Attending the Olympics: Perfectly Imperfect

I have always ALWAYS been obsessed with the Olympics. Mary Lou Retton? Yes, please. Shannon Miller? I shall stand and salute. Dan Jansen? Oh, the tears 🥲.

In 2016 we went to Rio, with a few things already understood: 1. yes, people have problems with Olympics and I fully and completely understand that. The enjoyment I experienced is for and in spirit with the athletes, notwithstanding the issues with the IOC, etc. and 2. Rio was problematic at best as a location for the Games and was also likely not to be ready once the opening ceremonies began. Our expectations were pretty below average.

We toured around Brazil & a bit in Argentina in the days leading up to the opening ceremonies, and enjoyed our share of caipirinhas along the way. We stayed in Copacabana and I HIGHLY advise you do the same. The beach there is lovely (to look at - don’t get in the water!), the sidewalk is iconic, and the people are beautiful. All of them.

So, the opening ceremonies were in their own way spectacular, and in their own way pretty ridiculous. To wit? The head of the Rio2016 committee was giving a speech all about how “Rio is READY!” while everyone present in the audience was STARVING because, you guessed it, they weren’t so much ready as they were NOT ready.

Food stands &

restaurants had no workers

and the only thing that was ready was the beer stands…

…and Gisele

who, if you recall, took about a year and a half to cross the stadium. Look it up.

This is not to complain; this is to share the experience, which in NO WAY was diminished by the noise surrounding the games. Mostly because the first night we landed in Rio, we checked into our Airbnb in Copacabana and went out for pizza on a patio. And, much to my joy & surprise, this came down the street:

The olympic torch

on the way to its final leg to open the Games.

One of the most awesome and surprising parts of the Games, in Rio and South Korea, is that it is actually not that difficult to get tickets to events, even finals and medal events. We were able to snag great seats for one of the most coveted swimming finals, and gymnastics.

The french were expected to win this one

It was awesome to be there for the “greatest turn ever” in swimming that wass accomplished by THE Michael Phelps, allowing Team USA to upset France to win its first 400 free relay gold in years and years…

And, OMG, seeing “GOAT” Simone Biles perform in person is…something I wish everyone could experience.

Planning to attend, if you can? The Beijing 2022 Games are delaying releasing tickets because of the ongoing pandemic.

When you’re there (fingers crossed Beijing can pull this off!) you GOTTA go to the “Country Houses.” As the article by Ken Hanscom in Medium.com explains, these hospitality houses are dedicated to “the culture of the country, including:

“Enjoying the native and specialty foods that are popular in that country…Gathering for event “watch-parties” and celebrations and in some cases, with athletes that medal make an appearance during the day or evening…A place to relax, re-charge, and meet other Olympic fans…Retail stores for purchasing Olympic and national team gear and souvenirs.”

And you gotta go to Heineken Holland House, the biggest & baddest of them all:

Watching dutch swimmers compete.

…sipping Heineken by the pool at Heineken Holland House.

holland house

…one of the highlights of the Games, outside of the Games.

Finally, whether you get to go to the events you dream of or not, if you get tickets to something, GO. Many tickets are packaged, so to get to see gymnastics we had to also buy archery, which was AWESOME. We were accidentally there when the world record holder lost in the first round! #ohmy! And don’t be scared of cheering for other countries. We met so many people in the stands from other places and cheered on their family members with them; we even got into the local team’s fans’ excitement that we found ourselves chanting “Bra-ZIL!” at the top of our lungs along with them.

So, watch the Games, Voyagers. Go to the Games if you can next time. But most of all, stay Veracious.

-VV