(ATR) When Swiss triathlete Jolanda Annen arrived at Rio de Janeiro-Tom Jobim Galeao International Airport, she found Rio 2016’s yellow-shirted volunteers and gave several of them Swiss national team pins.
"It was a good city, no dangerous situation for me," said Annen, who finished 14th in her first Olympic triathlon. "There are so many volunteers that did a great job."
Such was the mood the day after the Games closed on a rainy, windy note. When Around the Rings visited midday, there were no flight delays listed and passengers appeared to be moving well through check-in lines in the expanded-for-the-Olympics Terminal 2. There was only one minor pinch point as athletes queued in the international security lineup. The media shuttle bus from the Main Press Centre at Olympic Park in Barra took only 40 minutes through mostly light traffic on the post-Games public holiday.
In Terminal 1, members of Russia and Uzbekistan’s teams waited for their check-in counters to open. The airport did not appear to be at full capacity, as a bank of check-in counters were not in use.
The Brazilian government expected 2.5 million visitors during the Olympic and Paralympic period. The average daily passenger count is 40,000, but the government expected as many as 90,000 on Aug. 22.
A small Terminal 1 Rio 2016-branded merchandise store was packed with customers and had a line-up nearly reaching the corridor.
Mark Tewksbury, a gold medal swimmer for Canada at Barcelona 1992, was in line to check in for an Air Canada flight in Terminal 2. Canada’s chef de mission for London 2012 was a commentator for CBC at Rio 2016.
"It was surprising, a very good games I think," Tewksbury told ATR. "Some good surprises, some not so good surprises. More empty seats than I have ever seen at an Olympics, but more records in the pool for a Canadian team than I’ve seen for a long time."
Tewksbury said there seemed to be "two Olympics," one in Copacabana and one in Barra, where he spent much of his time because he was stationed at the aquatics centre.
"I made it out a couple of times (to Copacabana), I’m determined to come back for a holiday. I was that impressed with the city."
ATR spotted members of U.S.A., Italy, Malaysia, French, Cayman Islands and German delegations, but no superstars. Jamaica’s Usain Bolt was only inside Terminal 2 on the big Nissan billboards above the check-in counters. He was spotted at the airport before the closing ceremony and is reportedly in London.
Written by Bob Mackin in Rio de Janeiro.
Forgeneral comments or questions, click here.
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about theOlympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribersonly.
Últimas Noticias
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
