Yesterday I got word that the Olympic Torch relay would pass by my area. I thought it was best to not let this once in a life time opportunity pass me by. I also wanted to catch the Olympic vibes as I was still in disbelief that the event was still being held in the midst of a pandemic, but it seems there is light at the end of the bullet train tunnel.
After a long morning of cleaning out wifey's car ( kids mess everything up), I made my way to the location and parked at a near by super mall one hour before the start of the event. Here are the pics I got for you all.I hope you can appreci-love them.
Here is the city culture center where the event started. At first it was a modest crowd but it was slowly building up and so was the presence of police officers.
As time went on, the crowd grew out of nowhere. It was mainly filled with elderly people at first, as most are at work at noon on a Tuesday.
There were many Olympic vehicles around, some transporting athletes, others were sponsors and security. This particular bus carried the torch relay runners.
At the cultural center, a live band consisting of high schoolers played a couple Olympic type classics. If you know music you can imagine.
These dudes upfront must have been some big wigs I can imagine, all suited up with official badges and name tags.
Another one of those Olympic sponsor busses, plenty more to come. In Jamaica this would be a carnival truck.
Here is that school band again, what an honor it must be to say you played at an Olympic Torch relay.
This guy right here is the main athlete of the Torch relay in my town, he is a rugby player that goes by the name Horie and I think he kicked off the relays. I missed that part but I got a great shot of him when I snuck around the back of the building away from the crowd.
You could actually go inside, not many people realized, but I went in and snapped a few more shots of the dreadlock samurai. Interestingly, Japanese rugby players are called “raga man”.*
Here is the last shot of him with his assistant/coordinator for the day I assume.
Not sure what these guys were doing but I guess they were marketing these electronic scooters.
And here are more of those sponsor rides, as I said I went around the back of the compound away from the crowd and thats how I was able to get these shots without anyone around.
This car is looking like king kooper, not sure of the concept behind it but maybe it supposed to be a bull? Year of the bull?
This blue one was nice, I could ride that.
The guy in the cooper mobile prompted me to take a pic by showing the peace sign, big ups dude!
And here is how I missed the start of the torch, but that was my intention, I went away from the crowd again and headed to the streets where they would be running. My wife said I missed the main guy, but hey, I was looking for the ladies. 😂
So I went to the streets and got to snapping. The two police officers on bikes were leading the relay and party of vehicles ( whats the word for that again?). But here is where I went wrong and missed out on the free souvenirs.
Before we get into how I went wrong, here is another snap of the officers on their really fast bikes. These guys are the most feared as they have a tendency to just appear out of nowhere and slap you with a ticket.
Where did I go wrong? I was on the wrong side of the street when the goodies were being handed out..damn... Oh well. no free drinks and Olympic towel for me. Love the red head.
I am guessing this is the coke boss for the region. I wish they made him throw some towels into the crowd instead of waving.😆
Yeah, we could do without his waving too, throw some souvenirs brov, be of value.😄
NTT.. the thing about this mask business is you can’t really tell if a girl is cute or not, your imagination has to just fill in the blanks. Nice shot though. These are the kinda pictures I get the cam out for.
Not sure who is running with the the torch but he must be an athlete or coach ...or he wouldn't be running with the torch right?
Many spectators, don't people have jobs to be at...hahah I could say the same for myself, but hey, I'm working the way I see it.
That was not supposed to happen, the guy upfront should have been blurred, but it was a snap and run.
Finally a female torch runner. Not sure who she is but always good to see the ladies repping.
The guy to the left in the back in gray was there every step of the way making sure the the torch was lit right and that they made their pose after the passing of the flames.
Thanks you for looking into the camera dear, we appreciate yah. Ganbatte ( good luck).
And here is a flame passing pic I got, not the best as it was hard to get a good angle with all the crowd around. Not bad though.
As I said, after each flame pass, they do a pose, each pose is a little different, so I guess they tell them to think of something before hand,
At this point, the relay is in a sports park where the final leg will take place, inside of a stadium.
And here is the final relay runner waiting to be lit and then pass by the patient but semi excited crowd.
Not sure who she is either, but she is cute.The fact that she ended the relay means she is a top athlete. I am gonna have to do some research and edit this later.
Good smile and nice wave, she must feel really proud she got to represent.
Cropped this one so we could get a better look at the relay finisher.
There were a lot of Brazilians in the stadium representing. I love how they always wave their flags high.
As I left the stadium I saw home girl right outside. So again she blessed my cam. loving that smile. Really gotta find out who she is.
As she was leaving the stadium
it was as if the cherry blossoms started to rain down petals.
In the bus you can see the rugby player that kicked started the relay. But even more important is the message on the bus "Hope lights our way".
That’s right folks, the Olympics is on as scheduled despite all the controversy and the pandemic, the games will be held.
The route taken by the torch relay event today.
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