Author: Jason Gewirtz

When Rio was chosen to host the Olympic Summer Games in 2009, one of the exciting parts of the bid was the notion of a temporary beach volleyball venue on Copacabana Beach. Now that the stadium has been constructed (even if it took organizers until the last minute to complete it), the venue, while temporary, does […]

The U.S. Olympic Committee, like most national Olympic committees, establishes a home base during the Games where athletes, coaches, executives, sponsors and other Olympic family members can meet, relax or network. At the 2016 Olympic Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, USA House is located at the edge of Ipanema Beach in an elementary school […]

While the debut of golf has made headlines with so many of the world’s best men skipping the tournament, it’s notable how many of the world’s best tennis players have found a way to make the Olympics an important part of their schedule. On Sunday alone, players in action included Serena Williams; a doubles match […]

It is somewhat surprising that the Olympic sport of team handball has not really caught on in the United States. Players throw or bounce a ball to each other and try to score on a net guarded by a goalie who must do extraordinary things with his body to make saves. On the surface, it […]

At the Olympic Park and at venues across the city or Rio de Janeiro, the same menu is available for concessions featuring some basic sandwiches, a hot dog, among other things, all for about $4 or $5. (Although for some reason, I’ve come across more than a few that only seem to have peanuts available…) […]

Olympic Park in the Barra section of Rio de Janeiro opened for events yesterday and was full of activity through midnight, when the first of the swimming finals on the program concluded. (But if you were so inclined, you could see still events at that hour local time as across the city in Copacabana, Americans […]

SportsTravel caught up with U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun, who was attending the debut of rugby sevens at Deodoro Stadium, watching the U.S. women’s team lose a close match to Fiji in their opener. IOC President Thomas Bach was also in attendance. We had a chance to chat with Blackmun about the event and […]

Rugby last appeared in the Olympics in 1924 in its more traditional 15-a-side rugby union format. In 2016, it’s rugby sevens that is on the program, a quicker more high-scoring version of the sport. The United States won the last gold medal when the sport was on the program and has qualified both its men’s […]

Rio 2016 promised to deliver an Opening Ceremony fitting of the city’s journey to host the Olympic Summer Games and delivered in memorable fashion. According to organizers, this was their goal for the ceremony: “We want to change some paradigms of the Olympic ceremonies. We replaced the high-tech approach, the dependence on major electronic and […]