RIO 2016 OLYMPICS
19th July – 26th August 2016
"I woke up and, in Rio's fall, the sea, the sky, the sun and mountain were fighting over which one was the most beautiful"
Millôr Fernandes
Leaving Australia - Tuesday 19th July
Melbourne, Australia: I was up and out the house by 6.30am. It was a miracle that I had managed to squeeze 17months worth of stuff into just my travelling rucksacks. There were of course a few casualties... My climbing shoes had seen better days so they saw the bin, along with clothes that had been completely worn to death.
The journey was long. Oh so long. I took 3 flights: Melbourne to Auckland, New Zealand, then to Santiago, Chili, and finally to Rio, Brazil. It took over 32 hours and I was a wreck at the end. It was incredible to see the snow covered mountain range surrounding the airport in Chili, having not seen snow since being in the Himalayas more than a year ago. Yet even that became boring after the 5 hour stop over and not being able to exit the terminal.
Finally I was here. My flight had arrived much earlier than it was scheduled but Ali hadn't, however soon she appeared and I hugged my best friend for the first time in a year and a half. We took a taxi back to her place, had a quick bite to eat and chatted for an hour before I really was dead to the world. My head hit the pillow and remained there for another 14 hours.
My first day in Rio was a total write off. I slept through most of it. We went on a little walk around the neighbourhood to get my bearings. They live in Laranjeiras, which translates as orange trees. It's situated between Botefogo and Santa Terasa neighbourhoods and it’s a local residential neighbourhood.
They live 10 mins from the nearest metro station, Largo do Machado. If you continue to walk along their road in a westerly direction, you get to the start of the cog train line that takes you up Corcovado Mountain to the Cristo Redentor statue. That night we came home for an amazing dinner of steak and chips followed by Portuguese tarts (Pastel de belem) delicious.
New uniform
I had scheduled going to pick up my accreditation pass and uniform for the second day I was there... How exciting! Ali came with me to a large area that is usually used by the Samba schools to prepare for carnival and store costumes and floats. First I collected my pass and then my uniform. My kit consists of 3 t-shirts, 2 trousers, 3 socks (yup I've got Olympics socks), 1 jacket, 1 pair of trainers, 1 cap, 1 bag, 1 water bottle, 1 weird key ring thing and a rain coat.
We also had the chance to go to Confeitaria Colombo for lunch. The building dates back to the late 1800's and is worth a visit for the interior and cake selections!
Exploring Rio
Time to venture out on my own. I went for a walk to Ali's nearest beach, Praia do Flamengo, east of their house facing into the bay. It's not recommended to swim here as the water is quite stagnant, but it was a beautiful vista. I walked round the headland and saw Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain) for the first time, with its two cable cars to the summit. It's amazing how 3D the landscape is, it's unlike anything I've ever seen before.
Then I walked through Botefogo neighbourhood, through the side streets, going into interesting shops eventually finding my way to Cobal do Humaita, a market with lots of bars, restaurants and cute shops. I had a small beer (chopp) and was looked down on by Cristo.
Parque Lage and the Botanical Gardens
We spent a leisurely Saturday visiting the gardens of Parque Lage where we saw the incredible building that houses the School of Visual Arts. It is completely surrounded by rainforest, and at its centre has a reflective pool in the courtyard, enabling you to see Cristo Redentor through the hole in the ceiling. Just stunning!
It was also the location of the famed ‘British House’ a place that Brits in Rio could gather during the Olympics to watch the events on TV and rub shoulders with the athletes. Unfortunately, it was invite only, and I didn’t seem to cut the mustard.
Next up was the Botanical Gardens, walking down the avenue of palm trees, nosing at many different species of cacti in the cactus garden, and the few orchid flowers that were still clinging to life in the winter months. We also saw a family of tiny monkeys.
