Update from the AUS HQ in Rio
Monday 22nd August – its a wrap on Rio!
With the sun setting on the Rio Olympics 2016, I am 100% ready to come home.
Last night was the Closing Ceremony and it was the big chance for Athletes to let their hair down and have a party together as one big group of 10,000 athletes. The Village was buzzing all afternoon with athletes getting ready in their Closing Ceremony uniform, and then the spectacular ceremony brought an official end to the 2016 Olympics.
And Just like that, 4years of preparation, anticipation and competition is finished.
I must admit I am not sad it is finished – I am proud to have played my part with each local GC athlete that achieved something by making The Australian Olympic Team what it is (Tommy Fraser-Holmes, Ash Gentle, Dan Smith, James Roberts, Kat Garfoot, Bodi Turner, Dani Samuels, & the whole Aussie Sprint Kayak Team) & I’m so proud of my Appointment & Contribution to the Australian Headquarters Medical Team – but I am very ready to see my beautiful 2 young daughters at home and get my special hugs from them and Albie.
The Rio Olympics has been a challenging adventure – logistical organisation, safety, and hygiene have all been difficult issues to deal with over here from a local point of view – but I guess that’s what has contributed to the experience that is one of the biggest sporting events in the World.
The first Qantas Charter flight home leaves tonight with the athletes – Gold Medallists in First Class. Over the past 24hrs the building has been returned quick-smart to its original state with pictures, posters, flags, signs, desks & any other aussie item pack into boxes to return to Oz in the Shipping container. Staff are on the second Charter flight leaving tomorrow night, so our job here is officially done and those of us left are heading out for a local Brazilian dinner to sample the local food tonight. I take home some great photos, awesome memories & stories to share, a cool medallion & certificate of participation from the IOC, and the Olympic quilt from our bed as a momento.
Having done my first international travel as a Sports Physio with Triathlon Australia in 2002, I am privileged to have had all the years of opportunities I have had, and to have experienced the World in the many ways, but now I can’t wait to return to what I believe is still the best place on earth……. The Gold Coast, Australia!
Friday 19th August
Not such good news to report from Rio today. Not only did our BMX’s not score a medal when they looked awesome through the rounds, but I have been struck down with the Viral Illness that is doing the rounds in Aussie camp. And before you jump to conclusions, its not Zika as I have only seen 2 mozzies since I have been in Rio and they were the first 2 nights in the Village. Sore throat, aches and enlarged glands have meant I am experiencing the protocol for sick athletes and I have been “isolated”. Sounds like a bad disease in itself. Quick smart I have been sent to the hotel down the road into an individual hotel room and I’m not allowed out until cleared by the doc, at least 2 days he thinks which is a real damper as it means I miss watching the K4 1000m boys paddle for a medal tomorrow morning, I missed attending the BMX final today, and I miss the HQ dinner that is planned for tonight. Apparently for this week the Doc has been dealing with about 9 people per day in isolation. At least this hotel is quiet – IP Towers base has been a challenge to sleep with much street noise and street parties happening through-out the night, so most of us have been struggling to get good sleep. Hats off to the athletes and their resiliency to perform in these environments.
So I don’t have many exciting photos today except this view from my “isolation room”.
And some older photos from the Village Gym – an extensive facility with every piece of equipment in use at the busy periods. First in best dressed to use the equipment. The gym is an interesting environment with different languages, limited space and different pieces of equipment not seeming to get in the road of athletes being able to achieve their gym conditioning. Apparently the amount of equipment here is far less than was in London. My inquisitive Sports Physio mind wonders how many injuries occur in the Olympic gym to coaches and support staff who don’t usually do too much training, and then attend an environment like this where they have time and the facility and they go for their lives. Opposite me one day on the treadmill was an elderly, solid asian man who clearly hadn’t run much for a long time and was attempting to do so on the treadmill. I was ready to get off and give him cpr at any moment!
Wednesday & Thursday 17 & 18th August
The last two days have been spent watching the Sprint Kayak in the mornings on Lagoa. The highlight today was seeing Ken Wallace & Loccy Tame win the bronze in the mens K2 1000m. Ken is a regular on my table at AIS first thing one morning per week for about 8months per year when the mens program are in their daily training environment on the Gold Coast. Both the mens and womens Kayak/Canoe programs are mainly based on the GC so our Massage Therapists also see them weekly all year round.
Kenny is familiar to the Olympic dias winning gold and bronze in 2008 Beijing. These boys together have been silver medalists at Worlds the last 2 years so I would expect they had high expectations, but the Germans looked superb and the boys can be very proud of a Bronze medal. Gold Coasters Dan Bowker (who is current fiance to Olympic Triathlete Emma Moffat) was put together with Jordan Wood (partner of Olympic womens paddler who attended our GCPSH Olympian Luncheon, Alyce Burnett – don’t I know all the gossip!) in the mens K2 200m which is not the event these boys actually train for, with Jordan in seat 4 of the mens K4 1000m hopefully going for Gold on Saturday, so unfortunately these boys didn’t make the final.
