Blogs from Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America - page 6

Day 15 is over here in Rio and tomorrow will be the final day of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Looking back its hard to believe we visited the Olympic Park for the very last time. Hard to believe there won't be Beach Volleyball on tonight and into the wee hours of the morning at Copacabana Beach. Hard to believe the thousands of athletes that have poured their heart and soul into the past 4 years leading up to these Games will finish up tomorrow and head home to re-evaluate and re-charge. For us, the Games here in Rio have been nothing short of incredible. Our experience here in Rio has been first-rate. We've learned so much about this South American country, its people and the beautiful City that has played host to the world for ... read more

Day 14 is in the books here in Rio and its hard to believe we are only two short days away from the Closing Ceremonies of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games! While the time goes fast for us, it clearly moving even faster for Usain Bolt. It seem unfair to starting talking about this day without mentioning his super-human achievements over that past 12 years. To think that one man has won the 100m, 200m and 4x100m Relay in three straight Olympics simply defies logic. Its hard to imagine anyone in the future surpassing this truly epic Olympic resume. We started our day back at the Olympic Park and had our first chance to watch some diving at the Maria Lenk Aquatic Centre. This venue was the only building on site at what is now Olympic ... read more

It's hard to believe that Day 12 has already come and gone here in Rio. No matter how much excitement, noise and passion the athletes display in the first days and week of the Olympics, it just keeps building and building, the closer we get to the end. In the big tournaments (volleyball, basketball, soccer, handball, etc.) the pool play is over and as the announcer said this morning at our Men's Volleyball match against Russian -- it is win or go home time. Every points means that much more, every win feels that much sweeter. Our first adventure started early this morning heading back to the Maracanazinho Gymnasium to watch our Canadian men battle Russia in a quarter final volleyball game. Much the same as our Women's Basketball Team last night, our men just didn't ... read more

Day 10 is done here in Rio and it might just be remember as a 'series of unfortunate events'. Not only was it the hottest winter day we've ever experienced at just over 33 degrees Celsius, there was lots to point to in the universe today that things just weren't lining up exactly right for us or our athletes! It started with us forgetting our camera (and my phone) for our first event (track cycling) and all the while our men were being shut out over at Kayak and Canoe events. We got on a bus that didn't take us the way the route normally goes (for some unknown reason) leaving us a long walk from our regular Subway station. Next up we were seconds away from potentially being crushed by giant flying cameras above Olympic ... read more

While Day 8 here in Rio has come to an end, Day 9 will be starting VERY soon for us. We just got back from Men's Basketball and the local time is 2:25am. We have tickets to the final round of Men's Golf tomorrow morning and the first tee time is 7:00am. That means we need to head to the subway for about 5:00am, or if you're counting, in less that 3 hours! Unlike last week though, the Rio organizers have ensure the subways system has stayed open late and is opening up early. Transit was supposed to shut down at 1:00am tonight, but even as we exited the station tonight, they showed no sign of closing any time soon. One of the things we've been most appreciative of has been the organizers ability to, when ... read more