So what events are the most likely to be delayed or postponed?
Tennis? Beach volleyball? Cycling?
Nope. Rowing. In bright day light.
The wind blew and the water lapped up against the shore at Lagoa Stadium, but there was no sailing for exactly both of those reasons.
Yesterday’s conditions were bad enough. American Generva Stone saw a sizable lead erased after hitting a rogue wave. She managed to hold onto win her heat by .4 seconds, but a Serbian men’s pair wasn’t so lucky. Milos Vasic and Nenad Bedik ended up capsized halfway through the 2,000-meter race after hitting a bad wave.
And Sunday there was no taking those same risks.
Kevin and I learned of the initial one-hour delay on the bus ride to the stadium. Shortly after we arrived, the races were pushed back another hour. And right before the new scheduled start of the competition, all races were postponed for the day.
So much for waking up at 6:30.
We got back to the Olympic Park around 11:30 and I set out to get lunch inside the massive park. Just one week ago we walked through this area with almost no soul in sight. Now it’s insanely packed with an incredible atmosphere.
Then I reach the highlight of my day — more tennis.
After lunch I went back to Center Court to watch Serena Williams face off against Daria Gavrilova. I entered with Williams up 4-2 in the first set, but quickly thought I was a jinx after her serve was broken. But Williams, as she’s known to do, but her foot down and ran away with it from there, finishing the win 6-4, 6-2. I must say though that Gavrilova put up a heck of a fight and got a well-deserved ovation as she left the court.
I then returned to Rio2916.com, although nothing really happened there. But Akshay got to cover Leah Smith, the bronze medalist in the women’s 400 free. You can read his story for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette here.
Monday I’ll be back at rowing and hopefully this time there are people rowing their boats down the lake.
Miles walked today: 6.73
Total miles walked: 54.39