Loccy was in at HQ IP Towers tonight doing his interview for channel 7’s breaky update and he was so excited he was bouncing off the walls- the media crew set-up a screen and hook up the mics and behind in the background, Loccy was live on the TV on Channel 7! Kenny still has the K4 1000m race tomorrow so he calmly remained at his hotel making sure he was recovering for tomorrow and showed his presence by a photo on a box on a stick. Very cool interview Loccy!
In more excitement, the mens triathlon was on today on a difficult course due to a steep hill on the bike. The 2 Brownlee brothers defended their gold and bronze from London Olympics with gold and silver today in an impressive display, leading from start to finish. A usual mens flat course World Series Triathlon would be won in 1hr 47min, but Alistair Brownlee won in 1hr 45min and he walked the last minute, so it shows just how hot the pace was today. Aaron Royle didn’t have the legs after a hard bike today and finished in 9th, Ryan Bailie in 10th and Ryan Fischer in 23rd.
In BMX today, GC rider (ex-Melbourne boy) Bodi Turner who wee see at the AIS regularly with his multiple injuries from crashing has unfortunately missed the BMX final for tomorrow. But at 20years old and coming into this Olympics with a broken clavicle (collar bone) only a few months ago, Bodi has done awesome and has a great future! I often call him Crash Bandit due to his history of crashing but he got through this racing staying upright and just got out-ridden by some bigger and more developed riders. Bring on the BMX finals tomorrow with all the Aussies!
Tuesday 16th August
Day 1 of Kayaking finals. I was looking forwards to seeing these athletes race given I have seen them 8-10months of the year for physiotherapy and worked closely with the program over the past 6years and our Burleigh Sports Physio, Myles Burfield, is the womens team current Olympic physio here in Rio. The young k2 crew of Alyce Burnett & Alyssa Bull made their first Olympic final and while they were disappointed with an 8th place finish, they have many years left to pursue their Olympic dream. Murray Stewart finished 4th in the K1 1000m (K1 means 1 person in the kayak paddling over 1000m) and the K4 1000m (ie 4 boys racing together over 1000m) will be one of the races to watch on saturday with our Aussie boys winning gold in London under the coaching of Jimmy Owens and Nathan Luce. Thursday Rio time will be the mens K2 final with Beijing gold medallist Ken Wallace teaming up with Loccy Tame over 1000m and are a medal chance after finishing 2nd at World Champs in 2014 and 2015.
Myles, Thea and I walked back from the course and stumbled upon a nice deli cafe and had a good Rio coffee. In the Village the AOC have been providing Nespresso pods and apparently the Aussies are getting through over 500pods per day- talk about spoilt!
With one week left until we are on the plane home, the 2016 Olympics are now flying by. It has been a remarkable experience in a number of ways, but particularly because of the real highs and lows that athletes, coaches and all staff go through during the week. As a National we have high expectations on our athletes, and from what I hear of the media reports back home, the media plays a large role in making many of the public expectations unrealistic. The Olympics is the most competitive sporting event on earth with 0.001sec sometimes differentiating an athlete from winning a medal. Aus has had many 4th place finishes which I think would be a difficult result. Dani Samuels, discus thrower now based on the GC was another such athlete with 4th in the discus final today. Dani threw a fantastic 64.90 which would almost be a season’s best but 44cm from 3rd place. So close but so far just like Murray Stewart!
Monday 15th August
What a beautiful day in Rio! Sunny, no wind and 30degrees to watch the Womens 10km open water swimming race. It sure brought back some memories watching from the shoreline as the women swam 4laps of the 2.5km course. Chelsea Grubecka was our only swimmer and, at not yet 18yrs of age, she found the pace of the last lap a bit too quick. The race started really slow with the women moving at 1min 12sec per 100m and obviously scoping each other out. The pace then dropped to 1min 08sec per hundred for lap 2 and finishing in 1min 02sec per hundred for the last lap. The scenery and shoreline sitting at the end of Copacabana beach was breath-taking.
The feeling at Ipanema is very different from the Olympic village in many ways as we are the only country in this hotel. The number of people here is less and its a more intimate environment which in many ways is a nice escape from the bustle of the village.
Sunday 14th August
Today Thea, Myself and Sports Physician Peter Steele packed our Village Bags and moved down to the Aussie Headquarters at Ipanema at a hotel called IP Towers. Given the number of events being competed from, or close proximity to Copacabana (road cycling, beach volleyball, rowing, kayak/canoe, triathlon, open water swimming and sailing), the AOC decided to put money and energy into setting-up an Australian base in IP Towers to ensure the athletes competing this side of Rio were given every opportunity to prepare specifically for their race. To stay in the Village and travel to these events, the athletes would take about 70-80min to travel down, so to minimise this travel and stress time, a HQ with Sports Physio, Soft Tissue Therapy and Sports Medicine has been set-up at IP and the 3 of us are swapping with the 3 Therapists that have been currently working from here since the time we arrived in Rio.
