Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil
Those three
words, translating to English as “Faster, Higher, Stronger” are the Olympic
Motto, and I could not think of three better words to embody the Olympic
ideals. The speed of a swimmer or
runner, the height of a gymnast or pole vaulter, the strength of a weightlifter
or shot putter are all self-evident, but there are other more subtle ways in
which the motto manifests itself. In the
jumping events, there is a direct correlation between takeoff speed and jump
distance for the long jump. In fact, it
can be mathematically calculated by simple geometry how high and far a long jumper can
jump based on his take-off speed. In gymnastics, it is the strength
of the athlete’s legs that allow them to achieve maximum height in their vaults
and tumbles.
I will be seeing more of
that tonight when I witness the M Individual All-Around. These are the strongest gymnasts in the
world, and they will fly practically sky high.
It is also their incredible strength that allows them to do their
routines on the rings. You don’t have to
lift a weight or put a shot to demonstrate your strength at the Games. Citius is the nimble fencer who scores a
point against her opponent. Altius is
the graceful gymnast who flies into the sky on a flawless vault. Fortius is the powerful gymnast with rippling
muscles who executes a perfect routine on the pommel horse. That is what Citius, Altius, Fortius means,
and that is what I will be seeing today.
Okay, so after I closed last night, I published and went straight to
sleep. We woke up just in time for
breakfast, and then, after breakfast, I got ready, electing to wear my
Coca-Cola shirt, honoring the historic sponsorship of the Games. I then went up to the roof, where I lit up a
Partagas and proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close so that I
can upload some photos to social media before I leave for Gymnastics.
(Rio Olympic
Arena gymnastics venue)
Well it’s
not looking good for Team USA. I just
refreshed my memory on Paul HAMM, and that was the last time we were seriously
competitive in men’s gymnastics. Our
girls are certainly a lot better. The
reigning gold medalist from London looks set to repeat his performance after
the first 2 of 6 rotations. It looks
like both of our guys will finish out of the medals, just as our team failed to
medal in the team event.
Fortunately, in
the W event tomorrow, we look set to take home gold and silver. The only question is who whether Aly and
Simone gets the top prize. I’m obviously
rooting for Aly, but I’ll be happy with either order if we get gold and
silver. If we were allowed to field three
athletes in the finals, we’d probably sweep the medals, but I suppose the FIG
rightly realized that allowing such US domination would not be interesting to
the international audience.
I also have
three consecutive nights of swimming coming up after tonight, including
Phelps’s final race. That will be a
moment to remember. Welp, rough vault
for Sam MIKULAK, uneven landing. Looks
like we’re definitely not medaling here today.
I’ll be happy for UCHIMURA though if he repeats. He is truly excellent. Speaking of Japan, I will discuss this more
at the end of the trip, but I have no intention of going to Tokyo in 4
years. As much as I am enjoying this
trip, I keep thinking I’d rather have taken off the two weeks from work and
watched from home with my McDonald’s and Coke and Budweiser and the six screens
running simultaneously as I watch every event.
That’s the great thing about the Olympics. They come over four years. This is a different kind of Olympics. I can decide how I want to do the Tokyo
Olympics when the time comes. Hell, I
might be married by then, and isolating myself for 16 Days would not be an
option. Who knows? When 2024 comes around, if Los Angeles gets
it, I’ll definitely be there, though.
Alright, so after I closed, I worked on sorting out my photos to upload
to social media. About halfway through,
I pressed the wrong button and deleted all the photos from the subfolder I had
made with the photos I wanted to post.
That was half an hour of work that I had to redo. After I was done, I was also done with my
cigar, so I didn’t to post them quite yet.
Instead, we headed out for some pizza.
Yeah, with all the great food available here, we’re certainly eating a
lot of pizza and hot dogs, but that’s what they eat here. After lunch, I headed back up to the roof and
lit up a Romeo y Julieta and uploading my photos. That took the entire cigar, 84 photos, each
with their own captions and location tags.
We then headed to the train station, which would eventually take us to
the Olympic Park. It was raining at this
point, so that put pay to the idea of smoking cigars outside around the
Park. Everything always takes longer
than expected getting to and from the venues.
Wait, how is Chris BROOKS now in fourth place, only a point behind the
reigning champ?!? Have we been doing
higher-scoring apparatuses than UCHIMURA has?
Well, I guess it’ll sort itself out.
Okay, so I was tight on time, and raced to do everything I wanted to do
before sitting down.
I got my souvenir
and a beer and then headed to my seat. After the first rotation, I went out for a hamburger and chips and then
went to a new seat, where, after my meal and the second rotation, I proceeded
to write this entry, which I will now close, as the third rotation is closing
out, and I want to enjoy the second half of the competition.
(Carioca
Arena 3 fencing venue)
Nowhere is
the concept of swiftness in something other than a race demonstrated better
than here at the fencing venue. This is
all about fast footwork and scoring the quick hit. It seems that I have tending to write these
entries during bronze-medal matches.
That is what happened at archery, and that’s what happening here. Korea seems set to take home the bronze. Fencing is always one of my favorite events
to watch during the Games, and it is definitely an event that lends itself to
an enjoyable in-person experience.
After
I closed at the gymnastics venue, the reigning champ had a phenomal performance
on the high bar and that, combined with a lackluster one by the Ukranian who
was ahead of him, earned him a repeat title.
