Adjusting to Carioca Pace; Chatting w/Matt Lauer

Sunday and Monday were designated catch-up days in the Olympic City. I had some lingering client work to tend to, affording less time for exploration.

Fortunately, there was still time for shorter adventures.

It's been tricky for me to adjust to the slower pace of Carioca life. Everything seems to take twice or three-times as long as it could or should. It's not as bad as the pace in Athens, Greece (where far less seems likely to be accomplished), but the simplest of tasks drive me to the brink. 

For instance, my favorite camera of all time inexplicably broke on Friday. Quick fix, right? Easy to replace in one of the world's biggest cities?

Photo NOT taken with preferred Sony Cyber-shot DSC RX100

Not so in Rio, where I visited more than 10 "camera stores" only to find photo processing or discount frames but not a single point-and-shoot device. 

After many hours of inquiries, I was directed to a beautiful but remote-for-tourists upscale shopping mall and came across a camera or two, but nothing on par with the wish-list replacement. Who would have thought "no cameras for sale in Brazil?" 

Also faced challenges at the CoSport ticket center, where I expected to arrive and walk away with my remaining Olympic tickets in 10 minutes tops (that's how it worked in London and Sochi). 

Not so at the Rio processing, where there's an emphasis on processing to the tune of 1.5 hour or more wait times. We're talking old-school clip boards and runners hustling in and out of an office tower in search of ticket packets. This was ridiculous! And to top it all, I have to go back later this week to get some of the tickets they did not have the option to prepare since May purchase dates. Frustrating. 

I could not resist laughing and poking fun at the CoSport signage (see photo) in what was later nicknamed the "room of disappointments" (this writer was neither the first nor last to invest hours for the CoSport ticket pickup only to be given news of delay and many unhappy returns).

Looking for positives, however, I did find some essentials on my shopping list. At the mall a small Official Rio 2016 Olympic Store came into view, and they had a men's XL polo shirt long-since sold-out at the Copacabana Megastore. 

Bonus, also found an Intimissimi shop to buy new undershorts, an Olympic tradition since the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics in the company's home country. 

And at CoSport, a savvy customer service professional kindly offered to provide periodic updates via email to reassure me the tickets would be ready mid-week. Breathing easier. 

Later, at the Rio 2016 ticket office, their volunteers eagerly handed my tickets and posed all sorts of questions about arriving to the city. Good energy. Feeling better. 

The evening brought a nice surprise of running into Olympin patriarch Don Bigsby showcasing his wares to curious potential pin collectors. Don really enjoys teaching children about the hobby and it was fun to see him in his element while interacting with families.

Also met my first pair of Olympians at this Games: Two female sailors from Slovenia.

We chatted about their practice runs in the harbor (yes, there is pollution) and how they are getting acclimated to South America (they arrived July 25 and all is well). 

They told me they are medal contenders for their boat class and I presented them with blog pins. So cool! 

Across the street at an upscale hotel, I stopped to ask the concierge for directions and wound up having a conversation with NBC's Hoda Kotb, who introduced herself and asked how my Rio adventure was unfolding so far (she is one super lady). 

Moments later we were joined by "The TODAY Show" host Matt Lauer sporting white slacks and casual dinner attire.

I asked if he recalled meeting for a brief interview in Louisville on the day of Muhammad Ali's memorial service. 

Matt Lauer (center right) hits the town.

Not surprising, Lauer did not recall the early-summer introduction, but he did briefly comment on his other experiences from that day in Kentucky before the Rio anchor duo dove into an awaiting town car bound for dinner reservations.

It all happened so fast there was barely time to snap a photo. 

Bumping into Lauer did remind me to locate the audio from our conversation in Louisville, and here's a transcript of that June 10, 2016, interview:

Wolaver: Mr. Lauer, I write and Olympic news website in Atlanta. Do you mind if I ask a question while your taking these selfies (with fans)?

Matt Lauer in Louisville June 10

Lauer: Let me do it now when I'm not taking selfies. 

Wolaver: How many times did you have an occasion to meet Muhammad Ali?

Lauer: Many, many times, probably 25 times. He was on the show all the time, and I would come down here to do events at the Ali Center. Lani is a good friend. I love their family and I am grieving with their family but I think this is a great day to be able to really celebrate his life. 

Wolaver: Where were you when you learned the news of Ali's passing?

Lauer: I was home. We were getting ready to go on the air. We knew it was grave last Friday night and so we were sitting at home in touch with the family and got the call a little after midnight. I've been really very pleased at the outpouring of love and respect that I've seen for him over the last five or six days.

Wolaver: With the news of your colleague and Zika, how are you feeling about your trip to Rio?