IP Towers is a nice hotel with good food organised by Aussie Sports Head Dietitian Greg Cox, a good location around a nice shopping district and good shower water pressure! The beaches here have lifeguard towers similar to that on the GC and we have all been given strict security safety directions now we are officially out of the fenced-wall Village to help keep us safe. I must say that the air smells better down Copa-way!
Tomorrow morning 9am we are heading off with the one female open water swimmer (Chelsea Gubecka and head coach Ron McKeon who’s son, David, and daughter, Emma, both swam in the pool team here) to Forte Cabana to watch the womens 10km open water swim event. I travelled as Sports Physio to the Aussie Open Water swim team from 2004-2007 so feel quite comfortable watching these events and knowing the process and hopefully our only role will be to lube Chelsea before the swim and ensure she has everything she needs (ie gel for during the swim and fluid to drink pre-swim).
Do you know about Vinicius, the 2016 Rio Olympic Games mascot? Vinicus is a mixture of all the Brazilian animals, said to be born out of the explosion of joy that happened when they announced that Rio would host the Olympic Games, on 2 October 2009. Being a mixture of Brazilian animals, Vinicius can do all the best things Brazilian animals can do: Run faster, jump higher and be stronger. Vinicius can also imitate the voice of any animal with his super-communicative skills! Playing all Olympic sports, Vinicius likes to hang out around the city of Rio de Janerio, making new friends, and meeting people from all over the world. From Vinicius’ home, a tree-house in the Tijuca Forest, you can see the entire whole city of Rio.
Saturday 13th August
Wow! Thats about all I can say from being at the Cycle Velodrome last night to watch the Aussie’s on the Track. I was in the crowd cheering on the Aussie boys and watching one of the most exciting races I’ve ever seen live at a venue- the Olympic men’s cycle pursuit gold medal race. The Aussies were ahead from the gun and up by .06 at 2km and the GB team whittled it down to 0.004sec with 750m go then rode a new World Record to beat our aussie boys. My legs are still wobbly from cheering and the excitement. Awesome silver medal to Australia and the best entertainment you could ask for!
Unfortunately Anna Meares and Steph Morton finished 4th in the Womens Team Sprint but they are out to avenge the performance today in the Kierin. In the Kierin up to seven riders compete over 2000m. A special motorised bike called a derny leads the field for the first 1,400m starting at 30km/h and bringing the riders up to a speed of 50km/h. Cyclists manoeuvre for the best position before the derny leaves the track. They then sprint for the finish line. The other event on the Track that most public wouldn’t understand is the Omnium event -is an event that sees six disciplines collide in an event attractive to endurance riders. It is known as the ‘heptathlon’ of track cycling and involves a medley event involving a Flying Lap (250m time trial), Points Race (30km for men, 20km for women), Individual Pursuit (4km for men, 3km for women), Scratch Race (15km for men, 10km for women), Kilometre Time Trial (500m for women) and finally an Elimination Race (every two laps the last rider over the line is eliminated).
At the Veldorome. I sat beside First wheel Cycle Sprinter from the mens team sprint Nathan Hart wand I asked him about his maximum power values -Nathan’s maximum power is almost 2600W, or 28w/kg. Many of us endurance social riders (ie little ol me) probably wouldn’t even hit 600W so that puts his ability into a little perspective! I asked why he doesn’t compete in the mens sprint and he answer was that he is just trained for his first-wheel role only and it would take him 2 years to learn to ride the individual sprint. This highlights how specific training and competition is at this level.
Athletics competition started today and the Triathletes arrived in the Village.
Thursday 11th August
This was my view from the Rio Olympic Velodrome this afternoon where I got to watch the Great Britain womens 4km pursuit team break the Aussie girls world record that was set last year (doh! AND, to make matters worse, the sports psychologist working with the GB cycling program is none other than Aussie Sports Psyc Ruth Anderson who got poached 2years ago to GB from her private work on the Gold Coast and who I was talking to on the bus on the ride home from the velodrome). I then watched the Aussie mens Sprint team come agonisingly close to a bronze medal, only to be beaten by the Frenchies by aobut 0.1sec. The raw strength of these athletes is just phenomenal and I’ve decided there needs to be some post-Olympic video’s of the best athletes in each sport competing against an everyday athlete like you or me to really help put their abilities into perspective.
