Olympic Games 2016 in Rio de Janeiro

They say that winning the bid to stage the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro was not the difficult part. Frankly, with being the first city in South America to host the Olympic Games certainly put Rio ahead of the chasers. Let’s face it, Tokyo had lesser of a chance on account of the fact that Beijing had the last games in the region. Madrid would have been a repeat of Barcelona, though in a positive way, and Chicago, well, it was a long shot and as we know it it came last.

With over six million inhabitants, of which nearly 20% are said to live in favelas, a generic term for shanty towns in Brazil, dealing with the overcrowding and chaotic public transport system alone will be a major task to accomplish for the planners of the summer games 2016 in Rio. Of course Brazil is to host of the soccer World Cup in 2014 so they have an added intensive to get things right before the games two years after that.

We’ll be updating you on the progress made, whether the construction of the Olympic Village in Barra da Tijuca, the preparations around Lagoa Rodrigo De Freitas, Copacabana, or the Maracana Stadium, the Olympic Stadium, where the opening ceremony and track and field evens will take place.

Not really, just a little tire around my waste. But I wonder about all these fat people I keep seeing all around me in good old USA. Obviously they are the most nonathletic folks around the planet. And we certainly dominate the world in fat people!

Then when I go to the Y I see the opposite crowd, the fervent hot young, middle age and old crowd that work out so hard to keep in shape. Made me wonder if there is an association between fat people in this country and interest in the Olympic Sports?

So I googled the topic and here comes the first site and the headlines are astounding. The first is USA Field Hockey Weekly Report. Next is about Ryan Millar writing a blog for Mizuno, a key USA Volleyball sponsor and partner – who the hell has a clue about any of it. But at least volleyball is a popular and well understood sport. Then I read “Hasta luego…” something about I wish there was a way to thank each and everyone of you who has shared some aspect of team handball with me in the past 3+ years, presumably by USA Team Handball Blog.

Good God, how many average Americans know or even hear of Field Hockey!? Do the Spanish speakers in this country really understand Team Handball? What does it mean” Hasta luego,” anyway? I sweat in the Y, pump some iron, then go into sauna, more fat people there, none of them really exercised today, nor any other day, they just come to the Y to soak in sauna and shower, I guess too fat to even try to shad some pounds. After shower, one of them munchies on potato chips in front of his locker, still half naked.

I am disgusted with all and leave. I had a bad day, but that is another topic.

Conclusion? Seems that lack of interest in Olympic sports is one damn good reason why there are indeed so many fat people in America. Argue with me, if you wish, I had a rough day and I just felt like unloading on all these fat slobs all around me. I will never allow myself to become just like them!

Marathon race is 42.195 kilometers or 26.365 miles long. Its roots are in Greek ancient history when a messenger was dispatched to Athens to let the citizens of the City-State of Athens know that Greece just won the war.

Few events symbolize the Olympic Games more than marathon. Discus throw, epitomized in stone by the famous sculpture of Discobolo, is one of those symbols of the ancient Olympics, yet today the track and field event does not get much attention unless those watching are fans, knowledgeable about the records and admire the grace of the event. Sprints, namely 100 meter dash, is a classic event for the sheer fact it personifies the fastest human on Earth. Sprinters are often held in highest esteem. Who can forget Armin Harry running 100m at 10 seconds flat at the Rome Olympics, or, Wilma Rudolph becoming the first American woman to win three gold medals in the Rome Olympics. Who can forget the legendary Bikila Abebe running the Rome marathon barefoot, or when Joan Benoit became the first winner of the Women’s Olympic Marathon at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

Today the long distance running events are dominated by the Kenyans and Ethiopians. Nine out of top ten marathon times in the world today are held by Kenyans, the best, however, is time of an Ethiopian, Haile Gebrselassie, who holds the current World Record at the incredible 2 hours, 3 minutes and 59 seconds. The nine Kenyan runners have run all within mere one minute slower than the Ethiopian, a phenomenal depth of runners for a single nation. While the Kenyans have long dominated these events it was not until Samuel Kamau Wanjiru finally won the first marathon gold for Kenya at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Since 1896 only two runners have won the Olympic marathon gold twice, Bikila Abebe and Waldemar Cierpinski. But only one runner stands above all in the Olympic long distance running events. That man is Emil Zatopek of former Czechoslovakia. Zatopek was the first and still remains as the only runner that has won the 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters and the marathon at the single Olympic Games, the unofficial Triple Crown of Olympic long distance running events, in runners’ lingo aka Nickel, Dime, and the Big One. It took place at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki. Called the “The Czech Locomotive” Zatopek dominated the long distance events from late 40s until mid 50s, broke eighteen world records ranging from 5,000 meters to 30,000 meters, including 6 miles, 10 miles, 15 miles and the one hour run. At the Helsinki Olympic Games his phenomenal achievement winning all three races is even more remarkable as he had done so over a period of only eight days and considering he had never run a marathon before! And that is only just scratching the surface of who was Emil Zatopek.