Volunteer training Maracanã
I got the train to Maracanã stadium for my Rio 2016 training day, and on the way a lady started talking to me in very fast Portuguese. After asking her to please talk sloooooowly, it turned out she was named Ruth and she had training there too although she didn't have her uniform or pass yet. On the way we picked up another lady and the three of us made our way to the check in desks and then all the way round to little Maracanã where there was to be a presentation. I had been warned this would all be in Portuguese but the foreigners were all given a print out of the presentation in English and I struck gold by accidentally sitting next to a translator who spoke perfect English! When the video of the London 2012 opening ceremony came on, I got a bit emotional, remembering how incredible the show was and how great it was to be living in London at that time. I looked around and could see the excitement in all the Carioca's faces that the Olympics was in their city, and for the first time it had come to South America.
We went through basics about the venue and then had the stadium tour. It was here I met Sandra and Eric, two Londoners, plus a group of other random Europeans who all spoke English. After this we were shown to the canteen and picked up our meals and met the rest of the Transport team. Again there were people who spoke brilliant English, and others who hopefully by the end of the Games I will have learnt enough Portuguese to get to know them a bit.
This was followed by a ‘team training session’, which basically consisted of meeting the boss who after a quick chat sent us all home. Which means I still don't have much of a clue what I am going to be doing!!!
Portuguese Lessons
I had booked to do an intensive language course for my first full week in Rio at Fala Brasil. I showed up on the Monday morning, and having been assured the group class was a maximum of 5 people, I was a little surprised to find there were only 2 of us for the week! My classmate was Kerry, a retired Brit with boundless energy who was on a 2 year 'gap year' with her husband David. In our first lesson we covered the very basics and learnt Olympics vocab such as the sports. After my first class I went home, and was planning to go straight out but ended up on Skype with Will and then spent hours trying to buy Olympics tickets online. It was worth the effort as I came away with 5 tickets for a total of £130 to gymnastics, trampolining, rowing, beach volleyball on Copacaba beach and lastly athletics. Definitely worth an afternoon of my time!
This week generally followed the same pattern each day. I would have my lesson in the morning and then go and explore a different area in the afternoon. 3 hours feels like a lot when trying to think in a new language and my brain hurts at the end, however doing it in a 3 hour block was so much better than the one hour sessions I’d been having in Australia. So much more sinks in. Our teachers were brilliant, they only talked to us in Portuguese and used actions instead of translating so it sticks in our heads as a new thing rather than translating into English every time.
After our last lesson of the week, we went to Bar Urca at the foot of Pão de Açúcar, to sit on the sea wall, with a beer in one hand and some delicious friend snacks in the other. It was a great view and setting to pass the time with new friends.
Day Trips
Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain)
I went in the late afternoon/ early evening so that I'd see the sunset from the top. This was definitely worth doing as the views over the city in the day was stunning. But seeing the sunset was on another level. The sky went insane colours and right in the centre was Cristo, silently and majestically looking over the city. It was also really cool to see the lay of the land, the orientation of the famous beaches, and the huge lagoon.
I attempted to get a bus back but unfortunately got on the wrong one. I decided to walk to the metro station instead, and ask people directions on the way to practise my Portuguese. On route I saw a cyclist that has been knocked off his bike by a car and watched as a policeman directing traffic almost got run down by the ambulance as it arrived. Made a mental note not to cycle in Rio, or get too close to ambulances.
Music and dancing is everywhere in the city. On any random night you are sure to find live music, and one evening I stopped for a while to watch a band in the square near Ali's place. The crowd were lively, dancing and cheering. When anyone bought a cd, the crowd cheered and clapped, and an old boy (must have been 80+) got a special cheer when he danced up to the hat to give a few coins and showed us his moves!
As the sun began to set, the sky turned amazing shades of dusty pink, blue and yellow. I was stuck on a small viewing platform as the large one was still being built in time for the Olympics, but I rather like the photos with the striking black cables cutting the city diagonally into two.
Ipanema beach
Immortalised by the song 'Girl from Ipanema' (that I had never heard until Ali played it for me) this is the beach where young, gorgeous caricas go to be seen. Each section or post along the beach is known for where different groups hang out. As I didn't know where pasty English girls fit in, I opted for the closest point to the metro station. I whiled away the afternoon people watching and eating grilled cheese from the beach vendors. Brazilians like to show a lot of skin on the beach. Now I understand why the Brazilian wax was invented. I must have looked like I was wearing a burkini to them, in my bikini top and shorts. People had instruments and were jamming on the beach and generally having a good time.