I have still been helping treat Anna Meares and Nathan Hart regularly in HQ leading into this week. Nathan is wheel one in the mens Sprint and in speaking to Anna, Nathan is the most powerful (ie fastest) lead-out man over the first 200m that Australia has ever had. I don’t know his maximum power in his Exercise Testing, but when I next see him, I will be sure to ask (at a guess, I’m thinking around 1600w and to put that into perspective, check out this You-tube video of another track cyclist toasting bread in a toaster- its pretty cool here). Nathan followed in the footsteps of his father Braham abd began track cycling when he was 12 having been identified in the ACT Academy of Sport talent search program.
Great to also watch Jess Fox live on Rio tv achieve a bronze medal in the slalom canoe, and the whole Aussie Team is looking forwards to watching the Campbell sisters swim in the 100m free tonight.
More Olympic Trivia:
First Male Summer Olympian – Edwin Flack (Athletics and Tennis) – 1896 Athens
First Female Summer Olympians- Sarah ‘Fanny’ Durack (Swimming) – Stockholm 1912 & Wilhelmina Wylie (Swimming) – Stockholm 1912
Wednesday 10th August
A wet day at the Olympics today so we all pulled out the Adidas wet weather gear which looks quite smart if I do say so myself. Last night I watched the swimming evening seminar and proudly watched as our aussie boys in the 4x200m finished 4th, 0.068sec behind the bronze medal. So close, but that’s what happens at the most competitive sporting event in World. It was also the evening to watch Michael Phelps win another 2 gold medals in the pool taking his all-time total to 22 – this is more than Brazil has won as a country across all Olympics (being 19 I believe). What an achievement and I wonder where he keeps them all….
With a relatively quiet day in HQ we have been competing in “La tour de laundromat”. To do our washing over here, we place our clothes in a mesh bag and deliver them to the temporary structure downstairs called a “Laundry” where they need to be scanned to barcode and then scanned to our accreditation and finally cable tied together and placed in the wash tub. As there is are 3 buildings per laudromat and about 500 people per building, there can be a significant waiting line to drop-off or collect the laundry, so we have started a time-trail for drop-off or pick-ups. One of the physio’s currently leads the competition with 3min 29sec which is unbelievable and I wonder if he had some sneaky help as my last trip there took me 25min of standing in line!
Did you know:
- The 1908 Olympics were moved from Rome to London because of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius
- Australia has strict quarantine rules, so when the Games were held in Melbourne in 1956, the equestrian events were held in Stockholm.
- Olympic gold medals aren’t made of real gold. They merely have a gold wrapper, like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. If they were pure gold, the 14-ounce medals would have a value close to $25,000
Tuesday 9th August
Today I am working the late shift in HQ and then heading out to watch our local GC swimmers, Dan Smith, Tommy Fraser-Holmes and Cam McEvoy swim the 4x200m free (around midnight Rio time), while also cheering loudly for all the other aussies swimmers competing tonight. I don’t like my chances at getting front row viewing again, but look out for the cheering aussie finger and you may see me behind it! I have a special spot for the local boys given I see them 1-2 per week for so many months of the year.
I was also super excited for GC local boy, James Roberts who swam as part of the 4x100m relay who won bronze – especially given James’ comeback from shoulder surgery 18months ago. When I first met James 12months ago after he moved from the AIS in canberra back to the Goldie after bilateral shoulder surgery, he wasn’t expected to be able to swim at Nationals, let alone secure a place on the Aussie team and then help the team win a medal in Rio. James is one of only a couple of Australian swimmers to ever have swum under 47sec for the 100m, but after 2years out of competition, leading-in to Nationals he still had to post a District swim qualifying time to enable him to swim at district, then state, then nationals. Under new coach Ash Callus, James was always determined to make it to Rio and well deserves the medal he is taking home!
Thea last night went out to watch the Womens Rugby 7’s final and was there to watch the Aussie girls make history by winning the gold medal – what an exciting game to watch! The rest of us watched it on the small tv’s we have in the treating clinic, where the atmosphere was not the same but the result was just as exciting.
During my day today I treated Melissa Tapper. Mel is making history in Rio as the first Australian to have competed at both the Paralympic and Olympic Games. Tapper represented Australia at the London 2012 Paralympics and will now feature at both the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. She was born with brachial plexus so has limited right arm/hand use. Tapper won a bronze medal as a part of the Australian women’s team at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games so is well credentialed as an athlete. I also treated Anna Meares and Nathan Hart again today from the Sprint Cycle teams with the boys Track Cycling beginning in 2days which I hope to sneak out and watch.
