There will be 2 new additions to the list of sports showcased in next years 2016 Summer Olympics. The 2 sports are rugby sevens, and golf. Rugby and golf actually aren’t new to the Olympics. The 2016 Summer Olympics will mark their return to the event. Fifteen-man rugby had previously been an Olympic sport, debuting […]
https://sportinglifelc.wordpress.com/2015/10/19/new-sports-in-the-olympics/
It was a vision that appeared on her desk – a collection of items that appeared to look like the Olympic rings. And from that day, which was also the day exactly one year prior to the opening of the 2012 London Olympics, Sarah Hyndman decided to photograph images of items that resembled the Olympic logo.
As a run-up to the Rio Olympics in 2016, Hyndman is re-publishing her one-a-day posts, and you can see them all here.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Hyndman said in this NY Times article that the Olympic logo is lasting and powerful. “I often explain to clients that a really strong brand or logo can have a greater life span than just existing in its two-dimensional format. My project shows that the Olympic rings is a great logo because it can withstand being translated again and again.”
If it’s not one thing, it’s another.
The canoeists were most outspoken about plants that tangled with their oars and rudders
It’s not just Japan where taxi drivers are challenged by English. Brazil, which will be hosting the international sporting lovefest known as the Olympics in the summer of 2016, will also have to figure out how to communicate with the non-Portuguese speaking hordes who will descend on Rio de Janeiro next August.
It’s such an issue that a Brazilian newspaper saw fit to do an article on a company marketing a language program called “Hey Taxi”, a course designed to teach taxi drivers how to effectively communicate with foreigners in English.
The project is run by a company called Meritus Partners, and as one of the company partners explains, the Brazilian taxi driver needs help. “Since May, when I started conducting research with the cab drivers in Rio, I have learned that they have very limited understanding and awareness of their role in the hospitality sector yet they are the host of the city, the first impression of a foreign tourist.”
Fortunately, not all taxi drivers in Brazil need help. This fellow not only gets the passenger to his destination in time, he does a fantastic rendition of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean.
“Athletes in next year’s Summer Olympics here will be swimming and boating in waters so contaminated with human feces that they risk becoming violently ill and unable to compete in the games, an Associated Press investigation has found.”
So starts this report from Associated Press released July 30. The pollution is Guanabara Bay has been an issue over several decades, impacted by the growth of Rio de Janeiro and the inability of the country to keep up with the waste management needs of the population. In short, Guanabara Bay has become the cesspool of the Brazilian capitol. The AP report continues: “Extreme water pollution is common in Brazil, where the majority of sewage is not treated. Raw waste runs through open-air ditches to streams and rivers that feed the Olympic water sites. As a result, Olympic athletes are almost certain to come into contact with disease-causing viruses that in some tests measured up to 1.7 million times the level of what would be considered hazardous on a Southern California beach.”
According to the report, athletes competing in canoeing, sailing, rowing, triathlon and open-water swimming are at risk. In this recent article from Nick Zaccardi of NBC OlympicTalk, US officials related to these sports are taking a realistic tone, stating that the safety of their athletes is the highest priority, that they are heavily encouraging the organizers to improve the conditions, and that they will follow the medical recommendations of experts.
“Athlete safety is always of the utmost importance to USA Triathlon, and we take this situation very seriously,” USA Triathlon CEO Rob Urbach said in a statement. “We are in direct conversation with our athletes and listening closely to any concerns. We will continue to work collaboratively with
This equestrian wants to compete in the Rio Olympics at 69, and he still wouldn’t be the oldest Olympian ever. He’d have to make it to Tokyo in 2020 to attain that record.
According to this article, Fiji could potentially have 52 Olympians qualify for the Rio Olympics out of a population of 890,000, for an Olympian Domestic Product (ODP) of 5.8%. If the US had the same ODP, they would be sending….over 18,600 Olympians to Rio!
I won’t (now) get into the cost overruns and delays plaguing the Rio Olympic Games, which will take place almost a year from now (August 6-20). Nor will I go into the short- and long-term value to Brazilians of staging their second mega-sporting event (World Cup in 2014).
Here is a recently released video showing current progress and future vision of Parque Olímpico in Jacarepaguá, the western part of Rio de Janero, your host for the 2016 Summer Games.
And here it is – the torch for the Rio Olympics!
Click on this link to see what it looks like.
The Rio torch beats the hatchet from Sochi, the Jai Lai sesta from Turin, and whatever the Vancouver torch is trying to represent.
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