Well, today is the first official day of competition
at Rio 2016! I am so excited about seeing it. I’ve been looking forward to this day for
months. There is something very special
about the Olympic Games and about the individual athletes that make it to
compete at this level. Olympic athletes tend
to be absolutely thrilled about being there and it can be a stepping stone to
other things in an athlete’s post-career, like coaching or managing a
team. I personally know people who have
competed at various Olympic Games of the past, coaches who later coached at an
international level, and international judges who excelled at what they did to
such an extent that they achieved greatness by making it onto the Canadian Olympic
Committee as a board member, so to speak.
In fact, I’ve probably had a lot more exposure to Olympic Games as an
outsider than most ordinary outsiders and it’s been an illuminating experience
for me – one that I can’t say enough about.
This morning, I’ve watched the rowing (women’s
single sculls) preliminaries, and the men’s gymnastics preliminaries (floor
exercise), so far. With regard to
gymnastics, I am interested in documenting any artistic and acrobatic sports
that I watch and, if I miss a particular event, I will have to check out the
results on: http://cbc.ca/olympics
to get the most up-to-date data on the athletes. Since I am intending to publish a book called
“Acrobatic and Artistic Sports and Dance” after these Olympic Games are over,
it is essential that I capture these results as accurately and completely as
possible. That will be my contribution
to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
As I said before, I have some errands to run this
week. One of the most important errands
is going to a nearby RBC branch and covering my savings account overdraft,
which I did this morning. Now, I have NO
MORE DEBTS and it feels real good! On
Tuesday, I will be visiting Jason, my chiropractor, who I have not seen in
almost four weeks, and on Thursday, I’ll see Jackie, my hairdresser, so that I
can get a much-needed haircut, facial waxing, and pedicure. I have to buy James his birthday present that
I promised him – a prepaid Visa card – since his twelfth birthday is on
September 2nd. I will also have to buy
some new running shoes next time I go shopping.
Then, I’ll look for a travel agent and start planning my European
trip! The plan is to depart from Toronto
to London, England by September 10th.
The following sports activities (preliminaries) are
running today, so far:
·
Men’s lightweight fours sculls --> Canada makes it to the reprechage
·
Men’s quadruple sculls --> Canada makes it to the reprechage
·
Women’s rugby sevens heats --> Canada vs. Brazil & Canada vs. Japan
·
Women’s soccer --> Canada vs. Zimbabwe
o
(incl. Janine Beckie and Christine
Sinclair of Canada)
·
Men’s swimming --> 400 m IM heats
·
Men’s swimming --> 400 m freestyle heats
o
(incl. Ryan Cochrane of Canada)
·
Women’s swimming --> 100 m butterfly heats
·
Men’s road cycling --> 237.5 km race
·
Men’s field hockey --> Canada vs. Germany
·
Women’s tennis --> Canada vs. USA
o
(incl. Eugenie Bouchard of Canada)
·
Men’s gymnastics --> floor
exercise
o
(incl. Scott Morgan of Canada)
·
Men’s gymnastics --> high bar and pommel horse and vault
·
Men’s gymnastics --> rings and parallel bars
·
Women’s beach volleyball --> USA vs. Australia
The following sports activities (semi-finals /
finals) are running today, so far:
·
Women’s swimming --> 4 x 100 freestyle relay (team of 4 - final)
o
(incl. Penny Oleksiak of Canada who
anchored this team)
o
Canada
just won its FIRST MEDAL, BRONZE, of these Games!
·
Women’s swimming --> 400 m IM (semi-final)
o
(incl. Emily Overholt of Canada)
o
(FINAL is tomorrow à
Emily Overholt made it)
·
Women’s swimming --> 100 m butterfly (semi-final)
o
(incl. Penny Oleksiak of Canada)
o
(FINAL is tomorrow à
Penny Oleksiak made it)
Men’s swimming --> 100 m butterfly (semi-final)
Men’s swimming --> 100 m butterfly (semi-final)
I went to the Keg for a steak dinner. I haven’t been there in decades. The caesar salad was okay, but the wine was
good (an Italian Pino Grisio) and the dinner was pretty good. I don’t think I’m going back there any time
soon though.
I may be going up the street to Markham Station next, a
restaurant that serves ordinary, everyday food.
Only problem is – I have to take a taxi there and back (oh well!).
copyright 2016 - Anne Shier
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