For sunset I headed over to Ponta do Arpoador, the rocky point in between Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, where loads of people were sat waiting for tonight's light show. When the sun finally dipped behind the Dois Irmãos (Two Brothers) peaks, the ensembled crowd broke out into applause.
I am noticing that people do their best to help you out if you are struggling with language or look lost. I ended up having lunch with a lady one day who spoke English and noticed that I couldn't understand what the waitress was saying to me. We practised English and Portuguese together.
Museu de Amanha
There was a massive queue when I arrived but as I didn't have anywhere else to be I thought I'd wait. What looked like a half hour queue at my first guess turned out to be a 1 hour and 40 minutes queue. To pass the time I got talking to 3 girls in front of me. Two were from Rio and one was from Switzerland and they were talking a mix of English and Portuguese.
We walked round the museum together. I especially enjoyed lying down in the domed film room at the beginning and watching the space come to life with whales, dancers and night sky scenes. I generally felt that the building itself was more impressive than the exhibits. Walking back to the metro station, one of the girls asked if I'd tried the popcorn from the street vendors. I said I hadn't so she went and bought me some. It was salty with bacon pieces. Yummmm
Dois Irmãos
The landscape of Rio is so distinctive and so unusual, completely different to any other city I've ever been to. Huge mountains of rock naturally divide the city into areas, and tunnels enable drivers to travel from one area to the next. These rocks provide incredible viewing platforms from which to see the city from completely different angles. With a bunch of Ali's friends, on the Saturday we climbed the Dois Irmãos (Two Brothers). To get to the start of the walk you pass through Vidigal favela. We took a bus taxi as it is incredibly steep, making the feat of building houses that cling to the hillside even more impressive.
I'm sure the view from the top would have been incredible. Unfortunately today was not our day to see it as the summit was enveloped in cloud. Every so often the sun would shine through and a small gap would appear, but we had to piece together the view... A glimpse of the sea here, a sudden glimpse of the favela there, is that the beach I see. But never all at once. The weather started to take a turn for the worse, luckily once we had made it back down and were sat drinking a beer at a viewing point whilst the rain and mist set in.
Copacabana Fort
An excellent spot for watching the surfers, body boarders and stand up paddle boarders riding the waves.
Cristo Redentor
We arrived at the start of the cog train at 7.55, just in time to make the first train of the day at 8am. This was a stroke of genius as it meant it was only the first lot of tourists up there with us at the beginning. Of course, after 20 minutes, the next lot arrived and people continued to multiply throughout the time we were there. When I arrived in Rio and saw Christo for the first time, my initial reaction was "gosh he's small". In the photos you see on TV he appears to be massive, looking down on the city, an ever present being wherever you go. But once you're up there standing next to him, he's big. On the morning we went the sky was incredibly clear and a deep deep blue. I couldn't decide what was more spectacular, the fact they'd managed to make a railway that steep (when you're on the train, it feels like you're going up at a 45degree angle), that they'd managed to cart all that stone up there and piece together the statue, or the amazing amazing views that Cristo sees every day. It's a 360 view of the beaches, the lagoon, the inner city and the Tijuca National Park. It was breathtaking. I loved the layers of hills beyond the bay, each layer getting lighter and lighter into the distance.
First day of work
My first day of work was interesting to say the least. It started off with a taxi mishap, where I missed the uber, having not changed over my Aussie number to my Rio number in the app. I ran to catch another taxi, desperately wanting to be on time on my first day. I needn't have worried. We were told to arrive for 6.30 but that gave us half an hour to have breakfast in the canteen. I met with the rest of the Transport team and we walked to our station - Gate 10, where vehicles can unload or collect deliveries. The job seemed straight forward enough - check vehicles accreditation displayed on the front windscreen and if they have the correct combination of letters and numbers, you can wave them in, where the vehicle and its passengers are thoroughly checked by the army. If not, you wave them away as the general consensus is that "they are not your problem".
The complications arose when many other people asked us questions and we didn't know the answers as we have received zero training. And obviously there are language difficulties!! But I am just hoping I can be of some use when English speakers need help, which will probably increase once the games start.