Lauer: I'm looking forward to it. I completely understand Savannah's reasons for not going. I think that's smart for her, but we've got a great team going, we've been planning for it for a long time and Rio should put on a great show.

(Note: Savannah Guthrie had just announced her pregnancy and passing on Rio a day before this Lauer conversation.)

Wolaver: Got some pins to trade yet?

Lauer: Haven't gotten 'em yet -- I usually get those a few weeks before.

Here in Rio I was so surprised by the chance meeting there was not time to offer Kotb or Lauer a trade.

Next time!

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

Happy Accidents and NBC Awash at Copacabana

Saturday in the Olympic city presented several happy accidents.

The day started with a stroll to USA House, the USOC's remote office and hospitality suite for the Games, to meet with a public relations colleague.

The house -- in a Rio school that Team USA is renovating -- remains an active construction site with painting, banner installation and other hard hat activities underway.

I did not yet go inside, but it will be exciting to see how the location is transformed from now to volunteer training on Aug. 2.

Bidding adieu to my colleague, I headed across the street to the east end of Ipanema Beach, eventually walking to the rocky peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic. One of the remote Rio Media Center locations -- perhaps the most scenic of them all -- has a balcony and TV studios overlooking the most spectacular beach on earth.

Donning a media credential I was afforded a few minutes to soak in the media center views before climbing what the house manager described as "Rio's ant hill" where thousands of locals and tourists gather to applaud the sunset on clear evenings.

Something tells me these moments and views will remain all-time personal favorites from the 2016 Olympic experience as a wave of calm and peace of mind washed over me -- I will stress about Rio's five-ringed challenges no more!

Heading past Fort Copacabana and through the peninsula neighborhood, several billboards for what may be the Russia House came into view.

I could not help but wonder which athletes on the boards need to be painted over due to the Russia Olympic doping scandal -- the Russia House is typically a very popular venue -- wondering how it may be different in 2016.

Moving on to Copacabana Beach, a large, blue box on the beach proved to be a television viewing stand with a bridge across Ave. Atlantica to connect it to a Rio 2016 Media Center.

It was no accident the Games' most prominent broadcaster, NBC, occupied most if not all of the temporary compound.

As I came around the side of the blue box, it was surprising to spot a bulldozer, yellow or red caution tape and a few additional security folks keeping an eye on a small crowd gathered to look at the building.

Jutting out of the ground/beach level of the structure there was an elaborate and colorful TV studio -- I thought perhaps this was one of the TODAY Show sets.

Flashing my Rio Media Center badge, I was permitted closer inspection alongside reporters from O Globo, APF and a few photographers. Stern faces on the NBC production team told the tale -- the entire set had moments earlier been drenched by a huge winter wave crashing onto Copacabana Beach.

Oops!

About this time the AFP reporter introduced himself asking my news outlet, and I explained the Olympic blogger status.

"Well, here is your story today!" he said.

A story, indeed.

I spoke with a couple of the NBC personnel who confirmed one oversized wave came up over their custom-installed mini-sea wall facing the ocean side of their temporary set. The swell was intense enough to lift and leave behind about an inch of sand on the decorative tile flooring that some team members were starting to sweep or clean with shovels and mops. The wave's watermark extended almost all the way to the main road.

Other producers -- perhaps more senior NBC personnel -- exchanged hushed conversations while gazing upon the scene. About this time the O Globo reporter named Gabriella chatted up the cause of the surprise mayhem.

"It is the ressaca -- the winter tides like the one that crashed the new bike path a few weeks ago," she said.

As reported earlier this year, a new beachfront cycling structure was destroyed by a large wave, killing two riders. Apparently these winter tides bring a handful of larger waves which are impossible to predict.

Thank goodness folks were only soaked by Saturday's wave!

Most of the NBC folks started clamming up when they realized AFP, O Globo and bloggers were on the scene, but we did also confirm the furnished outdoor set is intended as the man NBC News, NBC Sports and Late Night programming with Carson Daly.

Seems like the perfect time to fly in Ryan Seacrest.

Get it? Seacrest.

With no more set-drenching waves upon us during my hour around the set, I moved on to visit the Olympic Mega-Store across the street from the Copacabana Marriott (my 2005 Rio holiday accommodations).

While staying at the hotel years ago, my then-girlfriend, her sister and I made friends with one of the masseuses employed by Marriott, but I learned he had long-since moved on from tourist muscle treatments.

In the Mega-Store, a few key items and details were revealed:

There are few items available for XXL (locally, size GG) male Olympic fan.

