Farewell from Rio

Reporter Randy Starkman is covering the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro.

You see it everywhere in Rio: Kids always holding their mother’s hands when they're walking around the city. You especially notice this on the pathways that line the beaches, because they're much wider than the street sidewalks and easier to negotiate arm-in-arm.

What makes it so nice, though, is these "kids" are in their 40s, 50s and even 60s and the respect/love shown for their elderly parents in that gesture really makes the heart sing. It's not something you see nearly as often in North America.

Just one of many neat memories to take from Brazil in signing off on this blog.

Randy Starkman

The wide world of TV

Reporter Randy Starkman is covering the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro.

A few observations from catching a bit of television here and there over the past two weeks in Brazil:

* For a country that despises the United States, they sure have a heckuva lot of American programs. You name it, you can pretty much watch it. Some of it can be a bit dated, of course. These poor people are about to have failed NFL quarterback Jesse Palmer as the Bachelor inflicted upon them.

* Watching your favorite cartoon characters in Portuguese is a bit of a kick. Bugs Bunny doesn’t sound quite the same unless he’s singing, but then that's in English. The Simpsons is almost as entertaining, even if you can’t understand a word. But it’s really hard to get used to Herman Munster speaking Portuguese.

* We're not the only continent plagued with bad informercials. Yes, the George Foreman Grill is here, too, complete with an overzealous pitchman who isn't George.

* But what Brazilian television is known for is its prime time soap operas, called telenovelas. They’re considered a cut above North American fare and they usually wrap up the different plotlines in six months to a year.

There was a huge crowd of volunteers around the television set one night in the press room at Maracana Stadium – almost equally males and females – watching the latest instalment of one of the shows.

The attraction to the guys is pretty obvious. The female leads can make Eva Longoria look dowdy, and these shows can get pretty raunchy. Italian porn star Cicciolina starred in one telenovela back in the ‘90s.

An Associated Press story from that period noted how her nude scenes were pretty tame, considering other themes on the same show.

"After all," wrote AP, "the show already featured an inter-racial love affair between master and slave, sadism, rape, cannibalism, devil-worshipping nuns and a gay man whose sexuality changes after a black magic 'snake bath.'"

The show did, however, back off from plans to show a nun orgy during Easter week after pressure from the Catholic church.

Not making this stuff up.

- Randy Starkman

Related (er, somehow....)
Pan Am Games coverage

Blowups and putdowns

Reporter Randy Starkman is covering the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Canadian runner Tyler Christopher was just a member of royalty away from landing himself in Victor Davis territory.

CARLOS BARRIA/REUTERS

Canada's Tyler Christopher counts to ten and walks away.

Having been at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia, where the late Davis gained infamy for kicking a chair in front of the Queen when Canada was disqualified in a swimming relay, I can tell you there wasn’t much difference in Christopher's antics when he went ballistic after his men's 400-metre race Wednesday night.

The high strung Chilliwack, B.C., native was furious because he felt there should have been a false start called. Because he didn't hear "set" called or the start gun, the world championship bronze medallist gave up a five-metre head start to the rest of the field before recovering to win a silver medal.

He hoofed a plastic yellow lane marker across the track, barged through some start marshals to a cascade of boos at Joao Havelange Stadium and used a cupboard door for a punching bag underneath the stands.

Not model behaviour, but it was a natural reaction for a fiery athlete, just as it was for Davis some 25 years ago. The Davis incident was blown out of proportion because of the Queen's presence that night and stuck with him until he died tragically after getting run down by a car in 1989.

Luckily for Christopher, his blowup will likely be soon forgotten – unless, of course, they become a regular occurrence.

READY ... SET?

Philip Hersh, the Olympics beat reporter from the Chicago Tribune, parachuted in here Wednesday to do a piece on Rio's readiness to stage the 2016 Summer Olympics, which they aspire to do along with the 2014 World Cup. Chicago is also bidding for the 2016 Games.

Hersh had some questions for Perdita Felicien after her 100-metre hurdles race – she went to university and lives in Champagne, Illinois, not far from Chicago – and from this perspective the questions appeared pretty loaded.

Let's face it, these Games have had their transportation and other problems so it'd be pretty easy to get someone to say this place isn't ready for prime time, which Felicien essentially said to Hersh.

But these veteran eyes have seen 10 Olympics first-hand and I've got one word for any American who would question Rio's ability to hold a successful games: Atlanta.

The Billy Bob Olympics of 1996 were by far the worst I've experienced and I know many of my colleagues hold them in the same special esteem.

