We are all done

The Paralympic Torch at Maracaña stadium

I haven't written for a few days. This is typical of other games when I have written blogs. The last few days are mixed with a lot of various things including some sport coverage, escaping to get at least a little free time in the host city, packing up the clinic and attending some final events. Then late at night, I don't feel like writing.

So lots has happened.

First thing that comes to mind ids the death of the Iranian cyclist. Everyone knew the course was difficult and had dangerous parts. Many would have seen the serious crashes during the Olympics taking out some of the leaders in the men's race and one of the women had a serious head injury when she catapulted over her bars during her descent. It was early in the race and the information came quickly on the IPC information network that a serious  injury was sustained by an Iranian cyclist and further details were to come. The details were limited but everyone was informed he was taken  to hospital and due to a severe head trauma, he passed away. That is the first death in an Olympic or Paralympic competition since 1960. Many will remember the death at the luge event the day before Opening Ceremonies at the Vancouver Olympics. This would be a death during training.
It doesn't matter if it is before the games begin or near the end; it brought the atmosphere down many notches. There was something that bothered me though.As you saw in one of the first posts I made, there is a mina avenue in the Village with every nation's flag. The IPC and Iranian flags were lowered to half mast. Why weren't all flags? I would have thought the solidarity of the nations at these games would have led to a collective lowering of all flags as a respectful gesture. Maybe I'm not up on protocols but I was surprised. I thought it would have been proper.

Photo: Matthew Murnaghan, CPC

Not much is said about sailing as it last many days and is usually farther away. In Beijing it was 3 hours away. Here it is close enough that all sailors are staying in the Village which is not always the case. We got to know John and Jackie very well during these games. A fun couple with very different stories joining them not only together as a crew but as a couple. They had a great event coming up with a Silver medal!

John and Jackie

Photo: Matthew Murnaghan, CPC

Photo: Matthew Murnaghan, CPC

Coincidentally, the Globe had an article about them on the day before their last competition day where it mentioned they were fighting for a possible silver. You can read the article

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olympics/canadian-paralympic-sailing-couple-enjoying-swan-song/article31941281/

We have been packing up the clinic trying to get ready to get everything sent back to Canada. If we plan well, we will have more free time after Closing Ceremonies to have some leisure time. We don't want to be packing all day after the games so we start early as the athletes are not competing then we slowly decrease our work space.

I manage to get a few hours to get out and explore. When I was here in 2007 for the Parapan Am games, I have already been to the "touristy" spots including a trip to Christ the Redeemer (the massive statue overlooking Rio, Sugarloaf Mountain, etc. I therefore didn't need to get back there. I had been at a nice open air market and since it is opened only on Sunday, I went over there with Nancy, Amaya and Helen, members of the health care staff. It got us out on a beautiful sunny day checking out typical crafty things and some nice art. I didn't buy anything. We then went for lunch overlooking Ipanema beach which was jammed packed with people enjoying a day at the beach. We didn't get a chance to go as we had to head for the Village to get ready for Closing Ceremonies. Since it's about an hour taxi away, we had to get going.

one has to get the local drink: the caipirinha.

typical market

lots of original art

Hard to see but each colourful line is raised thick paint with black dots creating abstract view of tons of people on a beach