Did you know you can all keep up to date with the latest Aussie team Olympic schedules (ie when aussie athletes are competing to the minute), the latest news and social blog by going to www.rio2016.olympics.com.au
Saturday 6th-Monday 8th August
With the Official start of the 2016 Olympic competition, the Village is a hive of activity. Athletes going in all directions at all times of day and night. The dining hall has been fully opened and is the size lengthwise of 4 Olympic-sized swimming pools and prepares 60,00 meals per day! As many of you know via the messages I have received from those who saw me on tv, I was able to score a seat in the athletes area pool-side for the first night of swimming finals which was a cracker night to see live – I saw Mack Horton win Australia’s first gold medal of the games and then follow that with the 4x100m womens relay gold and world record. I also went to watch gold coast swimmer and long-time athlete of gcpsh Tommy Fraser-Holmes swim the final of the 400IM. Tommy then swam the semi of the 200m free last night and unfortunately on a tired body just missed making the final in a time that last olympics would have earned him one of the fastest qualifying times. The competition is definately hot in Rio!
Along with some TV time in the Opening Ceremony and then at the Swimming, last night I was also in the welcome party cheering on Gold Medal Shooter Catherine Skinner when she was on the live Sunrise morning feed to Aus. So with 3 TV appearances in 3 days, I think there is a game of “spot the Britt” happening with family and friends back home, with my brother leading the medal tally for this event.
Today (monday), I took the bus down to Copacobana to watch the 2nd Aussie womens beach volleyball team. If you have never been to watch beach volleyball in international competition and if you ever get the chance, I strongly recommend it- the atmosphere is fun and exciting with music, dancing, clapping and cheering through an amazing 12,000 seat capacity stadium. Unfortunately the aussie girls had about 5 match points but couldn’t finish off the game and lost to the swisse, but again great athleticism to watch.
Half the Aussie Athletics team arrived today so soft tissue therapy in headquarters is getting very busy managing lots of athletes. Our policy in HQ is that once athletes finish their Olympic campgain, they are lowest priority for any treatment – which is basically telling them that if they have sore legs from dancing or lots of walking to watch other sports, they can’t come complaining to us!
Here’s a few more facts about Rio Olympics:
– Rio games are the 1st Olympics held in South America and the 3rd to be held in the Southern Hemisphere
-There are 306 Olympic events across 28 sports
-In these games, there are 6225 male athletes and 5137 females
Friday 5th August – an Insiders view of the Opening Ceremony
Rio 2016 is the first Olympics where the opening ceremony was not held in the Athletics track, instead it was held in the Football Stadium. Like any major event, the logistics behind the scenes to make this event happen would have been an immense task. As an Aussie Team, we were given very set instructions on what, and how, to wear our Sportscraft formal uniform – how many buttons to have undone on the shirt, how to tie the scarf, not to have our accreditation showing, don’t have the allocated foot socks showing from the Toms shoes, etc etc – so we all got ready and presented at 6pm for our walk and parade through the Village. We then waited for some time for the buses inside the Village that made us all feel very important for transporting us the 45min trip to the Stadium, with full road closure and police escourts. As the Aussie team, we were one of the last teams to arrive at the stadium and were ushered immediately to our place towards the front of the waiting parade of nations. I think we were only in line maybe 10min before we were suddenly at the front of the line waiting for the doors to open – in that moment the anticipation was electric. I will have a short video of this walk in the clinic when I get home for anyone who is keen to see the view from the inside, but I tried not to use my phone too much during this time so that I could really appreciate being in the moment and experiencing a lasting memory.
Walking into the Stadium at that moment was one of the most incredible & exciting sensations (personally, it doesn’t quite match having a baby, but it will still be added to one of my life’s most memorable moments list), and the walk around the pathway happened in a blur. I felt so proud to be walking into the Olympic Stadium alongside my fellow Aussies, representing not only Australia as a country, but also representing my family, the Sports Physio community, and Gold Coast Physio and Sports Health. On walking into the stadium I tried to find the camera to wave to my 2 daughters back home, hoping they would have the chance to see their mum on tv and to help them understand why I have been away for the last 2weeks. Apparently I must have been pretty able to spot in the Aussie crowd because as soon as we finished our parade and I stopped to look at my phone, I already had facebook messages from people saying they had seen me! (thanks little bro and my cousin lar for being so quick on the phone toggles!)
The next hour+ took a while to get through the parade of every other nation, and we kept ourselves busy commenting on uniforms for other nations and trying to place ourselves where the camera would keep getting sneaks peaks of us for our viewers back home. Speeches came and went & with the voices being difficult to hear from inside the arena and the subtitles not matching the words, we were anticipating the fianle. To be present for the lighting of the flame and then the fireworks around the stadium gave me goosebumps and, along with the entry to the stadium, were the highlights of the experience.
The athletes were able to walk, spend 5min looking around and jump on a 9pm bus home. Most officials decided to stay for the whole experience which meant a midnight finish to then be whisked out to waiting buses and a long bus trip home. Arriving at the Village at 1.45am and getting up to start the day at 7.30am made for some tired eyes today, but it was definately all worth it!
