Rio 2016 Olympics - Swimming

An emotion to remember.

I'm a bit of a suspect when it comes to the Olympic Games and especially swimming. As a former athlete, watching the swimming at the Olympics made me completely emotional at every moment, it was hard to hold back the tears, it felt like I was touching those waters and going in completely focused to swim alongside the myths!

Swimming is one of the oldest sports at the Olympics, dating back to Athens in 1896. It's also one of the most popular sports, and it's a unique experience to be able to see athletes like Michael Phelps, considered the best athlete of all time, up close, surpassing the feat of Mark Spitz who won 7 gold medals at the Munich Olympics in 1972, but Phelps beat that record and won 8 gold medals in Beijing in 2008, a true legend, not to mention that he is also the athlete with the most Olympic medals in the WORLD!
Can you imagine the thrill of seeing such a beast up close? It blew my mind!

[small_header]The Aquatic Stadium[/small_header]

It's huge and it was packed, every time there was a shout in favor of someone's country, but when there were Brazilians in the competition, the stadium went to the ground giving pride to the nation! Everyone there was a De Deus, a Manu, Larissa, Thiago Pereira and so many others who made our hearts flutter. We went to watch the qualifiers in the afternoon, and I could already see that even though swimming isn't the country's number one sport, it's a sport that's in everyone's heart, it was lovely to be able to take part so closely and bring the whole family to cheer me on, seeing my little group of people shouting UHULLL and clapping was priceless, it's so rewarding to plant the seed of sport in our little ones that it ended up outweighing the thrill of watching the athletes swim!

Swimming is very fast, the session I went to started at 1pm and ended at 3:35pm at the latest for the qualifying races. Precisely because the races take longer or shorter, it's the Olympic sport that awards the most prizes: there are 32 races in total, 16 for each gender!
After the athletes have swum and the competition is over, it's possible to enter the part of the grandstand closest to the pool where tickets are more expensive, from where the photos are beautiful to keep as a souvenir, we waited and took ours!

The Aquatic Stadium is all enclosed, so if it's raining or sunny it won't make any difference and it's easier to take children and babies, there are places to put IDs on the little ones, to store baby carriages and toilets with baby changing facilities, by the way, take the opportunity to change diapers inside the arenas, because I didn't find any in the Olympic Park.

[small_header] Tip [/small_header] Arrive earlyThe Olympic Park is huge and the Aquatic Stadium is not so close to the entrance, not to mention that there are huge queues to check in and enter the Olympic Park, if you go at short notice you risk not seeing anyone swimming, not to mention the traffic to the Olympic Park, which is not the best.

The Olympic Park in Barra da Tijuca is the city's main competition venue, with the Carioca 1, 2 and 3 arenas, the Velodrome, the Future Arena, the Aquatic Stadium, the Tennis Center, the Maria Lenk Aquatic Center and the Rio Arena. The Olympic Park hosts 16 sports spread across the arenas.
The Olympic Park is undoubtedly the place where you can breathe the most of the Olympics in the city. As soon as you enter, you're transported to another world, with people from everywhere and a completely friendly and cheerful atmosphere, not to mention that the athletes' atmosphere of overcoming challenges is contagious at all times, full of entertainment, you can visit the mascots' house, where you can take a photo with Tom, or with the real torch, I thought it was great and I could see how heavy it is! There's also a timeline with all the torches used in the modern Olympics up to the present day, very instructive and entertaining.

There's also a communal area with a variety of food options, including meals, snacks and drinks, but I found the prices to be quite steep! Water R$8,00, beer R$13,00, I ended up buying one to take home as a souvenir, lol You only get the glass if you buy beer.

There are also soft drinks and mate for R$10.00, but the tip is to go to the Coca Cola space, at the end of the Olympic Park, because they are giving away exclusive bottles for free and they are completely cold and delicious, hummm, I've already started my collection, haven't you? In the coca cola area you can also take a photo with the torch, learn about the history of coca cola in the Olympics and visit the store with exclusive products, there are also pin collectors who exchange their rarities for others, I got pins from old Olympics like the 1980 Olympics! From Athens, I was SUPER HAPPY and I'm still going to add to my pin collection that I started at the PAN2007, here in Rio de Janeiro, when I was a volunteer, you can see how enthusiastic I am about sport, right? I want to travel and see all the Olympics, in 2012 I went to London and bought the mascot and visited the Mega Store, but unfortunately I didn't go to any of the stadiums or watch the competitions.

Each place has a specific gift, at Claro you can take a photo with a hologram pretending you're in one of the arenas and then print the photo as a souvenir, at Nissan you take part in various activities and at the end you get a towel, at Samsung they are Pins, there are many attractions that are worthwhile, take the whole day to visit the place, it's fun for sure!
The Skol space is fun for adults, with a huge and lively dance floor.

It's also possible to sit on the lawn in front of the fest stage and watch the shows and cheer along with the crowd, I loved it, I wanted to come back every day!

Looking forward to the next ones in Tokyo, can I make it? What about you? Have you ever traveled to watch a match?
[small_header] How to get to the Olympic Park[/small_header]

CAR:
The streets closest to the Olympic Park are closed to traffic, so you have to walk about 10 minutes, about 800m to the entrance of the Park, even for those taking the BRT, we drove and parked in the back streets of the Rio2 condominium, it's not easy to find a parking space, you can also stop at Shopping Metropolitano, we walked a little further, since the parking spaces are even further away, but I preferred it because I was with a stroller, a baby and a lot of stuff, the BRT has been full to return mainly.

METRO:
Line 4 to Jd. Oceânico and integration with BRT

BRT:
Take the Terminal Centro Olímpico/Morro do Outeiro
-Special Line Jd. Oceânico x Centro Olímpico
-Special Line Vic. Carvalho x Centro Olímpico/ Rio2