Here's where things got a little odd and, in retrospect, could have been dangerous. So we ask a taxi at Ipanema if he can take us to the Paralympic Village. He says he can. We drive off and after abut 45 minutes are just east of the Paralympic Park and he tries to get in the preferred lanes saving him the long loop around the neighbourhood. Even if we flash our accreditations, the police deny our passage so we take the right turn heading for the loop, which we do often when we return in games' buses anyway. Then he stops by the side of the road and, in Portuguese, tells us he's not going farther and he wants us out and walk the rest of the way. It's not impossible but will be at least 45 minutes walk in 30 degrees and we're in a rush to get ready for Closing Ceremonies. We don't have the luxury of time for this nice walk. Amaya, our massage therapist, conveniently is fluent in Spanish which can be better understood than english when speaking to Brazilians. Even with all her efforts of telling him he told us he could take us and we don't want to walk, he is not going anywhere. We therefore decide to get out of the cab and head for the BRT; the public bus system for which we have a free card as accredited personnel with the Games. I decide we aren't paying him as the plan is: if you don't take us where we asked as you promised, then we aren't paying. As we get out and leave, he becomes aware we are not paying so he comes after us asking for payment. We tell him if he can drive us where we asked, we will pay him. He still refuses. We say our goodbyes. He says he'll go tell the police which is all over the place. I tell him I will gladly go with him .... but we head to the buses. That was the last we heard and we made it to the Village in time to get all organized for Closing. It is only later that we think....what if he decided to get real angry and pull a gun. Oh well, he didn't! We always have 2 RCMP officers attached to our delegation. They are in charge of liaising with local forces and keeping us aware of all threat issue. It's the usual messages: don't travel alone, inform someone of your destination plans, don't flash expensive jewelry and cameras, don't leave your possessions unattended. They weren't impressed of our little event. 

Getting organized

Chantal Petitclerc delivering the last message to the Canadian Team

So we get all organized head out to the buses for Maracanã stadium. At all other games I have been involved with, Closing ceremony is are more of a celebration affair. All athletes march in as a group with no separation of countries. One big loud cheering group of about 4000 come in after the announcement of "And now, let's welcome the athletes of the Paralympic Games". Before this we are waiting and staging under the stadium or on an adjacent covered field of some kind. The show has already started but, unlike Opening Ceremonies, we enter at the beginning and all get to sit and watch the final event. Last night, we are all getting off buses and walking toward the stadium at about 6:15 and the show starts at 8. We quickly realize we are heading straight onto the main field and are directed to chairs and are told to sit down in respective areas. Of course we wander as there's nothing to do. Not many paying fans are in the seats yet. So there is no march, no announcement. We are just sitting there for almost  hours...waiting....

Then there's some version of "pre-show" event going on the stage with 2 guys seemingly entertaining whoever are the early arrivals n the stands with lots of yelling and loud music. We can't tell what is actually going on. Eventually the "show" begins. Loud, very loud, music starts. It looks like a Metallica lead guitarist with long hair playing head banging music. Then a few singers come on stage. evidently well known to the Brazilians. The music is not recognized but it seems the fans like it. Most of the athletes are dead quiet and getting restless. Some eventually get into the beat and start conga lines, and there's some semi dancing around to the beat but generally a quiet field of athletes. Usually the speeches, IPC flag lowering, flag exchange to the next host city , it will be Tokyo in 2020, playing the Paralytic anthem, and other ceremonial stuff is done early and it finishes with the musical party-like atmosphere. This time it was the other way around. So when the musical entertainment stops and the ceremonial events begin, we are all looking at our watches thinking of leaving...then it starts pouring rain! Where did this come from???? Great sunny day all day, sunny evening as we drove to the stadium and now it pours and the wind starts blowing. Just like at opening ceremonies! Now we head for the exits. Just as the president of the IPC starts his speech, mentions the terrible death and offers condolences most of the athletes are up and heading out. It must not have looked good on TV. I wonder if it was mentioned by CBC colour commentators. 

Lowering the Paralympic flag

The medical gang hanging out at Closing

After the Closing Ceremonies, Canada, the Brits and New Zealand were hosting a post-party. Wine from New Zealand and Canadian beer served at our place and various other beverages served in the other building where GB and Australia are. The rain eventually stopped which allowed people to wander. I tried visiting the Brazilian residence to trade some of our clothing with some of theirs. That's a tradition that happens at this time. They were nowhere to be seen! Also the few we saw said they "weren't allowed to trade". That was odd. I saw some of our folks hanging on with team Ireland jackets, some Spanish jerseys and a few did scam some Brazil hats.

Oh well. I'll try again tomorrow.