Thursday 4th August
Wow- the Olympic Velodrome, what a sight. The only thing more impressive than the structure itself was seeing the whole aussie team (men and women) pursuiting on the velodrome together and then watching the Aussie Sprinters, in particular Nathan Hart and Anna Meares, training their Race Starts. I was watching from inside the track with the Aussies during training. It was pure strength and like all elite athletes performing their craft, they made it look easy.
The Velodrome is a 15min bus trip from the Village and located within the Olympic park and only has seating for around 3500 spectators so I was lucky to have prime viewing for this training session. Apparently there are only 2 Track designers in the world, so this Velodrome is a hot-dog track with a 46degree bank and favours strength athletes more-so than technical riders. Its pretty cool to stand at the bottom of the bank and look up, and it was really interesting speaking to Anna about the Track’s she prefers and just what makes her and the Aussie team so good.
I have also been treating Lucien Delfour. Lucien is an Aussie White Water paddler. After a very strong 2015 season, he was ranked number 3 in the K1 world rankings & he was 5th at the 2014 world championships so will be an athlete to watch in Rio. Born in Papeete in French Polynesia he moved to Australia in 2010 & trains at the 2000 Olympics facility in Penrith.
My other very exciting news for the day is that I received a pass to march in the Opening Ceremony. There was a random draw amoung medical staff for those of us that have not previously walked in an Olympics so Thea, my good friend Kylie and I all received a call up – so make sure you all have the tv on and watch out for us marching proudly in our Aussie uniforms as part of the small Aussie contingent representing Australia in Rio 2016 Opening Ceremony. Aussie Aussie Aussie!
Wednesday 3rd August
The Australian Team engaged in our Official Flag Raising Ceremony today which is a welcome offered by Rio as the host nation to each team. This was the first occasion for the Aussies to don our Official Sports Craft Formal Uniform in which everyone looked very smooth (albeit my kit is a little large and was held up with physio tape and no-one seemed to quite know how to tie our scarves!).
The Ceremony was a mix of a Brazilian dance troop presenting a very carnivale welcome and then the raising of the flag to the National Anthem, followed-up by lots of photos and media. Then it was back to work for the HQ Team.
Before the flag raising the Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller presented her Inspire seminar, mc’d by Gian Rooney and with Governor General Sir Peter Cosgrove invited to speak alongside Aussie flag bearer Anna Meares. Anna’s speech revealed her passionate, dedicated and proud Aussie spirit and I feel privileged to have heard her speak from her heart on behalf of the Aussie Team. Peter Cosgrove was motivating and inspirational and with some video/photo/drawn footage from every modern Olympics shown on the big screens I’m sure this session helped to Inspire and lead the Aussie team towards the Olympics.
Tuesday 2nd August
I had a bit of excitement in the day today visiting the Slalom Canoe Whitewater Centre, and beside it is the BMX track. Both venues are very impressive indeed and are located in the Deodora zone which was about a 40min Olympic bus trip north of the main Olympic Village. The venues are located on the top of a hill and apparently the site is a military zone, and was heavily patrolled by army guards and a helicopter. The photo above is taken standing on top of the slalom buildings looking over towards the BMX track.
This photo is me with Jess Fox, Olympic silver medallist. Jess is an interesting athlete as her mother is a french Olympic bronze medal slalom paddler and her dad a 5time World Champion paddler – talk about pedigree! Jess is also a very grounded athlete who is great to talk to and very interested in learning and listening to others which I find a refreshing trait in such a high level athlete.
With the swimmers in the Village, my usual GC home athletes of Tommy Fraser-Holmes and Dan Smith came to visit me for some treatment, so nice to feel at home somewhat.
Monday 1st August
The Australian Swim Team have officially arrived, and don’t we know it! Some tall, lanky bodies are now seen walking around the Aus headquarters and they bring a further buzz to the atmosphere.
Today I meet and treated Jian Fang Lay who is one of the female Table Tennis athletes. Jian is only the 2nd Australian woman to compete at 5 Olympics in Rio – at 43years and a mother of 2 sons she is also Aus’s oldest table tennis athlete to compete at any Olympics. Here is another interesting fact about TT: Sweden’s Jan-Ove Waldner won the mens singles title in Barcelona in 1992 and remains the only non-Asian player to have won a gold medal in TT. TT was first invented in England in the 1880’s as an after-dinner game using a campagne-cork ball, cigar-box lids as bats and books as netting – hasn’t really advanced too much more!
It was hot weather in Rio today during the day but temperatures overnight are just perfect, although it may get hot for some of the endurance sports competing if it stays like this.
Sunday 31st July
As I write tonight, there is 5days &40min until the Olympics officially begins- hooray! Today I treated the Sprint Track Cyclists again including Anna Meares and Nathan Hart. Nathan competed on the track in London and won bronze in the team sprint at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games and has some pretty massive quads thats for sure!
