After traveling to Rio in 2016 for the Olympics, I was asked to write about my experience during one of the most viewed competition world wide.
So thank you 'Ladies Magazine Cambodia' for the opportunity to share my story.
Let's Talk Rio Olympics
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE!
My name is Alejandra and I am in my mid 20’s, and a Mexican working in Austin. Now that all introductions are out of the way we can focus on what is important. The Olympics! I got the chance to travel to the greatest of the games and a modern international sports competition that is held once every four years. This world-renowned event brings people together from all corners of the world to witness professional athletes competing for that gold medal.
I spend the first twenty-eight hours traveling to Rio de Janeiro Brazil the first South American country to host an Olympics. On this trip I had the pleasure of traveling alongside my economic provider and private bank… my mother. The most extraordinary woman I know and the one who invited me to tag along her spontaneous midlife crisis trip to the Olympics. There was no hesitation in my part when she asked me to tag along. So I left my News Production work in Austin and begun the trip of a lifetime.
All 11,551 athletes and 500,000 foreign travelers arrived in Brazil on August 5th 2016, including us when we arrive at seven in the morning. We struggled to stay awake. The opening ceremony was not meant to start for another eight hours. We left early just in case we got lost and made our way to Maracana stadium.
Located in the heart of Rio and host of the 2016 olympics, is a breathtaking structure. Its capacity to hold 78,838 spectators and its amphitheater style seating was the perfect venue to light that torch. As I entered the stadium people from all over the world shuffled to their seats and posed for pictures. There was people playing a game, where you have to take pictures with as many nationalities as you can. We sang, we danced, we drank and celebrated, It was a party among the countries. As the lights dimmed and the stadium trembled, happiness surged my body as the official ceremony begun. A packed stadium. It might have been a better view from home, but nothing compared to the view I had of a packed stadium, Making me feel so small amongst the thousands of spectators.
For the next ten days we hit a few tourist locations like the Cristo Redentor, Pão de Açúcar and Copacabana. But our main purpose was to see as many Olympic events as possible, in the limited time we had in Brazil. The Olympic valley was the primary location for the tournaments and where we spent most of our time. But first I want to praise the event organizers who did a fantastic job organizing volunteers in every station, street corner and entrance to the arenas, guiding everyone who was lost. Which was me most of the time, so in my opinion that was extremely helpful. There were never any long-Disney-style lines that make you want to kill yourself, but we did spend most of our time traveling from one stadium to the next which was exhausting.
Archery, synchronized diving, gymnastics, volleyball and swimming are some of the events I got to enjoy. At the end of the event I would always feel like a sports expert ready to report about today’s results. The swimming 100m Butterfly race with Michael Phelps was one of my favorite competitions, where he received his 22nd gold medal… because he hasn’t broken an Olympic record before, am I right?. Female Fencing was also very technical and fast paced that it was entertaining to watch. I got to see the famous Ibtihaj Muhammad play for the USA team and afterward pose with her for a picture. She was a very good competitor against the Russian team who ended up taking everyone by storm. Where else would I get the opportunity to mingle amongst “athletic gods”?
There was no other emotion you could feel but happiness. The Olympics left a mark in my timeline labeled as one of the most inspiring and thrilling adventures I have had. We aspire to travel more in the future, but I believe it will be very hard to beat that one time we went to Brazil for the Olympics.
Comentarios