Going visiting the Brits

Since the Kiwis were pouring the wine, they brought their friend 

The Kiwi bartenders

So there it is folks. I think this pretty much does it. I hope you enjoyed some of these random thoughts.

These Games are fantastic and allow one to witness not only great athletes at work but even more. I hope I was able to allow you to be part of it.

Please visit the Canadian Paralympic Committee website for great pictures of these athletes by skilled photographers. Go check them out on their Facebook page as well.

See you all soon.

Another layer of help to athletes

Noisy crowd at our last game at the Paralympics. Some people in the crowd had tears in their eyes when the women pulled the banner after the first game.

As physicians, we are part of the team to help assure the health of the athletes is optimized for their performance. Basically we try to keep them healthy. We deal with injuries and illnesses as they appear.

The therapy staff is real busy with daily management of all sorts of physical ailments, new and chronic.

If you are at a Formula 1 race, car mechanics are crucial for the performance of the pilot.

If you are at bike races, the mechanic is also crucial for the athletes' bikes being optimized and tuned for the race.

Here at the Paralympics, as at other international para-sport events like the Parapan Am games, there is also that extra layer of support usually offered by the very busy car from Ottobock.

Ottobock can fix pretty much everything

They are involved in more than simply fixing things

They have their main shop in the Village and a small shop at every venue. They even have a mini welding unit at the WC rugby venue as their chairs are like metal tanks and often need more than an extra screw. They need bodywork.

Athletes may get the best service they have ever encountered when they arrive here form countries where these services are limited. It's easy to see as we have been amongst thousands of athletes with prosthetics and chairs that some have the best possible (USA, Canada, some European  countries) but there are some that are barely holding on and one will note the country of the athlete is often small and would be considered third world economy.

The same could go for prosthetics where a high tech articulated leg with computer elements can be seen on some athletes and some other ones have basic limbs holding on with leather straps.



























As of yesterday, they were up too 2054 jobs done. Not for an event that has been ongoing for less than 2 weeks. Long hours indeed.

Happy at work

Last night I went to watch Canada against Australia in WC rugby. I knew it would be a loud crowd as all arenas are extremely loud but this match has been awaited for. They met in the gold medal game in London and Australia won.
WC rugby is played on an indoor court. The ball, like in field rugby, has to be brought across the end line by a player. There are various levels of disability in the players and they are scored with numbers similar to WCBB. 4 players can be on the court and the total points cannot be higher than 8.
Here's some interesting trivia. It was invented by 5 Canadians in Winnipeg in 1976. At that time WCBB was quite popular but many individuals with partial quadriplegia or other limb altering effects from congenital conditions, neuromuscular conditions or amputations couldn't play as they weren't able to shoot, pass or dribble well enough. They founded this sport originally called "murderball" and a great documentary was made following the USA team. It's called "Murderball". You should find it and watch it. It's a good initiation of the sport.

Players have to have a disability involving at least 3 limbs. Some of the faster and hardest hitting players usually have amputation or congenital conditions which allows them to maintain their strength. Partial quads have residual functions of their biceps and other varying upper limb function which explains their low chair (they don't have the ability to hold themselves up as they have no core muscular control).
It is a wild sport with a lot of contact and banging chairs. The crowd goes crazy when an athlete is flipped! This would typically terrify the non-initiated viewer but it gets the crowd going!

Australia prevailed yesterday after a 3 minute overtime period. They won by one point. Now the Canadians need to face the USA to advance.

Zak Madell is the obvious pillar of our Canadian team

I've seen this lad, Ryley Blatt, play dominantly in 2008. He was only 19! These are already his 4th Paralympic Games

So now we are dwindling dow. This morning it's packing time. The worst part of the games. Complicated inventories, manifests for customs....If we all get together and get it done quickly, then I'll try and get some free time tomorrow before closing ceremonies.

A night to remember

Last practice of these games

It's really slowing down here. From our perspective (Canadians competing), the focus is on cycling road races, swimming and WC rugby. We still have sailing events but the sport is often forgotten because they are remote and not the best spectator sport. Our athletes are doing well though.