The results system here actually works – it didn't in Atlanta. The long bus rides here can be brutal – especially when your head nearly hits the roof because shock absorbers seem to be missing on many vehicles and every driver thinks they're Ayrton Senna.

But I've yet to see a bus driver here stop their vehicle and break down and cry because they didn’t know which way to go. The Pan Am Games actually hired professional drivers. Haven't been on a bus that broke dowe yet, either. Also haven't heard of athletes fighting with each other in the village to get on buses to make it to their events. It all happened in Atlanta and a lot more.

The 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, I'm told by colleagues who were there, had similar nightmares.

And sure the behind-the-scenes staging of a Games here could be filled with corruption, which of course would never happen in Chicago, right? Heck, just look at the 2002 Salt Lake Games, which sparked the Olympic bribery scandal.

Don't blame it on Rio. They’re doing a fine job here.

Randy Starkman

Canadians need to start making noise - on-field and off

Reporter Randy Starkman is covering the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro. Visit this space for regular updates from the Games on Canada's progress, and you can send Randy a question or comment about the Games, the upcoming Olympics and the athletes wearing Canada's colours by clicking here.

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There were an estimated 1,000 people in the stands at storied Maracana Stadium – which holds some 97,000 - for Monday's women's semifinal between Canada and the U.S. But they still made more noise than the average crowd for a Maple Leafs' game at the Air Canada Centre.

That's no joke. Well, it's a joke that so few can dwarf your average Leaf crowd in terms of showing support. But it seems more a cultural thing.

Man, these Brazilians can create a clamour and you've got to tip your cap to them. They get the samba rhythms going, their cheerleaders or mascots aren't hired by the corporations running the teams, and they just let it all hang out, living and dying with their teams in the most public way.

Sure, the booing can be classless at times – the jeering of 14-year-old gymnasts last week was an embarrassment, especially that it was led by a former basketball hero in this country, Oscar Schmidt. This guy has been ubiquitous at these Games, getting his face out there everywhere, kind of like a Tie Domi of Brazil.

But the Brazilians show they care, which is a lot more than you can say for Canadian fans at a lot of events. There was a group of Canadians at the women's waterpolo final against the U.S. with an Olympic berth on the line – not sure if they were parents, team officials or what – but they didn’t make a whimper all night. One of the Canadian rowers got fed up and walked right over to them and tried to lead a cheer for Canada, but they remained pretty much mute.

Luckily for the Canadians, except when they play Brazil, the locals have cheered them on. Those 1,000 at Maracana on Monday made plenty of noise to help get Canada going, all to no avail.

Besides the injuries, something's awfully wrong with that women's soccer team – and they've only got six weeks to right themselves for the World Cup in China.

- Randy Starkman

Related:

Pan Am Games coverage

What would Jesus do?

The Canadian swim team was looking forward to a nice tourist excursion after a week of tough competition at the Pan Ams.

They booked a bus Sunday with a tour company here – one owned by a guy who formerly lived in Winnipeg – and told him that the one site they really wanted to see was the statue of Christ the Redeemer, one of the seven wonders of the world that overlooks the city. Or, as an American described it to me on the flight over, "the gi-normous Jesus."

Well, as soon the team got on the bus, the tour operator from Winnipeg told them there was no way they could get up the mountain to see the Jesus, because it would take more than two hours.

So he took them instead to Ipanema Beach, which took about two hours, anyway, and by the time they got there the sun was going down and it was getting cold. After that, he took them to Copacabana Beach, but it was dark by then.

There was no chance of getting a refund, either.

"If I just wanted to give the money away, I'd rather have given it to a local," said Swimming Canada p.r. ace Martin Richard.

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The food in the athletes village isn't sitting too well with the Canadian diving team.

Told that they could always try Bob's Burgers in the international zone, diver Arturo Miranda replied: "That's where we're spending all our time."

- Randy Starkman

Related:
Pan Am Games coverage

A better future through sport

RIO DE JANEIRO – Some kids are barefoot as they march across the dirty and raw concrete floor carrying badminton rackets. There’s about 16 of them, boys and girls, and they poised themselves for action a couple feet from each other on a court painted in blurry white lines.

The Miratus building is more construction zone than sports facility, a cement skeleton where the workmanship is crude at best. It’s located in the Chacrinha favela, or shanty town, one of about 500 such slums which house this city’s poor and are considered a blight on a bewitching landscape.

