Rio Olympics bittersweet for CBC's Bruce Rainnie
Bruce Rainnie says he's grateful for the opportunity to cover the Rio Olympics, but it also reminded him how fortunate he is to live in P.E.I.
"It's that dichotomy, the sports, the thrill of calling live sport, you can't beat that," said the CBC News: Compass host. "But also the realization that this place did not need this at this time."
It didn't take long after landing in Brazil to realize the billions of dollars spent on the games could've been better used elsewhere in the country, he said.
"It's just crazy poor. It's just sad things you see. You drive by and the Canadian in you wants to jump out and help but you can't because it's too dangerous. It's that going on all the time."
Rainnie said he felt safe for the most part, but there was always a sense that something could go wrong.
"Every night bus would stop just outside the venue and four or five heavily armed guys would get on with a jeep in front and a jeep in back, so it was a total armed escort both inside and outside the bus. So you had that sense that they were worried about that particular area."
The one time he didn't take the bus, it got shot at, he said.
"I think we happened to catch this country at a really bad time in their history economically, ecologically, and biologically," he said.
"It's weird because when the Olympics were awarded to Brazil back in 2009, the country was just booming,. Everything looked great and the bottom fell out and come 2016 it's one of the poorest areas in South America and all of a sudden you have to welcome 10,000 athletes and media spend billions and just talk about awful timing."
Inside the Olympic venues, however, it didn't stop dreams from being fulfilled among joy and excitement.
22 medals for Canada
Much of that excitement was focused on Canada, which finished with four gold medals, three silver and 15 bronze.
"There was a good feeling around Canada," Rainnie said. "It's more fun for us to work these games when there are good successful Canadian stories to be told. It was thrilling and exhilarating and unpredictable and drama without a script and it's why you want to work at an Olympics.
"It was the other stuff. The environmental stuff. The four or five times a day crazy stench in the area coming from these polluted lagoons.
"And driving by these areas of just unimaginable poor. It just can't help but make you feel like P.E.I. is an awful special place."
Rainnie returns to his regular spot as host of CBC Compass on Tuesday.
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