The eventing horses have settled in very well and are oblivious to the continuing little niggles and frustrations that are keeping us busy. They have been lightly worked today in the main dressage & jumping arena and seem to have recovered from the flight extremely well. There is not a great deal for the riders to do during these first few days so Team USA Eventing headed off to Christ the Redeemer; one of the must see places to visit in Rio. It has been a beautiful sunny day in Rio today so I am sure the views are breathtaking.
We now have water in our wash-down stalls and power to our container so all the snagging list is complete! Fingers the Physio has set up shop in the container (it is lined, has lighting and is air conditioned) and is open for business. I am most definitely putting my name down. Today was also spent tying up some detail around some accommodation and parking we have in Deodoro. This took most of the morning and then it was back to the hotel to try and catch up on admin. Deodoro is where the equestrian venue is and is essentially a very large Military Barracks and within the military estate there are 5 Olympic venues: we are VERY well protected!
I won’t lie, there are frustrations and at times things just seem to take a little bit longer than I am used to. Take trying to ring people; three different phones and it still took nearly 30 minutes to make two calls to arrange three small pieces of detail. If I hear “Claro ding dong ding…” (aka you’re not being connected and there ain’t a damned thing you can do about it) I am going to have a serious meltdown and sense of humour / humor failure.
Whilst it seems a year ago, when we were in Houston (last weekend), we pre-packed the Team clothing for the dressage and jumping riders, staff and groom. This all arrived in Rio early last week and cleared customs a day later. Since then it has been sitting in dispatch center “waiting” for a truck to deliver it to the hotel (as I said earlier…things just take a little longer). With dressage arriving tonight, Fabiano and Christy took charge of the situation commandeered two of our vans to bring the 48 (approx.) bags back to the hotel. Currently, I think, we are only missing one bag; so that will be a pleasant surprise for someone.
Christy sorting through the sea of bags:
As I mentioned, the dressage invasion kicks off tonight. Horses are en route and land somewhere around midnight and will get to the venue around 3 a.m. (the kit probably a little later) First dressage (human) flight has just landed and the next follows in about 40 minutes. It is going to be a very very long night!! So off now to Deodoro to meet the dressage grooms and drop off their Team kit. Back to the hotel to see the riders, couple of hours shuteye, and then back to the venue at 2:30 a.m. to meet the horses.
And so back to those damn phones; on attempt number 5 to get hold of someone who I need to speak to urgently.