But magic unfolds here this morning once the boom box is turned on, the kids moving in synch to the tempo of a beat created for them by their coach. They dart forward to flick an imaginary backhander with their rackets and then scuttle backwards a few steps to deliver an overhead smash, broad smiles indicating their pride in their skills.

Watching this beautiful badminton ballet are Canadian players Charmaine Reid and Fiona McKee, fresh from winning medals at the 2007 Pan Am Games. They made the trip here this morning to swat around a few birds with the kids and leave them some equipment.

They were treated like rock stars afterwards, autographing Canadian flags they’d brought with them, pieces of the kids’ clothing and even shuttlecocks. They let the children touch and try on their Pan Am medals.

"It’s really overwhelming,” said McKay. “Coming out here and playing on courts that are solid like that you’re afraid to slip, it’s a totally different experience. They’re out there with no shoes on. I can’t imagine playing in a facility like this. I feel really spoiled, really lucky, because I have shoes, I have equipment, I have sponsors. It’s a different world over here.”

Reid talked the kids about the importance of having dreams and how she reached one of hers when she competed in the 2004 Athens Olympics. She asked the kids about their own goals.

Eight-year-old Ygor, a cute little guy with big brown eyes and a sweet smile, said he wanted to participate in the Olympics and world championships.

“It hurts my feet,” he said. “But I’ll keep trying.”

Reid and McKee met the man who created this program, Sebastiao Oliveira, when they faced some of the players he’s developed in competition.

Oliveira grew up poor and was raised in a reform insitution from age 7, because his mother was a live-in housekeeper to a wealthy family and couldn’t have him stay with her. He saw many of the kids he grew up with become alcoholics, beggars or drug dealers and is determined to help the children in his neighbourhood to find a better path.

He said sport is a fantastic tool to steer kids away from trouble. The Miratus facility will include rooms where kids can do their homework and get tutoring. It’s mandatory that those wanting to be part of the program stay in school.

“We don’t expect them to become badminton champions,” he said. “Our goal is to put them in society.”

Oliveira lives with his family right behind the building. He told the story of starting to build his own home, before getting the idea to start Miratus.

“I fooled my wife,” he said. “I told her I was going to stop construction of the house and build a small court there and then go back and finish our home. That was in 1998. My house is still not finished. It has no floor and bathroom. This (Miratus) building is better than my own house. I’m thinking about moving here.”

- Randy Starkman

Kite culture

Reporter Randy Starkman is covering the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro.

It's a scene that at first glance speaks of innocence: A little kid deftly flying a crude homemade kite while standing on a rooftop in a dilapidated favela, or shantytown.

The favelas are spread across Rio, some 130 of them, a grim and constant reminder of the stark divide between rich and poor and the seamy underbelly of this beautiful city.

Canadian chef de mission Tricia Smith visited a school in a favela as part of an earlier site visit before the Pan Am Games.

"We even saw a young boy who didn’t even have a kite, he was flying a plastic bag," she said.

It turns out the kite flying scene may not be as playful as it looks.

Fencer Sherraine Schalm said that some field hockey players told her that it’s a warning signal to the drug lords in the favela that the police are coming. It’s also apparently used as a tip-off that a rival gang’s approaching, and working as a kite flyer is usually a first step in indoctrination into the gangs.

Some of this culture is portrayed in the well-received documentary Favela Rising.

Smith said the Canadian team plans to leave behind some sports equipment for children in the favelas, as well as donating signed books written in Portuguese on the history of Rio.

"A lot of the ideas are coming from the athletes," said Smith.

The school in the favela visited by Smith has an affiliation with the Canadian team through one of the team support staff.

NOT IMPRESSED

Count world champion hurdler Perdita Felicien of Pickering among the Canadians unimpressed with the booing and heckling of athletes at these Games.

There was an incident at the beach volleyball where the match was halted because of all the insults and swearing directed at the Argentines, hated rivals of Brazil. Play was not resumed until the spectators at Copacabana beach settled down.

The most despicable act was the cheers heard Tuesday night every time that young gymnasts like 14-year-old Peng Peng Lee of Richmond Hill fell.

"Most host countries are a little more gracious than that," said Felicien, who competes next week. "Normally, they put their best foot forward. So when I’m hearing they’re booing young kids who might not have the chops a veteran might have, an older person might have. That kind of breaks their spirit, I would imagine. To hear something like that, I'm definitely not impressed."

Randy Starkman

Related:
Rhian Wilkinson is a member of Canada's national women's soccer team. She is writing about her experience at the Pan Am Games. You can read her journal entries at her personal blog by clicking here.