It makes the energy level decrease. At the clinic, the volume is decreasing as athletes are out of competitions. Medically, we are still quiet...knock on wood.

I have had more time off than any other games. Although I stay in clinic and am here to see anyone who requests a physician, it is not busy so I still call it "time off". It's not the same as having the luxury of touring around, going to the beach, etc. I have done none of that yet.

I did recommend to the women's WCBB staff to get out of the village for dinner as we are all getting quite tired of the sining hall. They have had no variety for the whole duration....There is a nice hotel, the Grand Mercure, right outside the Village and I heard there is a nice restaurant in there. So to get it organized, I had our team attaché for the basketball team, Julianna, call them for a reservation. She got it all done. 5 People for 7:30. She said she made sure there was no special events and they had room for us. Everything was all good...
So we get all dressed up (not really) and head to the hotel which is about a 15 minute walk. The lobby is busy wit a nice bar where some people are having drinks and some bar food. We head upstairs to the restaurant. This is where we get suspicious. There are many signs for the "IPC Hospitality " event of some kind and many other signs for what appears to be a Team France sponsored event. We are told we cannot enter as there is a special event. Although we mention we have reservations, we are shut down. We decide we aren't going to win this battle and head to the lobby bar and will get dinner there. We tried calling Julianna to see what was actually happening as the language barrier was challenging. We enjoyed a nice round of caipirinhas, the traditional Brazilian drink. Then the Maitre D' from upstairs comes down and tells us Julianna called him and he apologizes and tells us they can accommodate us at 9 and we can get a complimentary round of caipirinhas. We don't know what happened but, oh well, free drinks and we decide to wait. At 9 we go upstairs and a different person meets us. Same message: you cannot come due to a special event. We try explaining we have just been told we could come at 9...falls on deaf ears. Now we are really hungry and, after these strong drinks decide to go back for the bar and actually order food. The lady who we just met upstairs comes down and tells us they can accommodate us at 9:30 and would we accept another free round. At this point, it is becoming so silly we decide :"Why not". Finally, 3 rounds of quite strong drinks and over 2 hours after the original "reservation" was made, we head to the restaurant. It looks more like a large room, with an open terrace like feel, with a table set for a buffet. Quite simple and not what we expected. If there's food , we are fine with it. WE get the menus and order. Anyway, the evening continues and it's not until about 11 pm that we finally get the food on the table. Yes: 11 pm!! It wasn't even worth the wait. Certainly not the great dining experience we expected. So after 11:30, we are walking back to the Village wondering if over 4 hours of our evening was worth spending with this odd affair? We thought we could get a nice dining experience without complicated taxis to take us into Barra area which would have been over 30-45 minutes away. It would have been faster and much better dinner. We still had many laughs as the evening progressed so we decided it was worth the "experience" if to just to recollect this story in the future.

The previous evening had the men and women's WCBB team hosted at the Canada Paralympic House (CPH) where family and friends can celebrate the athletes. It was fun for the athletes to see their families in this setting. CPH exists at all Paralympics and is a point of centralization for all Canadians who have their sons or daughters competing. Their was much fanfare when the COC made a video of the Canada Olympic House available on youtube. CPH is not even close to that glamorous showcase. I guess the budget of the CPC is not the same as the COC. I wonder where those funds come from?

Mingling at CPH

Men and women WCBB team with family and friends

Jamey Jewells and Arinn Young with Arinn's parents

Tapering

The line up at McDonalds is still impressive

I was lazy today.
I had all intentions to get up early to get on the 6:20 shuttle and head of to the canoe/kayak venue at the lagoon. It takes at least 1 hour, if there's no traffic. Traffic is pretty much a constant here along the south shore which connects us at the west end to the east end venues just north of Copacabana at the Lagoa. We had 2 athletes competing in finals so I analyzed my options. Over 2 1/2 hours of shuttling to head to a beautiful area and cheer 2 athletes in a 200 m race. I won't be able to hang out at Copacabana beach to enjoy it as I need to be back around noon for the WCBB practice. Lots of dead time for little return so I stayed in the Village. I guess I was lazy. I am now hanging around the clinic and saw a few athletes who needed some medical attention, all minor which is nice.

