Track and Field: It Doesn't Get Better Than This!

Jason finally got a few days off from work and we headed to the track stadium.  Track and field doesn't get any better than the Olympic Games!  I was surprised to find a lot of empty seats in the track stadium (and most of the events we attended.)  I'm not sure how much of that was the bad media Rio got leading up to the Olympics that kept foreigners away or if the locals just couldn't afford to buy tickets.  I did feel bad for the athletes because it was probably a bit disappointing to make it to the Olympics and then have such sparse crowds there to watch.  We had a fantastic time attending four sessions of track and field.  Here are just a few of the highlights.  We saw Emma Coburn win the bronze in the women's steeplechase and Evan Jager win the silver in the men's steeplechase, the first two steeplechase medals for the United States!  We had some great seats on the bottom level near the water jump for the men's steeplechase.  We saw a world record broken in the women's hammer throw.  We saw Usain Bolt run the 200 meter prelims and semis.  He was a great entertainer and the crowd loved him!  It was the only time the crowd was as loud as when the Brazilians were competing.  We were able to mingle with several athletes that we met as we were leaving the stadium including Bernard Legat.  Our last session was an evening session and we had great tickets right in the middle of the home stretch in the lower section.  We were right in front of the action for several finals.  The highlight of the night was the US women sweeping the medals in the 100 meter hurdles!  We had so much fun cheering on the world's best athletes and Team USA!