Today I ventured on a reconnaissance trip to Copacobana zone and the Beach Volleyball Arena which is where I will be located from the13th of August. Australia only qualified 2 female beach volleyball teams for the games, with the 2nd team only just qualifying the hard way last minute. Aussie team of Taliqua Clancy (1st time Olympian and first beach volleyball Indigenous Australian) and Louise Bawden (in her third Olympics) finished the world ranking qualification period in June ranked 7th in the World so there is expectation these girls will make it through to the quarter and hopefully semi-finals in Rio.
The famous Copa Beach was buzzing with activity and will be an exciting place for the events located from this region.
Fun fact for today: The longest race in Olympic history is a 199-mile road cycling race that was won in 10 hours, 42 minutes, 39 seconds by South African Okey Lewis in Stockholm in 1912. That’s a little more than 4,000 times the time it took Usain Bolt to win gold in the 100 metres at the 2012 Games (courtesy of Foxsports.com.au). More photos on facebook from today.
Saturday 30th July
The IOC for RIO 2016 Olympics has overall reduced the number of accreditations, and par
ticularly day-pass accreditations, that allow entry into the Olympic Village in an attempt to tighten security given the World Trends. What this has meant is that no family/friends will have access to the Olympic Village, so to ensure Aussie athletes still get to see and share the experience with their loved ones, the AOC for a first time have established an off-site facility for athletes to go and de-stress and meet family and friends – they have called this location “The Edge” and it is about a 10min drive from the Village. Peter Wells, the lead HQ Physio, and I ventured out to The Edge today to see the facility – the AOC have done an amazing job establishing this as a ‘home away from home’ and the atmosphere there is fantastic, relaxing and very homely. I hope all the athletes and family appreciate the effort made for them behind the scenes to make the venue ‘happen’ (given it wouldve been a big task by all accounts!).
At The Edge there is table tennis, a golf simulator with a Golf Pro to give lessons (and to ensure the athletes don’t get too competitive within their groups having a go at this pre-competition and then injuring themselves!), great food, a barista making great aussie coffee, board games such as monoply and scrabble and a life-size chess board. What a great initiative to give the Aussie Athletes every opportunity to make the Olympic experience a complete one and allow them to perform at their best! (think I may need some more visits to the Golf Pro though before I get home to get my Golf posture looking a little more smick).
More athletes from all nations arrived today so the buzz around the village is increasing. Into the Aussie camp today came the waterpolo men, shooters, and more divers. The rowers (bar the womens 8 that have just received their tickets over after the disqualification of the Russians) have arrived and moved straight to the Aussie accomodation at Copacabana which is close to Logoa Lake where they will compete. To stay in the Village and travel to Copa zone will take approx 45min so the AOC have established a base at Copacobana for all the sports competing to minimise the travel time and travel stresses on the athletes.
No other exciting news from HQ today, so will continue with the updates tomorrow with more athletes entering the village 🙂
Friday 29th July
A bit of excitement to report today from the Aussie HQ Building in the Olympic Village – and not for the right reasons. Building number 23, aka the Aussies, and a few PNG and other Oceania athletes, were evacuated under Emergency Procedures this afternoon due to a fire. The Smoke smell through our medical rooms on the 2nd floor was very strong and as we were evacuating there was quite thick smoke in the stairwell. Everyone was accounted for out the front of the building while we waited for the Internal Village Firefighters to arrive. After not too long, the Aussies Security Manager briefed us that it
was safe to return to the building and we all filed back to work. It didn’t take long for news to get around the team that the fire was started in the basement by a cleaner who apparently threw her cigarette into a rubbish area – so much for the ‘No Smoking Zone’! But at least we all now know the Emergency Procedures!
Today was again relatively quiet with no new athletes arriving today so I spent my time treating the Aussie Track Sprint Cyclists and chatting to the other Medical HQ Sports Physio’s and Soft Tissue Therapists about all things Olympics, Physio, Massage and home life.
Olympic Trivia for the day: There are two finals in swimming — the “B” exhibition final, with swimmers who ranked Nos. 9-16 and the “A” final, where the top eight qualifiers contend for a medal. In 1984, the A final went first and American George DiCarlo broke the Olympic record en route to gold. West German Thomas Fahrner, who had failed to qualify for the A final that morning, saw the time and knew he could best it. He did, going so fast in the B final that he broke the minutes-old Olympic record with a time that would have won gold. He later lamented taking it so easy in the qualifying heats. It’s the only time such a thing has happened in Olympic history (Source Foxsports.com.au)
Thursday 28th July
Our day in HQ was fairly uneventful today, with a few more aussie athletes and national sports organisation staff arriving. The highlight of my day was meeting and having the pleasure to treat and assist Australia’s most successful Track Cyclist and 2x Olympic Gold Medalist Track Cyclist Anna Meares. Anna has 11 World Champsionships to her name and 8 Commonwealth Games Medals- what a Champion!
