You can take the Canadians out of Canada, but you can’t take the Canada out of the Canadians, eh?
After the Canadian team of Chaim Schalkand Ben Saxton beat a Brazilian team during Tuesday’s beach volleyball matches, the pair signed the ball and hit it into the stands, per volleyball custom.
After a Canadian man fell over a Brazilian woman trying to get to the ball, he apologized profusely, per Canadian custom. He did the polite thing by giving the ball to her.
No one was hurt, but Schalk and Saxton also apologized. They didn’t mean to cause any trouble. Sorry!
Making concessions
The latest issue at the Rio Games? A lack of snacks.
Vendors at the venues are so short on food and drinks that spectators looking for their peanuts and Cracker Jacks (fresh coconuts and caipirinhas?) are being allowed to leave and reenter in order to get them.
Rio organizing committee spokesman Mario Andrada said the decision “eases the pressure’’ on those inside the venues, who have been swarmed by long lines when they do have food. Andrada said the reason for the shortage was a collection of missed deliveries.
What’s in a name?
American beach volleyball teammates Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Sweat already had enough on their hands facing a top-ranked Brazilian team Tuesday.
They got another reminder of their underdog status when the scoreboard mistakenly switched their names with those of Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross, the other American team, during a referee challenge in the first set. Fendrick looked up at the scoreboard, seeming to note the error but continued playing without making a fuss.
Fendrick and Sweat ultimately lost in two sets.
Fendrick and Sweat are the No. 2 American team behind three-time gold medalist Walsh Jennings and Ross. They surely know they have much to live up to. There’s really no need to rub it in.
Protesters allowed
A judge has ordered that peaceful protesters be allowed to remain inside Rio’s Olympic venues after several fans displaying anti-government signs were removed.
The slogan “Fora Temer,’’ the call for the removal of interim president Michel Temer who stepped in for suspended President Dilma Rousseff, can be seen on signs, shirts, and social media accounts throughout Rio.
Most of the protests have been quiet and peaceful, but some responses have been severe. Four heavily armed military commandos grabbed a man from his seat at an archery event Saturday to remove him. The event was caught on a cell phone camera and received over 3 million shares on Facebook.
A Brazilian volunteer with the IOC quit his post Sunday over the removals, which he deemed violations of free speech.
The Brazilian Senate takes up impeachment proceedings against the wildly unpopular Rousseff Tuesday and is expected to allow them to continue.
Not easy being green
Plenty of athletes in Rio had been told to avoid putting their heads under water in the city’s rivers and lagoons. Unfortunately, that directive may now also apply to the diving pool.
The diving pool turned a disturbing, cloudy shade of green Tuesday, which could indicate the presence of algae if there is not enough chlorine in the water.
Olympic officials have given no explanation for the change. The water was blue and clear Monday, when the men’s synchronized event took place.
Before the Olympics began, University of South Florida biologist Valerie Harwood gave an interview with the Associated Press in which she told athletes: “Don’t put your head under water.’’
There better be extra degree of difficulty points awarded if any of the drivers are able to do that.
Maternal instincts
Aly Raisman is fulfilling her duty as the “mom’’ of the US women’s gymnastics team.
As The Final Five were introduced before their gold medal-winning performance Tuesday, Raisman gave 16-year-old Laurie Hernandez a nudge to remind her to wave to the crowd.
Hernandez nailed both the wave and her opening vault. All is well, and supremely likeable, in The Final Five’s world.
Nora Princiotti can be reached at nora.princiotti@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter at @NoraPrinciotti.