Robin Hood rule does not apply

Reporter Randy Starkman is covering the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro. Visit this space for regular updates from the Games on Canada's progress, and you can send Randy a question or comment about the Games, the upcoming Olympics and the athletes wearing Canada's colours by clicking here.

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The well-heeled businesman was in his car in a Rio traffic jam with the window open.

A thief sensed the opportunity and ran up to the car and grabbed the man's expensive watch right off his wrist.

As the thief got ready to dash, he did a quick double take. The man he'd just robbed looked very familiar.

Indeed, he was. It was only the most famous soccer player, if not most famous athlete, in all the world – the one and only Pele.

The thief quickly handed the watch right back to Pele and began to apologize profusely, over and over again.

This story was related by Valeria Zukeran of the Estadao newspaper in Sao Paolo to explain the esteem in which Pele is held here.

"I think if he had a watch himself, the thief would have given that to Pele, too," she said.

Related:
Pan Am Games full coverage at thestar.com

Randy Starkman

Team U.S.A. you stink

Reporter Randy Starkman is covering the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro. Visit this space for regular updates from the Games on Canada's progress, and you can send Randy a question or comment about the Games, the upcoming Olympics and the athletes wearing Canada's colours by clicking here.

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RIO DE JANEIRO – There was a rotten smell wafting last night in the athletes village.

Waiting in the international zone to chat with Canada's newly-minted Pan Am Games gold medallist Anne Samplonius, one was overpowered at times by a disgusting fishy odour.

Standing right next to Bob's Burgers – Brazil's answer to McDonald’s, only you can also get beer – you would have thought that they must make their own version of the Filet-O-Fish, even if it's not on their menu.

Despite the nose news, the international zone was hopping. It's where athletes can do a bit of souvenir shopping, have a bite at Bob's if they’re getting tired of cafeteria fare and do some banking and mail letters. It's also a place reporters can get access to the athletes.

There was a huge crowd in front of the post office, everyone cheek-by-jowl as they watched the Copa America soccer final between Brazil and Argentina. With a long and bitter rivalry between the two sides – debate still rages over who was better: Pele or Maradonna – there was much as stake, as evinced by the huge roar when Brazil scored early en route to a 3-0 win.

Samba music blared over the speaker system and some Canadian athletes – best guess is they were soccer players – grooved to the rhythm as they waited for their milkshakes at Bob's.

When Samplonius arrived she quickly solved the mystery of the stench. It turns out the village is built on a swamp. She said the only way to really experience the aroma is by riding your bike right next to it, as she's had to do because their training course hugs the swamp.

"It's 10 times worse than this," said Samplonius.

At least, the Canadian apartments aren't right next to it. The Brazilians have reserved that honour for some special guests.

"It's funny because that's where they have the Americans located, is on that side," she noted with a laugh.

The Americans insulted Brazilians before the Games even started when one of their staff wrote "Welcome to Congo!" on a blackboard in their mission office. A picture of it wound up in national newspaper O Globo and the Yanks were roundly booed during the opening ceremonies.

Related:
Well-travelled cyclist finds gold medal (July 16)

Randy Starkman

Out of the Pan Am, into the fryer

Reporter Randy Starkman is covering the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro. Visit this space for regular updates from the Games on Canada's progress, and you can send Randy a question or comment about the Games, the upcoming Olympics and the athletes wearing Canada's colours by clicking here.

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RIO DE JANEIRO - Canadian water polo star Cora Campbell isn't letting a run-in with an 18-wheeler stand in the way of trying to help the team qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Campbell was sent flying off her bicycle when a transport truck hit her back wheel on Tuesday, the same day the Canadian women’s water polo team was scheduled to leave Montreal for the 2007 Pan Am Games.

"She was lucky," said assistant coach Ahmed El Awadi of Toronto. "Another foot and the truck would have run her over."

The team sprung immediately into action. The team doctor was called, Campbell was rushed to emergency and her left shoulder was stitched up. Fortunately, she didn't land on her head.

Team officials called the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport to find out what pain and anti-inflammatory medication she could take that isn't on the banned list and bundled her onto the plane.

She's been getting physio here and will probably miss the opener against Brazil on Saturday, but it's expected she will play against the U.S. and in a later game against Brazil. These Games are a crucial Olympic qualifier as the winner gets a berth for Beijing next year. The 33-year-old Campbell came out of retirement to help the team with that quest.

Related:
Pan Am Games official site

Randy Starkman