We first watched the USA beat up on Senegal. Keep in mind when watching lopsided games that if there is a tie in pool play, the main deciding factor is points for and against. Unfortunately, this creates an incentive for teams like the USA to keep their starters in and run up the score as much as possible. Our next three games were all really close, competitive and exciting games. We watched Serbia vs. Spain, then Australia vs. Turkey and ended the day with Belarus vs. France.
There were lots of great storylines throughout the day. Senegal is a small nation on the northwestern tip of
African with a the best fans in the world. They are loud, passionate and travel is large packs! Despite losing by nearly 70 points (121-56), its tough not to get caught up in the magic of joining their adoring fans to cheer them on too. This was Serbia's first time competing in the Games as Serbia. Previously, they had only competed as the former Yugoslavia back at the 1988 Seoul Summer Games. Serbia would narrowly miss the win, losing (65-59) to Spain. The Turkish team had the most passionate and energetic coach we've ever seen. He didn't go after referees, he just spent all of his time literally running up and down the sideline mimicking the offense and defence he desired from his team at any given moment of the game. If his butt hit a chair during the game it was for a few seconds total! His players worked hard and made it interesting all game long. They almost provided another upset, but eventually fell to Australia 61-56. Our final and most exciting game of the day was watching the team from Belarus play France. Bar none, some of the best women's basketball players on the planet play for
Belarus. They are a long-shot to win a single game here, but wow do their bigs ever know how to play the game. Any coach wanting to teach bigs how to post-up, rebound and create opportunities in the paint for their team score, play great defence and play clean needs to clip Yelena Leuchanka (11) and Anastasiya Verameyenka! These women were just unreal. The team from Belarus played their guts out and kept the game within 5 points (and leading) almost the entire game against a French nation that has multiple Olympic medals and is a favourite for another medal here in Rio. Belarus would go on to lose on a last second buzzer beater (on the third rebound). It was a shot that had to be reviewed to make sure it was out of the hands before the horn. It was and Belarus lost by a single point to France 73-72!
One of the magical things that happens at any Games is a special unwritten, never discussed, communal desire to cheer for the underdog in any given game or match. No one has told the Brazilian or neutral fans (i.e. Canadian fans watching a game between Belarus and
France) to do this, it just materializes. No one ever talks about it in the stands, it just happens and it gives you chills all over each and every time. There is no doubt that the team from Belarus felt like they had the home court advantage last night as everyone not from France cheered their hearts out for them to win. Lots of disappointed fans leaving after the one point loss last night. Pay attention for this phenomenon moving forward when you tune in on TV -- maybe you do it from your living room too, without even knowing, joining thousands of other fans collectively around the world to cheer on the underdog!
Back to the apartment for some sleep (maybe even to sleep in). No events in the morning but we will be visiting Olympic Boulevard here in Rio and then heading to the Olympic Village for the first time to watch Men's basketball -- China vs. France.
More photos below.
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Don D
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Two thumbs up !!
Great stuff guys , I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for your next post.......cheers Don