I was happy for him. Then came
the medal ceremony, and Britain won bronze, Max WHITLOCK and the Team GB fans
thrilled with the performance. I raced
from there to fencing venue, where Raymond was waiting for me.
He had found some fellow Team USA supporters,
and they had supplied him with an American flag. We were in a tight semifinal match against
Iran when I walked in. I’m sure my
reader can imagine the excitement with which the five of us, sitting in the
fifth and sixth row, cheered on our fencer against the Iranian. We won 14-15.
It doesn’t get closer than that.
After the match, I headed to get another beer and some food.
I got a beer and a snack at the snack bar,
but they had some food trucks outside in the plaza of the arena. I chose a specialty burger and a kebob. They had to cook the burger from
scratch. That took a while. I ate the kebob as I walked to the souvenir
shop, but they didn’t have the Fencing pin.
Upstairs might have it. Now I was
starting to be tight on time before the first gold-medal match. I ate my burger, my very messy burger, as I
walked up the ramp. I needed to wash my
hands, and face, it was so messy. The
upstairs shop had the pin, so I got that and headed back down the ramp and to
the seat.
The whole process took so long
that Raymond had thought I got lost. I
explained to him the whole drama of what happened. Actually, this whole trip reminds me a lot of
Comic Con, racing from place to place, wanting to try all the different food,
seeing all the things I love, having to decide between leaving one place early
or getting to the next place late, and being in the same city for an extended
time. Okay, so I got back to my seat,
where I proceeded to write this entry, which I will now close so that we can
watch the gold-medal matches before we head out for another epic night.
Well, as
Aslan said, things never happen the same way twice. That is actually so true of my travels,
whenever I return somewhere or try to repeat an experience, it’s never the same
the second time around. I have been talking
a little about Comic Con today, and that’s another great example, too. Things never happen the same way twice. The first time I went to Comic Con, it was
the time of my life. When I went back,
it just wasn’t the same. I have only
gone twice. Star Wars Celebration, well, the first two times were great but different. The third time, though was trying to repeat the experience as part of my Eurotrip. It’s funny, the Eurotrip was entirely
designed around the Germany Star Wars Celebration, but it was a rushed
experience and the least interesting part of the trip. So many other conventions that I’ve done were
incredible the first time, but not so much the second time. Well, tonight today was much the same.
The gymnastics was not the same as yesterday,
though I guess that was because we didn’t really have a dog in the race. We went back to the cigar store for dinner,
but it just wasn’t the same. We didn’t
make the night epic. Things never happen
the same way twice. Tomorrow, we will be
going separate ways. In fact, this is
the end of Day 5, and it will not be until we wake up on Day 7 that we see each
other again while we’re both awake. He’ll
be gone by the time I wake up tomorrow, and he’ll be asleep by the time I get
back from Swimming tomorrow night. We’ll
probably go to the beach to hang out before I got to Swimming on Day 7 to see
Phelps in his final race. Talk about the
GOAT. I can’t imagine what it’ll be like
to see him in his final race, to see him anchor in the 4 x 200m Freestyle
Relay, an event I believe we have an undefeated streak going back almost 100
years.
Okay, so what happened after I
closed? First, well, Ray, realizing I’d
be out at my events all day, arranged with our new friends to go on a tour of
the favelas. We took a ceremonial
picture with the flag and then sat back down to watch a fellow New Yorker
compete for the Gold in M Individual Sabre.
He lost. Badly. But, hey, silver’s not bad. The medal ceremony for the women’s event came
first, and Russia had won. Out of my
distaste for Russia’s doping scandal, I literally turned my back on the medal
ceremony as the Russian national anthem played and flag was raised.
I then saw them taking pictures with fans
afterwards. Prepared this time, I raced
over and got my ticket signed by the silver medalist. I was later able to add the Men’s bronze
medalist. I missed out on the New
Yorker, since I was hoping to wait for him to come down for a picture. I could have gotten the autograph if I was
willing to forgo the photo op. After all
the medalists had left the arena, a worker told us it was time to leave. We took public transportation to the cigar
store, but we were not really hungry, having each eaten heavily at the
event.
We sat inside, and I got some
cigars for the rest of the trip and for home.
The bread and toppings they provide is so good, you can literally make a
meal out of it. I lit up a Bolivar
Brasil Exclusivo and was prepared to do just that. Unlimited bread and crackers, served with
butter, olive oil, and chopped liver. I
call that a meal. We also got
caipirinhas (well, one for Ray, two for me), and I got a sparkling water. This was supposed to be Ray’s big birthday
celebration, but he wasn’t having any of it.
He was just completely out of it and had no interest in celebrating his
birthday.
He suggested we order some
food. I wasn’t hungry, but I picked out
an appetizer for us to share, a fried steak dish that sounded good and
local. We couldn’t finish the dish
between the two of us. I then lit up a
small Montecristo that I had gotten, and I smoked that until we left. We took a taxi back to the hotel, and the
driver was literally falling asleep at the wheel according to Ray. I was on my phone, but it was a very scary
drive. He was driving extremely
recklessly.
I settled into the room for
a bit, and we said our goodbyes, seeing as we wouldn’t see each until two Days
hence. I headed up to the roof and sat
down in my usual spot, where I lit up a Romeo y Julieta (fuck, I smoked the
same cigar twice today. I literally just
broke my cardinal rule of cigar smoking.
Fuckfuckfuck!!!) and proceeded to write this entry, which I will now
close so that I can publish before I crash.
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