Our athletes have been generally healthy at these games. I have been at games in the past where we are seeing a lot more athletes from a medical basis. My motto of "If we're bored, things are going well" usually applies and is in effect now. I am not really bored but I have a lot of time free allowing me to actually go and cover practices. I have never had the option to cover a team at practices as there are not enough MDs with our delegation and we are running on various shuttles to cover competing athletes and teams. I see the future of these games include more MDs to allow better presence. We don't need to be "busy" medically but being present is our role. If there's a requirement for something more then the therapist can provide at the clinic of competition venues, it's nice to be available at the scene. Of course we can't be everywhere all the time. Yesterday an athlete was injured at the competition venue and all MDs were covering something else. We still managed it all by phone and coordinated all care and investigations and everything went well. Minor issue.

Things are tapering off. Goalball men and women did not advance past quarter finals. Men's WCBB finished their tournament with an unfortunate 11th position. I can expect some changes will take place with the program and will need to see how it involves the women's program as well as they are who I'm involved with but it is still under the umbrella of Wheelchair Basketball Canada. The pool is still active and we picked up another gold yesterday with an exciting last 50 m where Katarina Roxon came from behind for a decisive touch on the wall!

The cyclists kept leading our medal attention as a sport. They are now the leading group as they picked up 3 in the track and now hauled 5 at the time trial. Tristan Chernove added a gold to his silver and Ross Wilson grabbed another silver. Charles Moreau, in a handbike, showed what it means to give every last watt of effort as he got himself a bronze medal with a time 0.22 seconds ahead of the 4th position. That would mean that at any time in the time trial, if he relaxed for one half of a revolution of his effort on the cranks would have lost his podium finish. Please go and check the Canadian Paralympic Committee Facebook page for stories, pictures and videos of our athletes competing.

So now we have less active Canadians in competition. As mentioned above, the pool is still active with various Canadians in various events. The athletics events still have a few Canadians competing until Saturday. The Women WCBBplays their final game tomorrow. Rugby has just started. The sailors are at it until Saturday as well.
That doesn't leave a lot of sports venues for me to go to and see Canadians compete. Spending hours at the pool may have multiple races where Canadians aren't involved due to the various classes racing.

At other games I have worked, I didn't have this luxury of having a more relaxed schedule . Maybe another factor is these are the first Games in many years I do not have the responsibility of being the CMO. Being Assistant CMO to Andy is quite easy as I don't have any administrative issues to deal with. We have had a few discussions of issues requiring his attention and having a conversation to look at options is useful.

So now we are already planning how we can start packing this place up slowly so we are not slammed with major packing and customs manifest on the last days.

Too bad we are so far away from any accessible areas (beaches and restaurants). Easier to hang out here at the clinic and see a few athletes if they need then head to practice then  sneak in a workout at the gym. I wish I would've brought my bike as I could have used to at these Games. I have never brought it as there has never been enough time.
Even the cycling road race loops are too difficult to access to help out for the next few days. Even being a spectator will be difficult as the best locations, the steep climb and the hairpin descents, are too hard to get to. We will watch it on TV.

Shot put using a throwing platform

Due to my limited access, I have used CPC photos of our athletes. They can be found at the CPC Facebook site.

And the bottom fell out

warm up against the Netherlands.

Lots of stuff going on everywhere around these parts but I spent yesterday very focused on our women’s WCBB team. The loss at the hands of the Dutch team was, as expected, met with quite a few tears from our players. It brought the reality of sports to the surface. It is not always success they face but defeat. The word failure is not truly the one to describe the day. They worked hard but at the end the score was not in their favor. Netherlands 78, Canada 60. The game was closer but, as you may know from the sport of basketball, in the last few minutes of a game, the losing team often fouls to get the ball and allows the other team many free throws.

