In DC, Adam Kilgore profiles ROCOG Exec Dir of Communications Mario Andrada, who "might have the hardest job on the planet" this month. He is "tasked with answering for the mistakes and calamities of the Olympics in front of the world’s media corps." When something goes wrong, "he has to explain it," and a lot "has gone wrong." The "unique and myriad troubles" of the Rio Games have thrust Andrada "out of obscurity," though he has "differentiated himself from most Olympic spokesmen through not only the scale of mishaps he faces." He "always defends" Rio, even when it "requires mental gymnastics, but he operates with unusual candor and expansiveness" (WASHINGTON POST, 8/17).
WEDDING CRASHERS: U.S. triple jumper Will Claye asked girlfriend Queen Harrison "if she would marry him" following his Silver Medal performance in Rio. Harrison accepted after Claye "took the ring he had purchased a month earlier and brought to Rio just in case" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 8/17). Claye "hopped, stepped and jumped from a photographer’s platform over a photographer’s pit that was several feet deep and onto a railing, where he was pulled into the stands by fans" (N.Y. TIMES, 8/17).
BIRD'S EYE VIEW: The Ravens "fully expect Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps to attend practice soon." Ravens coach John Harbaugh said, "I'm going to try to talk him into speaking with the team. Maybe now he will. We're just really proud of Michael Phelps." Phelps during a press conference in Rio "let everyone know about his allegiance to the hometown football team" after he "called out a reporter for wearing Pittsburgh Steeler paraphernalia." Harbaugh said, "Yeah, that was fun to watch" (ESPN.com, 8/16).
GIVING BACK: U.S. men's basketball F Carmelo Anthony on Monday spent the day in the favelas of Rio, "playing some pickup basketball with local kids in a moment captured on video." The favelas are the "notoriously violent and impoverished slums tucked into the hills of Rio." Anthony also "came across a graffiti artist who decided to paint a mural of the Knicks star on a wall in the favela" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 8/17).
TAKING A PASS: Interim Brazil President Michel Temer, who was "loudly booed" at the Opening Ceremony, "won't attend" Sunday's Closing Ceremony. Temer has "kept a low profile since taking over for the suspended President Dilma Rousseff in May." The Closing Ceremony "comes just a few days before the Brazilian senate is scheduled to vote on whether to impeach Rousseff" (AP, 8/16).
