A special McDonald's inside Olympic Park that serves only frozen products. - DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS

Olympics

DK's Five Rings: People everywhere, fear nowhere

Aug 8, 2016 • 11:16 pm

4.2K

RIO DE JANEIRO -- A dozen years ago, when the Olympics returned to their ancestral home of Athens, they quickly went from being the Host Games to the Ghost Games for the opening week. It wasn't just that the venues were empty. The entire Olympic Park was empty. I remember the poor torch sitting there at the heart of the park with almost no one around it at mid-day, no sound but the gas pump coldly creating the flame. The streets and sidewalks and cafes were empty, too.

Who could blame the Greeks, though?

The fears of terrorism were at an all-time high in the first Summer Games after 9/11, and the media reports of the extraordinary security -- the bill for which that country has yet to pay -- served primarily to scare away the good citizens rather than the bad.

Eventually, that changed, people came back to Athens, and a good time was had by all.

In Rio, they skipped all of the above steps and went straight to the good time, as is very much the Brazilian way.

The Olympic Park is packed with spectators, who appear to be from all walks of life. Venues have been mostly filled and mostly loud, particularly those that involve competitors wearing green and gold. The restaurants and cafes are filled, around the Park and way in the centro of the city proper, and deep into the night. The music blares, the people dance, and the TVs are almost invariably tuned in to the Games themselves.

Here's a 30-second snippet of some night scenes I shot:

https://vimeo.com/178092887

I offer this not because nothing's wrong here. There have been problems, a few of which I've shared since arriving. But it's also probably noteworthy that nothing -- including the bluster and hysteria coming from so many other corners of the world -- is deterring much of anyone here from enjoying their moment in the sun.

THE GLOBAL HEADLINE

The national headline trumped any global ones Tuesday, as spirited Rafaela Silva became the first Brazilian to take gold, this in 57kg judo with a spectacular takedown of Sumiya Dorjsuren of Mongolia that led to the most emotional scene of these Olympics to date, with the crowd leaping, roaring and chanting, 'Ra-fa!' as Silva herself broke down in tears.