You can look at the stats of the game and see they matched up and shot a similar, if not a little better, percentage than the opponent so what was the deciding factor? Look at the rebounds the Netherlands had on offence: 21. We had 22 defensive rebounds. This means they missed over 40 shots and had a second chance on 21 of them. That was the deciding factor. We had only 6 offensive rebounds.  They shot more often as many were second chances. They were in better position, we didn’t defend as well as we should have and against a strong team like the Dutch, you will pay for this.

Rosalie Lalonde heading up the court

Sports at this level present an interesting situation. These amateur athletes train, travel internationally to meet other teams at small tournaments and more training centralized in Toronto but they have day jobs and families. 2 Players play pro in Germany but most need other income. Some are at the University of Alabama on the varsity WCBB team. So this training is extra to their normal life and it all comes to the surface every 4 years for World Championships and also on a 4 years cycle, the Paralympics. Not like pro athletes where they train all day, play their season, make or fail playoffs go for the sport’s big trophy and it all starts again next year. ON top of that, make tons of money. For these athletes, all the training is focused on 4 years cycles. They had a bad tournament in Beijing and finished 5^th.  Trying “not to repeat” this bad outcome, the team at the London Paralympics fought hard but the team was not as cohesive and self destructed to a bad last game ending them in 6^th! These players have worked hard to get here, came in first at World Championships 2 years ago while ranked 6^th in the world and yesterday, their next goal, exploded. Not even in the final four due to a complicated 3-way tiebreaker for first place (3 teams with a 3-1 record) landing them against the Dutch with the loss making them play for 5^th or 6^th tomorrow again.

They can only fix this result in 4 years and live with this memory during that whole time.

As I said, sports at this level present interesting situations.

So the mood was horrible. Anger. Sadness. Frustration. Regret. Various others. It eventually settled by the evening and they were able to talk again instead of hiding in their shells. This morning, there were smiles and the realization that more work is needed, they can’t hide anymore as we are facing the Chinese in 2 days. Is it coincidental the team from China is who faced the Canadians in London 4 years ago?

As I said at the beginning, there is a lot going on. We had many athletes in the pool last night but, unfortunately, not many medals came our way. Aurélie Rivard swam for her second gold medal of the games. There are still some swimming events for the next few days. We all hope more can be Canadian successes.

Katarina Roxon

The canoe/kayak athletes have been out in the Lagoon and we have 2 in the finals tomorrow.

Our cyclist got back in the saddle at the time trial. As there are time trials in all classifications (C1-5, H1-5, T1-2 then the B classes) and for men and women, it starts at 8 am and will end after 4. Tristan Chernove who already medalled on the track came up with a great ride and a gold medal in the C2 class. Ross Wilson added to his medal at the track with another silver in the C1 class. Charles Moreau who rides a handbike in the H3 class got himself a bronze with 0.22 seconds ahead of 4^th. Shelley Gauthier got bronze in the T1-2 race.

The next big team event starts today for Canada as our rugby team takes to the court. Wheelchair rugby is an exciting sport played by athletes who need at least 3 limbs to be affected. Most are partial quadraplegics but there are many with congenital or traumatic limb conditions as well. Crashing wheelchairs is the name of the game and since we are playing Brazil tonight: better wear ear protection, as it will be a loud crowd!

Wheelchair rugby chair. Tanklike

I just came back from a very relaxed practice with the women WCBB team. Now some time in the clinic and since it is quiet, I ‘ll head to the gym for a little energy expenditure. Tonight the wheelchair basketball teams are all heading to Canada Paralympic House in Barra area. It should be a fun social evening where family and friends of any athlete can come and meet the athletes and hang out. I’ll report on this tomorrow.

Down...Up....down again

Paralympic Park at night.

We started day 5 of the Games yesterday and I am officially losing my handle on these blogs. There are so many things going on every hour rather I feel my blog should be basically sharing everything I keep getting on Facebook form athletes, CPC, IPC....

