So whatever you have heard about the games in Rio, the city and the facilities themselves are absolutely fantastic. Ryan Lochte could not have picked a prettier place to fake an abduction/robbery.
The area where Mark stayed was Ipanema (yes, just like the song about the girl from there). This area is beautifully outfitted and nestled between the lake and the beach in the south zone of Rio, just south of Copacabana Beach. It really is a gorgeous neighborhood. They were holding the rowing events in Ipanema while Mark was there, so he decided to walk over and have a look-see.
On his way to the area from the airport, the cab driver explained that they did most of the rowing events in the morning because the winds picked up in the afternoon, and made it more difficult. Despite that, Mark was able to see a couple of starts to rowing events on the lake. Because it was a nice day out and all seemed right in the world, Mark decided to walk around the lake. In the distance, he could see the famous "Christ the Redeemer" statue (sitting atop a mountain called "Corcovado" or "hunchback", you may be able to just barely make it out on top of the cliff in the photo above) from just about any spot around the lake.
After arriving on Thursday, Mark made it to his first event on Friday evening. His first event was basketball, and it took place at the Olympic park. The Park housed several of the Olympic venues in one area. Most of the spectators took dedicated public transportation to Olympic Park (you had to show your event ticket to get on the subway that went out to the Park). Once there, everyone went through security once, but once inside the park, you could move freely from venue to venue. Mark was able to check out the tennis stadium, badminton courts, and other basketball arenas before taking his seat at this own event Friday night.
Mark arrived in Rio expecting long lines. To the contrary, he found that everything was moving quite smoothly. The longest line he ever suffered through was 24 minutes (and yes, he was timing each and every line). Most of the security lines, he was able to walk up and immediately go through metal detectors. The longest line that Mark saw, however, was a monster. And what was it for? The gift shop. The photo above is of the line to enter the Rio 2016 Olympics Mega Store. Officially licensed merchandise is quite a draw. And yes, Mark did eventually get in, but he is proud to report that he did so after the USA defeated Serbia on Friday night, so the place was nearly empty (the other people had either gone to their events or finished for the day and gone home)
Otherwise, the Olympic park was pretty cool. They had buildings that were both functional and aesthetically pleasing. They also had McDonalds in the food court. What else could you ask for?
On Saturday, Mark ventured to the track & field events. This took place at Olympic Stadium (not to be confused with Olympic Park). It was in an entirely different part of the city, but was still pretty easy to navigate to.
Mark's final event of rio 2016 was at Riocentro, which was pretty near the Olympic Park. Mark got the sense that RioCentro was the home of the sports that might appear in "Obscure Sports Quarterly" magazine. Mark attended the weightlifting event there, but noticed that the other sports fans there were excited about their tickets to fencing, trampoline and ..... "Pokemon Go".
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