Olympics Opening Ceremony
I had a crazy day at work on the day of the Olympic opening ceremony at Maracanã stadium. There were different roadblocks to usual and as such the media buses were stopping on a different street. At one point a bus drove too close to the overhead wires in a narrow street and brought some of them down. We improvised with cones to indicate the wires to future drivers, but some local kids had a better use for the cones and moved them to make goal posts for a game of football. We had to go over and ask them to leave them where they were so that their houses would have electricity that night!!!
My shift finished at 4ish and I rushed back home to change ready to go and watch the Opening Ceremony in Praça Mauá with a bunch of Ali's friends. The square is in a recently developed area in the central area, and is where the Olympic Boulevard is located and where you will be able to see the Olympic flame once it is moved here tomorrow. The ceremony was great, highlights included the amazing projections on the floor of a cityscape that the parkour dancers jumped over, Gisele, the athletes all planting a seed, the entrance of team GB and all of us screaming and jumping up and down in the square! Everyone cheering the refugee Olympic team, the Olympic cauldron being lit by the Brazilian marathon runner Vanderlei de Lima, who was in first place when he was tackled to the ground and slipped down into third in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. I loved the beautiful kinetic sculpture behind the flame that turned and reflected light.
First day of sports - Saturday 6th August
It was exciting, but again having received no briefing, I just had to hope for the best. Media people were getting angry as media buses weren't running to schedule, people were missing events because the journey takes too long etc. It tended to be the English speaking people that complained, so they complain to me or the French girl as the rest of the team are Brazilian and don't speak much English.
Throughout the day I managed to find out about some new means of transport. Fleet of cars: T1, T2, and T3 which takes important guests and members of IOC around. We had not been told at all about these, and it took a while to find out where people should take cars from. Important people were circumnavigated the entire Maracanã precinct trying to get info as no one knew anything. I went and asked my boss who spends most of the day in the office so doesn't seem to know what questions we get asked and he didn't really know much about the cars either. Thank god for a guy named Lucas on another team who could fill in the gaps for us.
We also found out about 'TA' athletes transport bus, which takes athletes to and from venues to the athletes village so they can watch sports when they're not competing. These started running about midday today, they should have started much earlier, and of course, we knew nothing about them and so said this to an athlete who had been dropped off but had no idea how to get back. The lack of training and information has been pretty shocking, but hopefully now there shouldn't be many more surprises as we have most of the information and can finally start helping people!!!
Olympics Gymnastics – Sunday 7th August
On my day off, Ali, Sash and I had lunch out in Santa Terasa and we ate a Moqueca, a Brazilian fish stew whilst watching the gymnastics on the TV in the restaurant. The Brazilian women's team were competing and the Brazilian customers and waitresses gathered round anytime a Brazilian gymnast was competing. The atmosphere was great, with people bursting into applause after each routine.
Later that evening I headed to the Olympic Park in Barra as I had tickets to see the gymnastics. It is a very long way from the city although the journey is seamless and the public transport is rather impressive. I was tired from all the early mornings but the park is brilliant and I took a walk around before the event started. I spotted Claire Balding filming an interview with a tall chap who I should remember the name of, and decided to call mum and dad to see if they can see me on TV. They did!! I waved at the camera and then headed off to find my seat in the gymnastics arena. I found it a little tricky to concentrate as all four disciplines are happening at the same time and the floor seems to takeover because it's set to very loud music. The beam, bars and vault are as impressive though and I left feeling happy and tired.
Olympics Sailing - Tuesday 9th August
We all had tickets to the sailing in the morning. It was a great morning out in the sunshine with gorgeous views over the lake and surrounding rocky hills. It really is a perfect setting and we got to see lots of team GB in action. What surprised us was just how far the distance is and how long it takes them to get to the end. Each race lasted between 6.5 and 7.5 minutes and for the first few minutes they are tiny dots way off in the distance, but luckily a large screen is provided. The highlights were obviously the GB races and we ended up with quite a big GB fan base as more people arrived they gravitated to the Union Jack flags and added their own.