Yesterday was a big day as the women WCBB team met the Germans. They are a solid team and winning would put the Canadians at the sole position at the top of their pool. As they were meeting Brazil today, a sure win unless they played REALLY bad, they would be undefeated. The next step being the crossover at 1/4 finals would have them meet the other pool's 4th team. GB, who we beat already, had beat the Germans. So this means they can be beat. The Canadians actually beat them to win the World Championships in 2014 in Toronto. Unfortunately, although they led at the half, they couldn't keep the focus and let the Germans sneak away with a win. 

That's the "down" in the title. 

This is where things got weird. There are 3 teams in "first place" as us, Germany and GB have 1 loss. Today's game against Brazil confirmed that standing as we all won our last game. So Germany becomes first due to a points system which leaves GB and us to sort out. Since we beat them, then we get second place. We will therefore play the 3rd team in the other pool: China. We could beat them. 

Cindy Ouellet

Waiting for the bus

This is the "up" in the title.

All of a sudden, the rule makers came to our coaches and said:"Sorry we misinterpreted the rules, you get 3rd place". I'm not even going to attempt to explain how this happens because it appears ....nobody really understands it. So we get only one loss and we end up in third behind a team we beat....

That means we face the Dutch team who finished second in the other pool. They are a very strong team. We did beat them in 2014 as well but the Canadians aren't playing as well as they did then. It is a long 2 years ago and the Dutch seem to just execute like machines. 

That's the second "down" in the title.

The USA are even more methodical. They are the team to beat. Fast, precise, fit. We met them last year in the gold medal game of the Parapan Am games in Toronto and they won. 

So now the women will try and focus all their energy to tomorrow's game. We had a very good game against Brazil with the starting line up getting a rest in the second half allowing the bench players to get some competition court time. Nobody will be allowed to make mistakes and allow the Dutch any breathing room tomorrow.

The situation is not as pretty for the men's WCBB team. In 2000 and 2004 they were gold medallists at the Paralympics. In 2008, a crazy double overtime game against the USA had them win and finish so late at night they had not much left against Australia for the Gold the next morning. They won silver. In 2012, in London, they met Australia again for the Gold and there was no way they were losing that one. Did you know that since 2004, the men's team has lost only one game at the Paralympics? It was the 2008 final. After London, 4 world class veterans retired leaving the team to rebuild. They didn't even qualify for the World Championships in 2014! At these games they have not won a game yet and are meeting Turkey later today. The odds are for a Turkey win. It is not pretty and morale is quite low as one can imagine.

There are so many event's in the pool I can't  keep up. I am not close to the sport of swimming so am not paying close attention to all the different events happening. I know we have many Canadians in finals tonight. 

The cyclists are done on the track and have scooped 3 medals. Now they are training for the road time trial and the road race. Lucky them! They get to ride bikes in this beautiful weather. I sometimes wonder if I should have listened when one of their coaches was hinting I should get involved with the Para-cycling team after the London Games....Instead of hanging around cyclists and riding my bike, I spend my time in gyms. But I do like working with the WCBB team. I certainly can't do more.

National anthem before the Brazil game

This is the van we carry all the chairs in

about 15 chairs, puzzled in there with all the wheel bags. 

The puzzle happens every day

 Looks like tonight's practice is cancelled to allow the players to rest a little more, recover and get ready for tom,borrow. Big team meeting to review the game plan though. Everybody has to be dialled in for tomorrow. No exceptions. This situation happened in London as well. The players seemed to  get disconnected as the game against China progressed and they basically beat themselves and lost the chance to fight for the medal rounds and ended up in 5th. A very big disappointment they tried not to replicate here.With This 3rd place issue, it is more difficult to get to the final four.

So if there's no practice, I might stay and cover the clinic a little then find a place to go cheer Canadians. Since the Athletic stadium is too far, it might be the pool.

The Paralympic feed did;'t have anything early this morning. Just a live camera view of Copacabana  beach...or maybe it's Ipanema. I don't know sine I haven't been. Maybe this will be as close as I get to the beach.