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Published: August 10th 2016
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Another day is over here at the Olympics in Rio with day #4 in the books. We were up earlier this morning and headed back to Olympic Park.
We didn't have a chance yesterday to mention it, but Rio has done a fantastic job with their brand-new subway line (Line #4) connecting the southeast coast and beaches like Copacabana and Ipanema with the southwest coast of the the city (the Barra region). What's interesting is that right now the new line is only used for those traveling with the Rio Olympic Transit Pass as well as a ticket to an event that day. No locals have had the opportunity to use this new subway line yet. The stations are absolutely beautiful, completely finished, bright, modern and spacious. This will be a major legacy for the people of Rio. Yesterday, we wrote a little about the 'tale of two cities' or the difference between central Rio and some of the areas in Barra which are much more upscale and affluent. Having said, this major Games legacy will benefit the lower and middle-class the very most and those are most certainly the people that are working at a number of these 24-hour
mega stores, shopping centres and grocery stores in Barra. Coming from central Rio, prior to this new subway line, residents could spend upwards of three and four hours each way along the southern coast of Rio in order to get from east to west and vice versa. Having this new link between the old subway system in the new one will surely benefit those people the very most and provide them with literally hours of extra time to spend with their families and devote to other facets of their lives.
We arrived to the Olympic Park in daylight this time which was great. We are able to take a few pictures of all of the different venues in the daylight and then head into the Tennis venue. If you ever get the chance to go to an Olympic Games the tennis ticket is probably the biggest bang for your buck. This ticket in particular cost us $20 a person, so $40 for the entire day. It gave us access to Tennis from 11:00am in the morning all the way until about 11:00pm tonight. The ticket is a general admission ticket and the way it works is each Olympic venue
or tennis venue has a Center Court, a Court #1 and a Court #2. Each of those previously mentioned courts are separately ticketed. With our general admission ticket, we have access to courts three through nine. What some people may not realize is that while the main courts are going (and are usually on television) the other courts are full of world-class Olympic tennis players.
What the above gives you the opportunity for is exactly what we experienced today. You get to pick the matches you want to see. We still talk about in London getting to see the Williams sisters play doubles (our very first Olympic Tennis game). Today we arrived and immediately hustled over to Court #4 and grab a seat watching Eugene and Gabby play women's doubles. These side courts are very small there is maybe a total of one hundred seats. This means that there is really nothing but front row seating for everyone and there certainly is not a bad seat in the house. We ended up sitting beside Kurt Harnett our Chef de Mission for Team Canada and a great Canadian cheering section. This was a really hard fought, back and forth game,
lasting nearly two and a half hours. Unfortunately, our Canadian women weren't able to hold on to the win after battling from behind to with the first set 7-6. Aside fro the loss though, getting to watch one of the two Canadian Golden Girls of sport right now (would argue Brooke Hendersen is the other one) was a real treat and once-in-a-liftime opportunity. We're certain people pay a TON more money and head to places like the Rogers Cup for such a opportunity and even there you'd have to literally be sitting on the court to get as close as we were today.
We mentioned earlier that Court #2 was seperately ticketed and we didn't have access to it. You needed a special golden braclet (like the ones they hand out at an amusement park) in order to gain access to the court. We found out not too much later that Nester and Pospicil were going to be playing the last match of the day on that court. Needless to say, we were in a connundrum. We wanted to cheer them on so badly, but didn't have the right ticket. So, we put a plan in action. Headed over
to the exit area and waited for some spectators to leave that had golden bracelets. We came across two nice young men from Brazil, asked for their bracelets and viola...we were in! Did we mention holding them back together with gum? Yes, we really are 'that' nuts about cheering on our athletes!
Hanging around at Court #2 for the rest of the afternoon was great. We got to see the tail end of a very competitive men's singles game, another women's doubles game and then it was time for what we had been waiting for most of the day. Our Canadian tennis dudes vs. Italy. Then, there was an annoucement that the game had been moved to a smaller court (Court #3) in order to make room for a men's doubles game on that court that Nadal was going to play in. We leap out of seats and high-tailed it over to Court #3 to snag one of the few seats. We were welcomed by a contingient of about 30-40 other Canadian fans all decked out in our Olympic gear. Once again, we got to watch our guys do battle, literally from the front row! A much better result
this time around. The boys' beat up on Italty winning 6-4, 6-1.
To end the day, we headed toward the exits and realized the Nadal doubles game was still going on. We used our gold bracelets (which it turns out we didn't end up needing) in order to watch the last 10-15 minutes of that match. Getting to see a legend like Nadal in person is truly incredible. You watch from the sidelines and think to yourself how lucky he gets shot after shot, or you remark about the error somone made on the other side of the court...eventually you do this so many times you catch yourself and come to the realization, it isn't luck...it is the result of endless hour of hardwork, immense talent and a drive to win surpassed by no one. Plainly, he is just the freakin' good! The speed of the men's game in general is awesome. The fact that they can return a serve at over 200km/h is something that television really does not do justice. You really have to see it to believe it.
After that game finish off we headed back to the train system. We haven't talked too about
our trip home to the apartment each evening, but we get dropped off at Metro station and then we have about a 15 minute walk home. Each night takes us through the Cinelandia Square which is where the Municipal Theatre is. It is a beautiful building all covered in gold leaf design and details, then a few more blocks and we are at the Lapa Arches. The last few nights, the Arches have been lit up by Twitter, with tweets live scrolling across the arches using the hashtag #LoveRio. A few more block up the street we stopped at our favourite new pizza joint. While waiting for our order we got to watch the tail end of the women's soccer match featuring Brazil (wow do they love soccer here) and then we walked Michael Phelps win not his first, but second Gold Medal of the day! It is unlikely that any Olympian, in any sport, will ever win as many Olympic medals as this guy -- truly incredible.
Back home to the apartment and we are getting ready for an early morning of Rowing a Lagoa Bay. After that, perhaps a shopping trip at what is rumoured to be
the largest shopping mall in South America and then back to Olympic Park to watch China vs. Venazulea in Men's Basketball. Both teams are still searching for their first win so it should be a great match-up.
More picture below.
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Kim Dupuis
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Wow
That was a very exciting day! Have fun shopping tomorrow:) Pizza....Universal:) :) P.S. For some reason I could not see the pictures you posted today! :(