Olympics Beach Volleyball - Thursday 11th August
I slept in and made my way over to Copacabana where I had tickets for the afternoon beach volleyball session. I had arranged on the Rio English volunteers Facebook group to meet an Engish girl called Gemma there and we found each other inside the venue by waving our GB flags (a little bit blind date). She had struck gold in her job role looking after photographers at the athletics stadium. She had ring side seats every night and got to hold Bolts golden shoes one night!
The absolute highlight of the volleyball was the Brazil vs Latvia match, which Brazil won. The atmosphere was electric and when Brazil got a point, the people went crazy mad! The downside was that it was the penultimate match of the session and the stadium was all but empty for the final match which was a shame. We were sat next to 3 Americans who were great fun, and we ended up dancing all the way through the final game as the music in between points was so good, and because there was no one else behind us as they all gone home, and we were so high up in the stadium. Lots of flag waving as we attempted to get on the big screens, but I think we were so high up that no camera could reach us!!!
The venue was incredible, with one side of the stadium much lower than the rest, looking out to sea. Fabulous! There was a very dusty purple sunset. Our rag tag bunch of 5 went for a dinner that turned into a late dinner. I had to call it a night and left them to it at 11 as I had to be up again at 5am for work. Joy!
Olympics Basketball - Friday 12th August
I got tickets to see basketball with a volunteer named Carole. I was given them for being a volunteer which is really rather great. The match was France vs Venezuela and Carole is French so there was lots of cheering. Our seats were in a great location in the lower tier, but we realised that there was a whole load of available seats on the front row, so we moved down for an amazing court side view. I'd never seen a basketball match before and the pace was insane. There was a little girl sat next to us, who was Brazilian and whose parents were cheering for Venezuela. However because we had a flag and had some chants (allez le bleu) she wanted to cheer for our team and so she became our flag bearer, to the dismay of her parents!!
Olympics Athletics & Trampolining - Super Saturday 13th August
What a day!!! I raced over to the Olympics stadium and arrived just before 9am to find a massive queue to get in. I joined the back and hoped for the best, and was actually in relatively quickly considering the huge queues that snaked around with no real beginning, end or organisation. Security was fast and finding my seat was a sinch.
My seat. Oh how can I describe my seat. I had been given this ticket at check in at work as a freebie. It was in the athletes family area, I was 7 rows back from the front and maybe 10m back from the 100m finish line. These tickets must have been hugely expensive, no one bought them, and that's why they gave them out to the workforce. I realised I would never ever get tickets this good again. I got talking to a young Cariocan guy next to me, who hadn't gotten excited before the Olympics started but as soon as they did he realised what an event it was and decided he wanted to get Athletics tickets to see Bolt. Brazil doesn't have much of an Athletics history as spectators so I explained some events as best I could (he loved the remote controlled car for transporting the discuss back to the throw line). And we spoke in a mixture of Portuguese and English (his English was much better than my Portuguese but I tried)
The events we saw were the men's discuss final, women's 400m heats, men's 100m heats, steeplechase, women's heptathlon long jump. As the session drew near to the end, the tension and excitement in the stadium was palpable as everyone know that Bolt would appear in one of the eight 100m men's heats. When he came out there was a roar of the crowd as everyone scrambled to get a glimpse/picture/selfie of the man himself. After a false start and a little showman ship, the race was underway. And no sooner had it started, was it all over, in just over 10 seconds. He did not disappoint and the atmosphere in the stadium was awesome.
From here I made a mad dash to the Olympic park, via a train and the BRT bus. I was incredibly impressed that from leaving my seat in the venue to being on a moving train was under 20 minutes. At the bus station by the Olympic park, I quickly grabbed lunch from the shortest queue possible, got through security, filled up my water bottle and took my seat next to Ali and Sash at the men's trampoline final, around 30minutes late but just in time to see GB's Nathan Bailey take his first go in the trampoline deciding round. It was edge of your seat stuff, with the danger of the athletes landing too near to the edge of the trampoline a large possibility.
That evening we headed home to watch the BBC coverage of Super Saturday. Takeaway pizzas and flags at the ready, we tuned in to see Mo, Jess and Greg attempt to repeat the hat trick of golds from London four years ago. Mo Farahs performance was mind blowing. How he managed to pick himself up after that fall and go on to win was a true example of Olympic determination. The other two Brits put in exceptional performances and we managed to walk away with a gold, silver and bronze medal. What a night!!!
