The Olympics - The Greatest Show on Earth

The Olympic rings at the main park

Having felt left out after we missed the London Olympics the planning for our trip began eighteen months ago when we first heard about tickets going on sale for Rio 2016.  When we were lucky enough to be offered some for a number of events our whole adventure became geared around getting to Brazil.  We therefore arrived in Rio with mixed emotions as we suddenly realised that our trip was at an end and we were soon to start a new life in Vietnam, something that had not seemed real until then. Thankfully being a spectator at the Olympics is at least as difficult as being an athlete and we were kept fully occupied rather than thinking about our next step! Despite the negative press from the UK (no surprise there) Rio did a fantastic job of putting on the games.  In a country struggling economically it was never going to be able to match London or Beijing for modern infrastructure but the spectacular backdrop and wonderful locals more than made up for any minor difficulties.  To see the excitement and enthusiasm of people from across South America at their first Olympics was surely what the games are all about and we loved every minute of our experience!

The Olympic Boulevard for the Opening Ceremony

Hoping to soak up as much of the atmosphere for the opening ceremony as we could, we headed down the Olympic boulevard to Praça Mauá where big screens had been set up and a large crowd had gathered for anyone not lucky enough to have tickets.  As a huge sports fan I have always enjoyed watching the Olympics but until the opening ceremony started I had not appreciated how much more the games are than just a sporting occasion as people of all faiths and nationalities came together in a party atmosphere. Flags waved from around the world and huge cheers went up from the crowd as the athletes emerged into the stadium and there was real excitement about the fortnight to come.  This was helped by the Brazilians that had snuck past security (not a challenging job) with backpacks full of  beer which the crowd gratefully drank. As the G.B team emerged we celebrated loudly with Union Jacks painted on our faces along with hundreds of other Brits to really get us into the Olympic spirit!

Centre Court at Rio 2016

We had tickets for six different sports during our week at the Olympics although our first was the one I had been looking forward to the most, the tennis.  The 10,000 seat centre court is one of the main legacies of the games and the impressive arena had an electric atmosphere as first on court was Brazils Tomaz Bellucci against the only man with dreadlocks in tennis, Dustin Brown.  As with a lot of the events the home fans strangely booed anyone taking on a local favourite which seemed to me out of keeping with the Olympic ethos.  They even booed as Brown fell down when leading, although when he was forced to retire from the injury they gave him a huge round of applause as he left the court. We were then treated to watching Serena Williams batter her way past her Australian opponent who it was impossible not to feel a little sorry for before Andy Murray came on court.   As the flag bearer for the G.B team we felt we had struck gold when his match was scheduled for our session. He promptly demolished Viktor Troiki whilst Hannah got very excited trying to spur the other Brits sat next to us who mustered all the energy of an old folks Christmas party. 

Let's Go Andy Let's Go!

The spectacular backdrop to the rowing course

Despite the concerns about security around Rio the reported 85,000 soldiers that had been drafted in to protect the fans meant we felt very safe venturing out to the different venues.  In true Latino style the underground stopped 10 km short of the Olympic park although the connecting buses successfully transported us in organised chaos to the various Olympic sites around the city.  Our second event, the rowing, was held on Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas with a spectacular backdrop of Christ the Redeemer and the Corcovado Mountain.  The stands were full and we saw Britain qualify from every heat we competed in.  In the afternoon we crossed the city to Rio Centro where we got to see the boxing and table tennis to complete a long sixteen hour day. The boxing had a fantastic atmosphere with the Brazilian supporters backing the underdog of each three round bout by stamping their feet and cheering every punch.  Amazingly there were similar scenes in the table tennis where an Austrian competitor was attempting to stop the Asian domination of the tournament.  With this not going particularly well the entire stand we were sat  in collected flags from the Austrian team to wave whilst chanting ‘Austria’ and creating a real buzz for our final event of the evening.  They were treated to the player throwing her bat and wristbands into the crowd at the end to a huge ovation - who knew table tennis was so rock & roll!

The Beach Volleyball Arena on Copacabana

With so many amazing memories from the Olympics it is difficult to summarise our week into a few paragraphs.  One of my favourite elements of the Olympics was the strange closeness the spectators have with the athletes. We met the Mexican table tennis team on the underground one afternoon and even walked past Sir Steve Redgrave on our final evening as well as spotting various athletes in the stands. Another highlight for me was going to the Beach Volleyball Arena that had been built in the middle of Copacabana beach.  It is possibly the most perfect venue for any Olympic sport!  After some great work from Hannah we managed to dodge the huge ques that had built up and we got in to the stadium in time to see the Brazilian men’s team win a tense final set.  Music played for different shots in the match and the whole stadium was up on their feet with hands raised for each ‘monster bloc’ or ‘super spike’ and there was even a full samba band and dancers performing during the interludes - it was an amazing atmosphere!  I became a lifelong fan of the Poland women’s team as I enjoyed a cold beer in the scorching heat whilst looking out over the beach.

Unfortunately this did not end well for the British competitor!

We went to different sports in the afternoon as Hannah went to watch the fencing final with Sarah and I headed back to the boxing arena with Brendon.  Meeting a giant Dutchman Yuri and his friend (former volleyball players) we sat and surprisingly had a few beers whilst cheering on the fighters from the front row.  After the bouts we decided that the logical option was to stay for a drink but when we went to buy a beer we were accosted by some locals.  After a translation error it transpired that they wanted to collect the different plastic souvenir cups that each show a different sport. In a surprising twist however they didn’t want the beer inside them and they actually seemed grateful to us for drinking it for them.  Thinking Christmas had come early this phenomenal pattern continued and some four hours later we staggered out of the Olympic village having been given free drink for the evening - I love Brazil! 

Joe Clarke receiving his Gold Medal

Our last event was my only final of the Olympics (we obviously got the cheap tickets for the heats) and we had picked the Men’s Canoe Slalom final to watch the K2 event where G.B was expected to do well.  It took nearly two hours to travel through some of the more run down areas of the city to the Deodoro X Park which overlooks a large favela.  As we watched the dark clouds roll in the British competitor Joe Clarke went third fastest in the semi-final and we waited around in the drizzle in anticipation of a British medal.  We were not disappointed and when the final two boats (they went off in reverse order in the final) could not better Joe’s fastest time we celebrated wildly with the other British fans.  Getting to see a British athlete receiving a gold medal gave us a perfect send off and ended our Olympic experience with British success.  To mark the end of our journey we went to the famous Churrascaria Palace, a Brazilian meat restaurant where waiters paraded around with everything from tender steak to lamb and wild boar on giant skewers and mobile BBQ grills.

The Deodoro X Park

The 403^rd and final day of our trip was spent packing and taking a final walk along Copacabana beach.  With a whole new experience to start in Vietnam we had no time for an emotional crash as we grew excited about our new life although not so pleased about the thirty four hour journey from Rio to Hanoi.  The year had been everything we had hoped it would be, and more. Having survived thirty five different countries across four continents together (including travelling from Italy to Ho Chi Minh City by land!) we were both exhausted when we boarded the plane to start the final leg of our journey to our new adventure.