I just want to make it clear that when I entitled this blog ‘the bag from Brazil’ I was not referring to me. I am referring to the most coveted item – the Press Bag which denotes that you were indeed a member of the accredited press at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. It isn’t very fancy and, considering how much it has actually cost when you look at the many expenses of covering this event, it seems a paltry item in return.
Yes, I have arrived in Rio and have, in a very short space of time, settled in to the apartment being shared with three Kiwi media ladies (Jane Thompson from Horse & Pony, our dear Libby Law and ESNZ media liaison Diana Dobson) and potentially a French photographer which is a little unexpected but there you go. We’ll see how that unfolds
The accreditation was very quickly and seemingly easily managed at the airport but unfortunately it didn’t work when I tried to access the secure zone of the Main Press Centre. The soldiers shook their heads sadly and shrugged their shoulders – they were very sorry but there was no way I was getting in until a nice Accreditation lady accompanied me and assured them that it was just a glitch, it would be fine tomorrow and they let me in to the hallowed turf of the MPC. The main objective of that was of course to get the precious bag and it was going to take more than a few soldiers with guns to stop me ...........
Soldiers are not in short supply. A platoon of them dropped and did push ups in the middle of the street in front of our apartment block at the Media Village at Deodoro and they seem to be on the corner of every street between here and the MPC. Despite the reports of traffic chaos in Rio, tonight the streets were completely empty as the coach took me from Deodoro to the MPC; the only traffic chaos was when our first bus driver had his rather large wing mirror knocked off by another passing bus as they were both parking. They were both amazingly calm about it which was rather disappointing
So there you are. Or rather here I am and, as it is well past midnight, I am heading to bed. Tomorrow the ramblings will stop hopefully and you’ll get some decent information as I head out on a cross country walk with course designer Pierre Michelet, a media stable visit and hopefully find a supermarket so that I don’t have to live on Kit-Kats
Outside The Media Press Centre where people talk to themselves in front of cameras
