IF TRUTH IS DRY, RUMOR IS BETTER
RIO DE JANEIRO — A look back at day six of competition at the Rio Olympics.
Beware of the water
Finally someone fesses up about getting sick from the water in Guanabara Bay. A former bronze medalist in sailing, Belgium’s Evi Van Acker, was reported to have contracted a severe intestinal disorder after exposure to the water. The story is that Van Acker got sick after exposure to the water during training in July. The sickness returned this week.
The water quality at these Games has been the subject of much discussion. Many have said it is just too polluted to conduct competition in it. Athletes say they are used to competing in less-than-pristine water.
But the best story of the week was an unsubstantiated report — in the U.S. we call them rumors — from a British journalist that a kayaker capsized during training after striking a couch. Furthermore, there was the question of whether it was a couch or a daybed. The story made the rounds with every journalist hoping it was true.
Hey, what took so long?
In what is the early contender for feel-good story of the Games, the island nation of Fiji won its first-ever medal in the new Olympic sport of rugby sevens. Britain, clearly not preceded by the word Great on this day, was the loser in the 43-7 match.
The entire Fiji population of 900,000 was said to have been huddled around TV sets watching the game. Classes were stopped and banks closed down. Fiji became the No. 1 search term on Google for a while. Some religious folk fasted in the hopes of improving the team’s chances After the win, Fiji Airways said it would be serving only Fiji beer.
Rugby sevens is the national sport of Fiji, played by every boy on the islands. Before you anoint Fiji as your favorite island nation not inhabited by kangaroos, remember that Trinidad and Tobago, with a population of only about 400,000 more than Fiji, has won 18 Olympic medals.
Obligatory drug item of the day
Of all the elaborate ways people use to try to get around the doping protocols, you have to be amused at Kenya’s game of two-card Monte. On Thursday they sent track coach John Anzrah home after he gave a urine sample wearing an athlete’s accreditation card and signed the form in the name of the athlete.
Now if you’re Ferguson Rotich, the 800-meter runner who was impersonated, do you really think it’s a good idea to run in the heats Friday? Really?
Call security
Imagine the surprise of a Times editor when he went through security one day this week only to see that the person sitting behind the belt looking at the X-ray images was sound asleep. Head-on-chest asleep. And no one seemed to care.
On other occasions the person watching you go through the magnetometer had their backs to you talking to others. Still, you feel pretty safe in the media compound at Olympic Park.
L.A.: Do you feel the shame?
Well, the LA24 bid committee, along with the other three bid cities, got a gentle wrist-slapping from the International Olympic Committee for inviting media to their hospitality houses to show them what a great place their city would be to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.
At first only L.A., Rome and Paris were admonished, but on Thursday Budapest was added to the list.
A few Times staffers did attend the media event at USA House and found the L.A. presentation to be quite impressive and high-tech. Didn’t come cheap. Amazingly, the presentation and graphics showed no traffic backups on any of the major L.A. arteries.
The winning city will be chosen in September of next year.
Controlled is a good thing
The second controlled explosion of the Games occurred at the Olympic basketball arena Thursday before the Spain-Nigeria game. A backpack was found near a trash can in the bathroom of the top floor of the arena. The federal police and army blew it up and discovered it contained a tablet, a pair of socks and a jacket.
The first incident was Saturday when a suspicious package was detonated near the cycling road race. It too was not found to be dangerous.
The game started on time with only the players, officials, volunteers and media in attendance. The crowd was allowed to enter during the first quarter.