Other than Anna I have spent some time being able to get some great photos today:
In a fun fact for the day, did you know the first drug disqualification at the Olympics took place in 1968 in Mexico City, when Sweden’s Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall was banned from the modern pentathlon for drinking too much beer before the competition. Hmmmm…
Wednesday 27th July
Athletes really started to arrive in the Village today from pre-Olympic camps all over the World. Australian Flagbearer and 4x Olympian Anna Meares arrived with the Sprint Track Cycling Team, while the Mens Hockey Team and some Shooters and Archers arrived late last night. The 3 Gymnasts and Trampolinists also arrived today so the Australian Team Accomodation is starting to get busier. The photo to the left is the Aussie Team Condominium with Aussie banners and signs everywhere to make the Aussies feel like one big team and to help motivate them.
The Village overall is a pleasant, buzzing venue with all sorts of different colours of uniforms and body shapes and sizes – sounds like a fun game of Pick the Athlete to the Sport coming up (some of the track cycling quads are pretty remarkable!)
Did you also know?? For the first time in Summer Olympic history, the Australian Team will be represented by more women than men (212 women and 207 male athletes). Put this in combination with the first Australian female Chef de Mission in Kitty Chiller, and that makes for a pretty historic achievement and sends a strong message about Womens Sport in Australia.
Tuesday 26th July
Today has been a day of less Physio & Massage work than expected, which feels a little bizzare compared to my usually fully-packed days managing work and a young family. At this point in my Olympic journey the experience has not yet been as busy as anticipated, with most Aus athletes still not in the Village (but i’m sure that will change pretty quickly once athletes do arrive). Our official move-in date is tomorrow (wed 27th) now that the plumbing and electrical issues have been fixed to the satisfaction of Kitty Chiller, our Chef de Mission. The Rio Mayor will be personally welcoming the Australian Team into the village tomorrow. Life will begin to get significantly busier from then with the Medical clinic (doctors, physio & massage) being available from 7.30am-10pm.
So the day has been spent getting to know the Village – a tour of the Olympic Village with some photos (where a
m I in this photo above???), plus a round trip to the amazing statue of Christ the Redeemer, from which you can see how much of a remarkable city Rio really is. The Olympic venues of Copacabana can be seen directly below the statue which is where the events of Cycling, Triathlon, Open-water Swimming & Beach Volleyball will be held. The Sailing could be seen in the bay just to the north and the lake on the edge of Copa will see the competitions of Rowing and Canoe/kayak, so the 
trip really was worthwhile for a number of reasons.
I am based within the Olympic Village at the Headquaters unit until the 13th of August. Currently I have Accreditation into all the Cycling Venues (Track, Road, MTB & BMX) plus Table Tennis for the first week of the games and from the 13th I will likely be moved down to Copacabana location to help service Beach Volleyball, Triathlon, Open-water swimmers and Kayakers if needed.
Here’s some other Olympic trivia for you I read today: For the first time in Olympic history the athletes will receive their medals at three different types of victory – Different music and outfits will be used according to character of each sport ceremonies, according to the style of sport. read more
Monday 25th July
So after a long period of travel (45hrs door-to-door, phew!), we finally arrived in Rio at 11.30pm last night (Rio time), getting to bed at 2.45am after accreditation and transport to the new sleeping arrangements for a few nights.
Today was spent orientating ourselves to the Olympic Village and setting-up the Aussie Medical, Physio & Soft Tissue Therapy Rooms in the Village ready for the first few athletes to start arriving. Jess Fox and the Slalom Kayakers were with us for dinner in the Village dining hall tonight and a few more athletes trickle in over the next few days before the real onslaught begins! 
Sunday 24th July
Gold Coast Physio & Sports Health are very privileged to have 3 staffers working at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Sports Physio Britt Caling & Soft tissue therapist Thea Dillon are both working at the AUS athletes HQ as team AUS therapists to all sports. Sports Physio Myles Burfield is the Kayaking AUS head Physio based with the team in the lead up and during the games.
Thea and Britt departed Gold Coast on their 5 week Olympic adventure on Sunday 24th July in great spirits ahead of the games and Britt will write a daily blog of life in the athletes village with a behind account of sport’s pinnacle of competition.
Rio 2016 is Britt’s second Olympics after London 2012 where she travelled with AUS Kayaking and Sally Pearson and was the head Physio for the AUS Triathlon team.
Thea is no stranger to international duties, she has extensively travelled with Swimming AUS & Athletics AUS throughout the years as she makes her Olympic debut in 2016.
Myles is also well travelled as a Physio, having covered numerous world cup events all over the world with AUS Kayaking.