Work tomorrow, I'm going to be shattered, but it was so worth it for these last 24 hours!
Work - Sunday 14th August
Today's challenge was the Media Downtown Hub bus not running in the middle of the day, we finally figured it was because of the ladies marathon race and there were closed roads. Of course we were not told this, and it was only after someone had been waiting 45 minutes in the heat of the midday sun that we radioed to ask why, got no good answer and so did some digging for ourselves. As it was, the journalist missed the sailing race he was meant to be covering, and as such we advised other journalists to take public transport instead.
Sneaking a look inside Maracanã.
We met some fun fans from the Netherlands who were very happy after their victory at the volleyball and we had a picture with their golden jackets.
More pictures from Gate 10:
That evening we settled in for another night of great telly, with Andy Murray retaining his Olympic Title in a nail biting final, the men's 400m world record being broken by South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk and of course the one and only Bolt winning his 3rd gold medal in the 100m final. Epic!!
Days off
Monday was my day off and it was a boiling day. I decided to spend some of my day in an air conditioned mall and some on Copacabana beach. In the afternoon, the wind picked up, throwing sand everywhere and I met up with English Gemma for a few beers. We went to a bar to watch some Olympics, we managed to get seats and watched the cycling. An older Aussie couple joined us at our table and it turned out they were the parents of an Australian track cyclist and they were from Adelaide, where I had been only weeks before! We discussed his training regime and that he was set to debut at Tokyo 2020 but had made great progress and so was picked for the Rio team.
After they had left, we were joined by more Aussies! This time, it was the medic team for Australian swimming team. They were celebrating finishing work as the swimming was all over and were obviously out for a big night. We sat around, eating and drinking beers and caipirinhas and were joined by two Brazilian guys who were professors at a Rio University. Our happy band of people sat and chatted for hours and it really was a reminder that all people have things in common and can have fun even if they've only just met. I managed to sneak away after the third lot of caipirinhas were ordered, as I had to be at work the next day at 6.30!
Football at Maracanã
Tuesday 16th August
The team after our one and only morning briefing
This really was a crazy day of work. Until now, there had been no sporting events at Maracanã, only at zinho, but now it was our turn. It was the women's football semi-finals, and Brazil were playing. I was stationed at the opposite side of the stadium, at the athletes and VIPs entrance. My job was to direct people who qualified to take T3 cars into the stadium, and put them into their cars once the match had finished. We also had several other modes of transport to watch out for and direct, including other classes of cars, athletes buses, buses for the referees, special taxis and cars carrying people with disabilities.
I was lucky enough to go into the stadium during the second half to see some of the match. Unfortunately Brazil were knocked out, and the stream of people pouring out the stadium at the end were much more subdued than the crowd who had entered. It was such a shame as the men are playing tomorrow in the semi-final and it would have been great to have both the men and women make the final.
Again, we sort of made things up as we went along. And again, we pulled it off without too much going wrong. You see, the people that qualify for these cars aren't used to being kept waiting, and some deal with it better than others... What was meant to happen was we would have several cars waiting when the match finished, what actually happened was there were no cars to be seen. And radioing the car park where they were all supposedly waiting didn't produce any results either. So we all stood there, volunteers on one side of the barrier, important people on the other and we radioed and no one answered and we did the 'I'm doing my best but no one’s answering me' face, and they would roll their eyes back, saying 'it's not your fault, but really, it would be great to have a car pretty darn soon as I've got tickets to 15 other events today and I need to get there ASAP' face.
Me with a member of the German Men's 8 Rowing Team, wearing his silver medal (they lost out to GB!)
Wednesday 17th August
If we thought yesterday was crazy, today was crazier. It was the men's semi-final and Brazil were playing Honduras. We were all in position, today we had a sun umbrella as I'd been rather insistent this morning that we needed some sort of shade if we were to be standing outside all day like yesterday. The Honduras team were banging on the windows as their team bus pulled in and everything looked set to be a great game. Today we were better organised, we had more cars stationed in the UERJ car park ready to rumble but still a delay in getting them there. Brazil won and are through to the final.