The organizing committee was noticeably conservative with regards to Olympic pin designs (far fewer than in Athens, Beijing or London).

Inflatable fan gear apparently is popular -- people were snapping up oversized "mascot hands" for clapping and blow-up Rio Olympic torches (could these become this Olympiad's "red mittens" must-have souvenir?).

Much of the beach gear and shirts is very colorful and festive. Just wish they had more of it in my size.

I bumped into some of the students from Ball State University (first met at Rio Media Center on Friday) as they enjoyed the scene.

The next happy accident was spotting Samsung's pavilion adjacent to the Olympic store. It is sort of nondescript, mostly glass and marked with only subtle logos for the Worldwide Olympic partner brand. 

With the help of a translator, I interviewed the Samsung manager on site, and she shared a few details on which collectors may pin their hopes:

• There are 30 Samsung pins, all in the shape of the latest Galaxy mobile device

• Most of the designs (20 of them) feature a sports pictogram from archery to weightlifting

• The other eight designs feature icons of Rio from Havianas and beach umbrellas to Sugarloaf Mountain and the Christ The Redeemer statue

• A black felt presentation board is free for mounting the pins

• As visitors redeem their passport stamps (two stamps = one pin) they draw the pins out of a mystery box to provide a random element to the promotion

• If you pull out of the box a design you already have, you are encouraged to exchange it with fellow collectors ("no returns" to the box for a another draw).

• Eight of the designs are only available at the Barra location for Samsung, with another eight exclusive to Copacabana, but the manager and translator smiled and said they would not reveal which eight are specific to the two pavilions.

I managed to earn or trade for 11 of the designs, and all were for sports, leading me to believe the eight local icon designs are either Barra-specific or they will be blended into the giveaways during the Games (akin to the U.K. icons suddenly appearing later in the London 2012 Samsung pin program).

Let the Samsung pin games commence!

My final three serendipitous moments of Saturday: Arriving at Co-Sport to collect my tickets two days before their ticketing center opens (oh, well); crossing paths with a U.S.O.C. friend while ordering pizza near the hotel (fun albeit brief visit); and stumbling in to a late-night dinner at the Veloso bar-cafe, now the Garota de Ipanema Cafe, the actual location where the world's second-most recorded pop song was written as inspired by a passerby teenage Girl from Ipanema. 

It was only after two caipirinhas that I noticed the writing on the wall (large, framed images of the hand-written music). 

Great fun to learn the back-story for the song while enjoying a wonderful meal.

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

Rio 2016 Ready To Flick Your Bic

Feast your eyes on the 2016 Olympic torch!

With just 399 days until the Rio 2016 Olympic Opening Ceremonies, today the organizing committee unveiled the Olympic torch design at a press event in Brasilia.

The new torch is sleek, coated with scale-like satin-finished triangles, and expands when about to be kissed by the Olympic flame.

According to media materials, the expanding sections reveal tiny curved canyons of tropical colors resembling or representing Brazil's topography, rivers and coastline, and the iconic sidewalk pavers of Copacabana Beach. National newspaper O Globo featured a video from the announcement.

The official Olympic Torch Relay website provides a 360-degree view of the design. An interactive map details a 90 to 100 day domestic relay route starting in the nation's capital and moving through every Brazilian state.

Relay sponsors will share details of the torchbearer selection process at a later date to be announced.

For this blogger, Rio's Olympic torch is classy while innovative -- this is the first Olympic torch to expand when tickled by a relay runner's grip.

For safety, just the tip will disperse the fuel within for a hot Olympic flame cheered by millions of fans on the road to Rio.

Images via Rio 2016

Rio Olympic Mascot Gets Zoological

 

Voting is underway to name the recently unveiled Rio 2016 Olympic mascot, a yellow creature representing all of Brazil's richly diverse fauna.

In addition to morphing capabilities to help it go faster, higher and stronger than any one jungle beast, the first South American Games mascot can extend its appendages much like a 1970s vintage Stretch Armstrong or his other-worldly and creepier sidekick Stretch X-Ray.

By my count, this little guy is the 30th Olympic mascot with zoological ties, though he also has mythical features similar to a few of his five-ringed mascot peers of past Games.

I write "his" only because promotional materials and video voiceovers seem to indicate the character is male.

It's not yet safe to "assume" which style Brazilian swimwear -- a Speedo-style men's suit or a thong bikini bottom -- would fit across the mascot's backside, complete with long green tail.

As of this post, the to-be-named character gained just over 2,500 Facebook friends (the original and best friend being the Rio 2016 Paralympic mascot), and the official launch video from late November enjoyed 58,500 views so far.

What pair of names will you choose for the Olympic and Paralympic symbols, respectively named either ...

