Author: Jason Gewirtz

After several days of events, one trend that is hard to ignore at the Olympic Summer Games is the number of empty seats. This issue has come up in years past, including in London, with regard to the lower-bowl seats most in view of television cameras—those reserved for Olympic “family” members and sponsors that sometimes […]

When you talk to International Olympic Committee members or U.S. Olympic Committee executives, the talk eventually comes around to the Olympic “movement” and its power to inspire. And while the logistics of the Olympic Summer Games can amaze (in good ways and bad), there are nights like last night that make it hard not to […]

It may have been be a hot day in Rio de Janeiro at the Olympic Summer Games, but for an hour or so on the beach at Copacabana, the 2018 Pyeongchang Organizing Committee was already thinking winter. What, you’re not ready for some luge and curling after watching a week of swimming and gymnastics? Well, […]

LA2024 officials held a briefing in Rio de Janeiro to discuss their bid for the Olympic Summer Games and the message they were sending without explicitly saying it was that Los Angeles would not have nearly as many problems for the International Olympic Committee as Rio has had concerning infrastructure. That’s because only one venue […]

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 […]