What a Day! HOF and Puff.
I do know how to spell (albeit pronunciation is another thing…). HOF stands for Hall of Fame as in the “Paralympic Hall of Fame”. Only 24 athletes and coaches have received this recognition. Read more
Sep 10
The Beaches of Rio
More sport to come AND a cultural interlude.
Ask for the name of a beach or neighbourhood in Rio, and most people will likely say “Copacabana” and indeed that was the only known place prior to 1964. Copa is indeed a superb beach and a hub of activity in Rio.
Opening Ceremonies
A quick blog – only a few hours after the opening ceremonies have concluded and the competition has begun. What an interesting night, if only a bit unsettling at times. Read more
Flag Bearer, Photos and Tents
The ultimate compliment for an athlete is probably to be chosen by his/her peers to carry the flag at opening ceremonies. It recognizes not only past performance, but also the character of the particular athlete chosen. And since Paralympians are not lacking in character, the choice is never an easy one. Read more
Village and Vegetables
There is a link! The afternoon started with me longing for a big salad. Brazil is the land of meat and although I do eat meat, I also love my vegetables and was starting to get in a bit of withdrawal. The day finished with yet more meat – but some interesting ones! Read more
We have ice, Rio has sand
The wait is over, I have finally landed in Rio after a 10+ hours night flight. Luckily, there is very little jet lag involved with only one hour difference from Toronto. So after unpacking, it’s time to find a place for lunch and a quick briefing from the CPC staff.
Barra (pronounced Ba-Ha) is pretty much a long boulevard along the beach, and a busy one at that. Read more
Decoding those tags! (AKA Accreditation!)
Another blog from Sochi worth having a look. Turns out I wasn’t supposed to blog a picture of my accreditation, so for Rio you can still view the card from Sochi!
Here is the original blog from Sochi
You’ve all seen them when watching athletes on TV, those big plastic cards hanging around their necks, ubiquitous in the Games environment. But what do these cards do really? Read more
Sep 4
Many journalists love our athletes, many others love controversy
This is an update on a Sochi post that is worth repeating. The Road to Rio has not been without hiccups, that’s for sure. The International Paralympic Committee courageously made a statement that supports clean and fair sport in our movement. This did generate some media attention and requests for interviews. Read more
Welcome to the Changing of the Guard!
I have been involved in a lot of roles at the Games and can appreciate that each of these roles call for a somewhat different skill set. I’m not sure one ever has every skill required, that’s why we try to build teams of complementary people. Read more
Viva Parapan Am Games!
Months preparing yet is always like opening day sneaks up on me. There is so much to do to get everything ready to the athletes, their families and everyone else involved from dignitaries and sponsors to long time friends of the games, and a lot of it cannot be done until we land either at the village, the host hotel and the venues. So a scramble is almost unavoidable – controlled chaos if you will. Read more
drtardif 