• OBA and EBA,
• TIBA TUQUE and ESQINDIM, or
• VINICIUS and TOM?

The name "Vinicius" is the first name of several famed Brazilian footballers, according to sources.

I could not find more details on any of the other nominated names, though "Jerry" might also work with "Tom" when the more sarcastic of Olympic reporters get hip to this next generation of mascots.

There's not much domestic U.S. media coverage of the unveil, which may mean this Olympic symbol may gain more acceptance than ill-conceived past mascots (no one yet topped "Jimmy Carter's Sperm" from the Atlanta Games, though London was close).

I have yet to find details on which design firm(s), Brazilian or otherwise, played the biggest role in creating the mascots, though the resemblance to Javier Mariscal's outstanding "COBI" for 1992 and the playful Canadian trio of Vancouver creatures makes me suspect a team of Games mascot veterans provided guidance.

I personally like the cartoon version of the yellow guy, but not the 3-D plush costume version.

What do you like (or hate) most about the Rio 2016 mascot?

Happy voting!

Images via Rio2016.com; mascot pictures below via Associated Press/AP/Felipe Dana.

December 17, 2014 Update: The votes are in and Rio 2016 announced the confirmed name Vinicius, with the Olympic mascot named for the poet, playwright and composer of the bossa nova.

Support Wrestling Via Ebay

Happy to read via NBCSports.com there's a set of Ebay auctions underway in support of Olympic wrestling's attempt to return to the 2020 Olympic schedule.

Readers may recall my initial (and ongoing) frustration the IOC voted out wrestling in the first place.

Glancing at the Ebay listings -- which include an experience with Jay Leno, training sessions with celebrity athletes and (according to the NBC post) a Rio de Janiero 2016 Olympic VIP trip -- looks like USA Wrestling is the benefactor of the fundraising auctions.

Consider a bid! Pin it to win it!

Photo via this link

Weekend Update

At work at Edelman, we've been cooking up something spectacular for a client, which is exhilarating and also keeping me busy sans blogging of late.

Catching up on some recent suggestions that hit this Olympic blogger's in box, here's a roundup of five-ringed briefs for consideration:

-- The U.S. Olympic Training Center now has a new Team USA Shop, which opened May 17 with Olympic gold medalist Curt Tomasevicz of bobsleigh signing autographs (see photo). Though it is good news there is a new shop, which I will frequent on future visits to the USOTC (my home for summer of 1995 internship), scanning the merchandise at the online shop reminds me how since the late 1980s the USOC's merch usually brought a cringe to my brow. From my view the folks who select the range of merchandise go too much for "mass appeal" while the items are plain and of moderate quality. How about some Made In The USA 100 percent cotton polo shirts with London 2012 logos, or some new creative on the lapel pins? I hope the shop's partnership with Staples Promotional Products will bring some new blood and new ideas.

-- Coca-Cola celebrated its 125th anniversary by donning its Midtown Atlanta skyscraper headquarters with fabric screens on which to project massive imagery from their iconic advertising. The effect was spectacular -- very cool to see from across the street and across town. Wishing they had seized the opportunity to project images from their Olympic partnerships since the 1928 Olympic Games (not a single Olympic connection was projected, from what I could tell).

-- It's not new news, but was reminded of rugby sevens as an addition to the Olympic roster for 2016, with Olympic rugby starting at Rio de Janiero. An interesting site that will help me learn more about rugby is WatchLiveRugbyWorldCup.com.

-- Not a fitness enthusiast myself, but for those who are, keep an eye open for LegacyChamp.com and their blog.

Photo via Team USA Shop/USOC

Olympic News Is Everywhere

The last couple of weeks yielded an array of Olympic headlines.

Sadly, a mix of work and personal projects kept me away from the computer, er, away from blogging time.

Here's a grab bag of five-ringed headlines, in case you missed them:

• Olympic marathon silver medalist Grete Waitz, who also ran the New York City Marathon (highlighted in this post from January 2009) and Atlanta's Peachtree Road Race, died of cancer.


• Kellogg renewed sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic Committee. This news is Grrrrrrrrrrrreat!


• Nintendo and Sega will bring Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games.


• Olympic champion Carl Lewis is not only running for New Jersey Senate, but he also has a New Jersey driver's license!


• Olympic champion and fellow Edmond, Okla., home-towner Shannon Miller is tackling cancer treatment with exercise regiment.


• London will spend a cable car full of money to build a transport system across the Thames in time for the 2012 Games.


• Rio's historic architecture is worth revitalizing before 2016, say some locals.

Make it an Olympic day!

Photo via FreakingNews.com