That evening I had tickets to the Athletics, and watched an incredible night of sports. When I got there I had a chat and a beer with a couple from Yorkshire on their 10 year wedding anniversary holiday. They were here for a week, and had left their 3 kids with the grandparents. Good on them eh!
Found my block was a sit where you want affair, which works out well if you're on your own as you can sit in any gap. Got a bloody good position behind the finish line although later found out that means you have no perspective to see who's winning!! The guy next to me was an Argentinian who spoke great English. We talked about rock climbing and diving and lots more inbetween. Again there was an amazing atmosphere for Bolt and actually, most people left after his 200m Semi-final race, missing two great finals, women's 200m and women's 100m hurdles, where USA took gold, silver and bronze!!!
Saturday 20th August
Today was the Men's football final and it looked set to be a great match, Brazil vs Germany. Brazil were aching to put right their 7-1 defeat at the hands of Germany in the World Cup semi finals two years ago and so had a lot to prove to their home fans. Before the match there was a fly over. I managed to sneak in for 5 minutes to experience the atmosphere, it was electric! At full time it was a 1-1 draw, and eventually the match went to penalties.
We watched the penalty shoot out on one of the drivers phones waiting in the car line and we heard if they'd scored by the roar of the crowd before the tv caught up a second or two later. When they won, all the police that were stationed around the stadium on motorbikes all set off their sirens. All the T3 drivers were tooting their horns. Brazil had won gold!
When the Brazilian team bus finally left the stadium, the team were poking through the skylight on the top of the bus celebrating!
Closing Ceremony - Sunday 21st August
I was working during the day. It began to absolutely tip it down in the afternoon. The pac-a-macs came on and we carried on as usual. We were directing people to their gates. Later, me and Alba were asked to go and man a road block, but we weren't really told who we could let in. We used our best judgement and everyone else had to take the 4th road on the left. I taught the policemen we were standing with how to say the directions in English and they took great delight in saying it to anyone who walked past.
After a long and difficult shift a group of us decided to attempt to sneak in to watch the closing ceremony. What an incredible end to my volunteering that would be, if only we could get in... My bag was in the office and the way there was blocked. The guy on the gate told us to go up and over, through the Olympic family lounge. Then down past the performers who were already in position in their costumes. We walked confidently up the stairs that linked the backstage area with the public area, opened a door, and found it was where the athletes were being held before they paraded into the stadium. We quickly said oops wrong door, and continued on up the staircase. At the next level we had more luck, walked into the stadium and found some empty seats. We were in!
It was a great show...
The lady singing in front of the Olympic flame and the rain behind her that extinguishes the flame, dancers creating the sights of Rio, the Cristo and Pão de Açúcar complete with moving cable car! The Japanese prime minister dressed as super Mario, the light up squares and the amazing Pom Pom costumes and carnival at the end.
Walking out the stadium and my Brazilian friends go crazy as they see a famous volleyball player and all run after him, the guy stands up on a wall and starts making a speech to the adoring crowd then starts them singing, culminating in hundreds of people passionately singing the Brazilian national anthem, it was amazing to see.
At the end of the evening I bumped into the Indian guy with reduced mobility that I've spoken to many times and walked back with him to the station
An American lady on the train who had been to 6 Olympic Games.
In my last few days in Rio, I met up with volunteers to say my goodbyes and hung out with Ali and Sasha. I was going to miss this place!!
They think it’s all over - Friday 26th August
The last day of my one and a half year journey. Tomorrow I arrive back to England where Will is picking me up from Heathrow. He better have made a banner.
I am so excited to be going home but I feel a deep sadness that for now it is over.
You might think I'd say I'd found myself or that it had changed me. But it hasn't. I've just been lucky enough to see incredible places, met many different people, and gotten to know Will as well as I know myself. I feel like me but luckier and I guess I have a tiny bit more adventure and maybe a smidge more confidence that I can navigate most situations and come out the other side. I have come to realise how important old friends are. And how comforting something familiar can be when you are far from home. But mostly I've realised that embracing new experiences leads to things you couldn't have imagined, and that trusting people is key.
Last tourist photos at Rio airport
