I attended two events on this date also, both of them at the Ricoh Coliseum.
Here, again, is a shot of the venue prior to the events. I was sitting in roughly the same spot this time, but more central.
There would be two events that day, and they were set up for both: Women's Rhythmic Gymnastics (the floor mat in foreground) and Men's and Women's Trampoline (at rear). There will be better shots of the trampolines later.
You may also notice, at top left of the "ice" area, the medal podium.
The competition started with the club routine.
The first Canadian competitor was Carmen Whelan, and here she is off to the side, warming up...
...and, at the beginning of her routine, just before she kicked the clubs up in the air and caught them:
Unfortunately, she would only achieve sixth place overall, but still did a good routine.
Later on came the ribbon competition.
Warming up here is American Laura Zeng, who did near-perfect routines on both clubs and ribbon, and would go on to win the individual gold medal.
Here's another competitor, doing her ribbon routine. I took a few pictures of this athlete (probably because I didn't have a stake in watching her routine closely), and have forgotten who she is, but I'm very happy to have caught this powerful movement!
Canada's Patricia Bezzoubenko warms up with her coach on the sidelines, prior to her ribbon routine:
And, at the beginning of her routine, strikes this breathtaking pose, with the ribbon over her eyes! She even started the routine with eyes covered, before pulling the ribbon forward and into her hands.
Patricia would go on to win the bronze medal for this amazing performance.
After the individual routines finished, showing lots of class, Patricia went into the crowd to pose for pictures with thrilled fans:
Then, it was on to team competition. Teams used both clubs and rings in their routines.
This is the team from Brazil, who, as you see, showed much precision in their routine, but also inventiveness and energy - you may almost say joy - as they performed for a crowd that took an immense liking to them right away.
And, no doubt, they were helped by their boisterous fans (in green and yellow), who showed the most enthusiasm of any that whole morning:
For their efforts, the Brazilian team would go on to win a well-deserved gold medal in the team event.
(As you may know, the Brazilian athletes as a whole ended up in third place overall at these games, after the U.S. and Canada.)
Then, the Canadian team took the floor, and also did a terrific routine, but sadly, not enough to win them a medal:
After winning the highest score, the Brazilian team acknowledged the applause of an appreciative crowd:
It was quite a thrill for me to get pics of the individual medal awards, with a Canadian girl standing in the bronze place on the podium!
Laura Zeng and Jasmine Kerber from the U.S. won gold and silver, respectively.
And, here are the individual medalists with their medals.
(Excuse the picture quality - the podium was at the other end of the building, after all!)
And, after the ceremony, Patricia talked to the media:
By this time, it was after noon, and I once again headed out to the Pan Am Park. It was another hot day, temps over 30C, and humid. If there was one thing I would have preferred here, it would be for there to be more shaded areas.
One of the fun features of the park was the preponderance of that Canadian furniture icon, the Muskoka chair.
Here, at the CIBC PanAmazing Square, people relax and watch other competitions taking place simultaneously, in this case, beach volleyball. It was a bit of a disorienting experience; the beach volleyball centre was only a few hundred feet away from here, but there was some sort of delay in this broadcast, so you'd hear roars from the crowd in the distance before anything exciting happened on this screen! Weird!
As I mentioned, they had some fun with the iconic Muskoka chair, and these giant-sized ones were everywhere. People could relax in them, or more likely, have their picture taken in them:
There was also a troupe of performers on this day, this time, stilt-walkers dressed in colourful animal costumes. They wandered the grounds to music, interacting with people in the crowd:
The most remarkable performer was this fellow, in an elephant getup. You can see him, on stilts, in green, blue and yellow, about halfway back in the costume. At one point, the trunk was used to spray a gentle stream of water!
I had a fair bit of time to kill, but kept myself occupied by sampling various foods, and catching other acts, like this one, Ron Davis' Symphronica With The Lombard Twins. It was a jazz combo (not Dixieland, either, but cool jazz), to whose music these energetic brothers would tap dance! Not something you see every day...
At 7 pm, it was back to the Ricoh Coliseum for the trampoline competition. Once again, these were preliminary, not medal, rounds.
I had a lower seat this time, and this was the overall view from there:
There were two trampolines, and the athletes got to warm up on each one, and choose the one that felt best to them.
Keep in mind that, not only can the athletes not go outside the white portion of the trampoline, they have to consistently land within the black lines inside the white area, or they have points deducted. You may or may not be able to see the black lines in this closer picture, but you probably get an idea of how small an area that is:
Next was the warmups. The women went first, and this is one of the Canadian girls (I believe it's Karen Cockburn) getting a feel for things. Karen would place first this day, then win the bronze medal the next day.
Next, pausing before her warmup, was Rosie McLennan. Unfortunately, she landed awkwardly and out of bounds on her routine (so the spotters, here in the saffron-coloured shirts, must be alert), but went on the the next day to win the gold medal!
Then, it was the men's turn. Here, I was able to catch Keegan Soehn in a pensive moment just before his routine. He was also to go on to win gold the next day.
Jason Burnett was the other Canuck who competed, and did well, but was just edged out of the medals the next day, placing fourth.
And, that was it for the competitions I attended! I went home after the long day exhausted, but happy. What a thrill, to see such high-powered athletes live in action.
I was very pleased that the Games were as well-presented and well-coordinated as they were, and that everything went off virtually without a hitch. Professionals and volunteers alike should be very proud of the outstanding job they did.
Finally, I couldn't leave the competitions without a souvenir or two, and here are mine: A pair of athletic-style sunglasses with the Roman numeral for 17 on them (these were the 17th PanAm Games), and the Toronto 2015 logo; and a cowbell noise-maker, which I put to good use cheering on the Canadian athletes.
Next, I'll post pics and comments about the other aspect of these games, Panamania. As I mentioned, these were free events that took place for the duration of the games at Pan Am Park, Harbourfront, the Distillery District, and Nathan Phillips Square. It was the latter place where I spent the next Saturday afternoon...
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