Olympic Torch Lights Up Crowds at Ipanema

The last couple of days included my migration from Hotel Vermont to my AirBNB apartment around the corner from the Ipanema Metro station. 

I sort of hit my first "Olympic wall" of this Games on Wednesday afternoon, and trekking several blocks with 40 pounds of pins and all my luggage was no cake walk. 

But the apartment is beautiful, overlooking a favela neighborhood and sheer cliff surrounded by mountain forest. And I'm now just three blocks to USA House and steps away from grocery, transport, bars, restaurants and anything else needed.

While settling in last night the Olympic Torch Relay dashed through the neighborhood right outside, and it was awesome to see my eighth encounter with an Olympic flame.

Previously LA84 in Edmond, Okla., carrying the torch in 1996 in Oklahoma City, and glimpses of the relay for Salt Lake 2002, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014. 

The neighborhood was buzzing with fans and a crowd about three people deep on each sidewalk. Here's a video with the warm-up group getting folks pumped up.

I love the faces of the senior couple lighting up in anticipation of the relay. The students and local bar and shop owners also were out in force. A great time was had by all. 

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

Joyous Return To Rio

It's been nine years since my initial visit to Rio de Janeiro.

Reflecting on my first day back in Brazil's coastal metropolis, I sure hope summer 2016 will be only the second of many joyous returns to Rio.

The morning began on Delta Air Lines flight DL21 somewhere over the Amazon rain forest. Early rays of the dawn showcased the earth's curve and jungle-wrapped reservoirs 35,000 feet below our aircraft.

By our 8:30 a.m. landing, I was a little tired and anxious but overwhelmed with relief -- so happy to finally be in the Olympic City.

The five-ringed journey to Rio in some ways began in 2009. I was one of the stunned Chicago 2016 Olympic bid volunteers in Daley Plaza when the Windy City lost the first-round of voting, and had a lot invested in a Chicago win.

At the time, I did not think conversion to "Rio fan" status was possible.

But by 2010 and especially at Brazil House during the 2012 London Olympics -- where a showcase of Rio's plan was on view -- I could not help getting excited.

The deep pile of event tickets on my hotel desk proves I may have gotten too excited (yes, definitely over-spent on tickets).

As our plane pulled up to the gate, there was a subtle difference from the arrival at Beijing or London -- perhaps for austerity reasons, given Brazil's troubled national economy of recent months -- there were no "welcome to Rio" Olympic signs affixed to the terminal. And on what seemed to be a half-mile walk from the plane to the customs and baggage claim hall, only one floor-to-ceiling advertisement for Olympic sponsor Samsung came into view. No big deal, just one of those things.

Limited edition pins; only 300 made.

I was biting my nails as my carry-on bag full of pins (40 pounds of them) got special attention in the "nothing to declare" screening area. But with a smile and brief explanation of Olympic pin collecting history, not to mention luck the guard had seen enough with my top-most box of trading materials, I was free to go, breathing easy my 300 blogger pins made it through (whew!).

Exiting customs into the main airport lobby, there was a sea of Brazilian media staked out to photograph and interview arriving athletes.

It was only later in the day I learned Usain Bolt and the Jamaica Olympic Team touched down about an hour after my flight.

Since my rolling suitcase is a Team Canada-branded bag from Beijing 2008, one curious reporter from Fox Sports started a Periscope interview, asking me about my Olympic plans and my take on Rio's preparations -- quite a welcome back to Brazil!

Swiss House under construction in Rio

The taxi ride through the city went right by the Mare favela neighborhood, graffiti, and school recently featured on Vox. Closer to our destination, the Hotel Vermont in Ipanema -- where we were "Feeling The Bern" and enjoying the Democratic National Convention via CNN International by evening -- our route took us by the incomplete Swiss House under construction.

I spent the afternoon strolling around the Ipanema neighborhood, eventually spotting a group of USA House volunteers donning badges -- everyone in the group was Brazilian, so my guess is that they had wrapped up a training session.

At dinner in a neighborhood steakhouse, another group of Team USA workers sat near me and they confirmed the venue for U.S. hospitality "is still a work in progress but will be ready soon."

The day's only frustration: My domestic mobile provider, Sprint, did not give me complete instructions to activate my phone in Rio (I have a 30-step list of actions to take, but the most critical -- the first step -- was left off their list). But I am optimistic tomorrow will yield a solution at the Rio Media Center or a nearby mobile phone shop. Fingers crossed.

My only regret of the day was being ill-prepared to trade pins with the handful of Rio 2016 volunteers who are highly visible in their bright yellow shirts.

But the best part of the day was meeting people who, in spite of my language barrier, were extremely friendly and accommodating.

I also ran into former U.S.O.C. communications director Bob Condron, a fellow member of the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH, a client), who was at the airport to meet his wife.

Condron helped me learn about the U.S. Olympic Committee internship program WAY back in 1989, and it was so cool to share brief stories of our journeys since Oklahoma City to Rio.

Can hardly wait to learn which other old friends, and new ones, will cross paths in the Olympic city.

Funniest conversation was at at an Ipanema pharmacy (think Walgreen's of Brazil); as I hunted for Dr. Scholl's shoe inserts a friendly store employee asked to help, and our only means of communication was via hand-drawn illustrations of shoes.

We shared a good laugh about it, and my feet felt like dancing on the walk back from dinner.

It's going to be an amazing Olympics.

Images via the Rio 2016 homepage via Rio2016.org, Brazil post office archive, with other photos by Nicholas Wolaver