 |
| Good morning Rio from the top deck of our room |
Yes our room is on the top floor which is great for views but not the best as every time I need to get there, on the 18th floor, i'm jockeying for elevators. The last many mornings were hazy, some clouds, but as you can see it is clear today. Already very hot but less humid.
Yesterday was an odd day. With more teams arrived and practice schedules filling up I thought I would be busier running around as at this time I am spending time between the women's basketball team and the men's goalball team.....and getting myself in the velodrome with the cyclists simply because I really enjoy that environment. But yesterday everything happened at the same time. My priority is the women's basketball so I walked over to the practice courts for their 1.5 hour training. Goalball was a tt the same time. I thought I would be busy in the afternoon so didn't enquire about the cycling track so I missed their training time in the afternoon...so I basically didn't do much. That is unexpected and I am not used to it. As my role as Chief Medical Officer for he last many games, I always had stuff to deal with and prepare or "look into". Now as the Assistant to that position, I don't shoulder those responsibilities. Andy is quite happy mentioning to me every time he heads to another meeting...and I wave and smile.
So what did I do yesterday? I got up early at 6:30 to go to the gym as my experience has shown if you plan to go later in the day something always happens to bust that schedule and it doesn't happen. But yesterday I certainly could have slept in. Helped out delivering suitcases to more rooms as athletes were arriving in another bunch yesterday. After morning practice on the basketball courts, I came beck to the Village and tried to find things to do. I was restless. Many people who know me from past games were laughing as they knew I was just itching to do something and not used to being idle. Don't get me wrong. My motto is usually "If we are bored, things are going well. From a medical perspective, if I spend my time enjoying these games as a spectator with a great seat without being swamped with injured and ill individuals then things are going really well.So yesterday: things were going well.
I went for a walk to the International Zone also called the Village Plaza. It is less a Plaza than other Villages but has the usual elements: a store to buy Olympic and Paralympic gear you can't find anywhere else ("Village Edition"), photo shop, mini-market, sponsor store like Samsung, ticket office and the ever present McDonalds.
 |
| International gathering in the Plaza.....most eating McDonalds |
 |
| Yes. There it is. |
At this Village they were not welcome in the Village so they are "outside" in the Plaza.Doesn't matter as everyone know where they are. There is a serious anti-branding rule and law within Olympic and Paralympic facilities. If you pay big money ,as Coke and McDonalds do, you own the rights to not only display your brand but erase and eliminate everyone else. If you have a water bottle with Gatorade written on it. you have total the Gatorade logo so it is not seen. Only Powerade is allowed as it is a Coke product.
Checked out the store for souvenirs for the family back home. What is a positive change is the quantity of Paralympic stuff available. As one could expect, the Paralympic still have the "little brother syndrome" being the forgotten one after the Olympics. We see it with media presence at home with much fewer viewing hours on tv. It is getting much bigger thanks to the Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) and it's communications staff who are always pushing and the presence on social media, advertising and television is increasing. So the store still has tons of Olympic logo gear but it has much more Paralympic gear as well. I remember Beijing, only 2 Games ago, where the store had one t-shirt with the Paralympic logo on it and tons of Olympic stuff. Much better now.
Since I wasn't in and out of transport buses yesterday, I spent the day chatting with various athletes and coaches simply exchanging stories and talking about sports. It is the hidden benefit of being involved here. Getting to know these great athletes but not only as media stars.Getting to know them as individuals and having fun conversations. Especially with my involvement with the Canadian Paralympic sport since 2007, I see many familiar faces. Just caught up with Philippe Bedard, our only wheelchair tennis player, who arrived last night. I first met Philippe in 2011 at the Parapan Am games in Guadalajara. Unfortunately he has had bad luck with his health in that game and London in 2012. So yesterday he arrives with a big smile and tells me "I'm fine, I have nothing wrong with me now!" jokingly recalling how every time we have met he always had something impairing his full healthy performance. He is now also married! One month ago. We had some good laughs about everything from dining hall, the fit of our Opening Ceremonies clothing (...just wait for that one) getting his coach Christian Gingras in on the conversation. We then talked about the tennis courts in the Village including 2 clay courts. I think I'll have to go hit some balls with those guys after he is done competing. Should be fun, or interesting, as I haven't swung a tennis racket in over 5 years...
 |
| read carefully or follow the pictures...there might be a problem |
 |
| I told you it would get busy in here |
 |
| suspicious transactions |
 |
| Thought I'd put a picture of me to prove I am actually here. |
No comments:
Post a Comment