A veterinary dream come true - 5799 days in the making… and worth every second of the wait
Between the 29th of July and the 23rd of August the Rio 2016 Deodoro Olympic Equestrian Centre was the centre of the entire equestrian universe, and I was fortunate enough to be right at its beating heart. Being a part of something so wonderfully incredible as the Olympic Games was simply awesome, in every sense of the word, and to have achieved such a long standing personal goal of mine was absolutely amazing. I will cherish the memories forever.
The Beginning
Arriving at Rio airport for an Olympic nerd like me was so super cool I can’t even begin to explain to you how incredibly excited I was. Approaching immigration I flashed my official Rio 2016 “Letter of Presentation” and was ushered down a special Rio 2016 lane towards a horde of immigration officials along with a bunch of athletes, officials and other volunteers. And then it happened… Clunk… one of the coolest things ever to have happened in the history of ever… I got an official Rio 2016 Olympic Games stamp in my passport!!! .... (I’m such a nerd)
As a volunteer for the Olympics I had two options for accommodation; either stay out near the equestrian venue in the middle of absolute nowhere, surrounded by a less-than-nice outer suburb of Rio – or stay down in the nicer parts of Rio itself and face a long commute to and from the venue each day. I chose the latter. And despite spending 2 ½ hrs on the train each day I'm very glad I chose not to stay out at the venue. My apartment was surrounded by lovely tree lined streets, plenty of shops and restaurants, and less than 5mins walking distance from Ipanema beach and about 15mins to Copacabana. It was really nice to be able to go and do ‘normal’ things after a hectic day at the venue.
My first task in Rio was to go and get my accreditation and uniform. The accreditation centre for Rio 2016 was located in the north of the city right in the middle of the old harbour-side industrial area. On first inspection it appeared just to be a complex of massive old boring warehouses, but on closer look these warehouses were home to all the parade floats used by the Samba schools during ‘Carnival’. It was fascinating peering inside seeing all the brightly coloured and eccentrically decorated floats just sitting there waiting to make their annual appearance at Rios famed ‘Carnival’.
After having my photo taking and being given my accreditation pass it was time for me to go and get my uniform. OMG I was like a kid in a candy store – giddy with excitement on being given mounds and mounds of official Rio 2016 uniform (I'm slightly obsessed with event merchandise and cool sport uniforms). Ever since seeing my Uncle in his Sydney 2000 uniform I’ve wanted to wear the Olympic rings on my chest, and here I was, at Rio 2016 being given shirts and jackets and trousers and bags and shoes and socks – it just kept coming and coming. So exciting!
I spent the next two days making the most of the sunshine and beach as well as heading up to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain with Penny Dow (Scone Equine Hospital) followed by spending a small fortune at the official Rio 2016 Megastore at Copacabana. I literally bought every single thing in the entire store that had a horse on it, and when I mean everything, I mean absolutely everything! The staff in the store didn’t quite know what had hit them... I still as yet haven’t seen my credit card bill from that day, and I think it’s probably best that I never do…
Soon enough the day had arrived. My first scheduled shift out at the equestrian venue. I proudly put on my canary yellow uniform, jumped on the train and made my way out to Deodoro. The first shipment of horses was arriving that night, and it was my job to meet them all out at the airport and escort them back to the venue.
Flying Horses
All eventing horses regardless of their country of origin arrived in Rio via one of three departure points; Stansted in the UK, Liège in Belgium or Miami USA. Prior to departure all horses had a full clinical examination performed by the FEI veterinary director along with having all their passports checked, vaccination status tripled checked and travel documents approved. As I mentioned in my blog after the test event (insert link here) the Rio 2016 Equestrian Venue was created in such a way that allowed for it to be declared as a European Union “Regionalised Zone”. This meant that the entire venue along with the unloading area at the airport was considered as having the same quarantine status as the EU. In practical terms this meant horses from the EU could fly in and fly out of the games without any quarantine periods. This concept is commonly known as “Bubble to Bubble”.
Each flight into Rio was escorted by two professional flying grooms employed by Peden Bloodstock (the official equine transport and logistics supplier for the games) along with a minimum of one team veterinarian and three team grooms. Most flights flew with two grooms and two vets. During the flight each horse had the equivalent of flying human business class – extra wide comfy seats, unlimited food and drink and the very best of personal service from the flight attendants.
My main role out at the airport at first seemed fairly simple – just check the microchip number of each horse arriving and make sure it matched against the official Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture importation list. But my role quickly turned into a safety management role as it became apparent that the Brazilian Ministry vets were less than horse-savvy, and neither were the awaiting media, photographers, security, military and police; all of who felt it necessary to be on the transfer deck watching the horses arrive. Despite the mass of people milling around the transfer area we thankfully had no dramas on arrival of any of the eventers. It was a special privilege to be the first to see each and every Olympic eventer as they arrived in Rio.
Checking the microchip of “Chilli Morning” on arrival at Rio airport
Then came the fun part – CONVOY!!!!
It’s no mean feat to organise a police escort and shut down several major highways in one of the most manic congested cities in the world just so a few horses can travel in uninterrupted luxury style. Normal travel time from Rio International Airport to the Equestrian Venue without an escort would take over two hours on a normal day. But when the powers of the IOC and Peden Bloodstock combine with a Federal Police Force very willing to show off their strength and authority it’s amazing what can be achieved. By shutting down the highway and allowing the convoy to drive the most absolute direct regardless of which direction the road would flow normally, our travel time was reduced to only 45mins!
Once back at the venue all horses required a quick arrival exam prior to being allowed to get some much deserved rest (and for everyone else to go back to bed – flights arrived at 11pm and taking into account horse and tack unloading time we weren’t back at the venue until around 3am most nights). For the very few horses that didn’t have team veterinarians I did the exam, but for everyone else I just let the team vets do their thing, check their own horse and just give me the paper work to file with the Ministry of Agriculture.
German trucks specifically purchased and imported for the Games
The Vet Clinic
No expense was spared, nor was any stone left unturned in the building of the Rio 2016 veterinary clinic. Purpose built with the best specifications and all of the latest equipment, the clinic would not have felt out of place anywhere in western world. Inside was a fully functional surgical suite, a massive diagnostic imaging work area, two examination rooms with stocks, three hospital boxes and 12 treatment boxes. It was a pleasure to work in.
The vet clinic
The Vet Team
Vet clinics are only as good as the vets within them. And thanks to the hard work of Juliana Freitas, the veterinary services manager, and the FEI veterinary department, some of the world’s best equine veterinarians were in Rio to provide the highest level of care to all the equine athletes.
The clinic vet team included two surgical specialists, one internal medicine specialist, a diagnostic imaging specialist along with over 30 very experienced treating veterinarians working on a rotating schedule providing 24 hour veterinary care.
Our specialist veterinary team (Left: Diagnostic Imaging - Erik Bergman (NED). Middle: Internal Medicine – Anne Courouce-Malblanc (FRA). Right: Surgery – Bruce Bladen (GBR)
In Part 2: 57 vets on cross country day, celebrating the bronze Aussies and next stop Tokyo 2020 - Chris Elliott wraps up his Rio 2016 Olympic experience
