Games countdown has begun

There hasn't been an awful lot to blog about the last few days as we've spent most of it in training. Normal days of the week (Monday to Friday working, weekends off) simply don't apply in the weeks running up to an Olympic Games - you work when you're asked to!

We started off by picking up our uniforms from the Uniform and Accreditation Centre, which is in a vast complex called the Cidade do Samba where I think they hold samba festivals and store the floats for Carnival. Luckily we didn't need to pick up our accreditation as there was a very long queue which got longer in the two hours or so we were there, mainly for local staff and volunteers to get the all-important document you need to get into anything at the Olympics.

As 'operational' staff we get to wear a fetching yellow t-shirt which is actually nicer than it looks. Everyone is a big fan of the green shoes, which are apparently really comfy (I haven't worn mine much yet). Everything is branded with the Olympic logo and we'll have to go and get new t-shirts and jackets for the Paralympics in September.

Once everyone in our ONS team had picked up their uniform we bundled into taxis for the journey back to Barra, where the Olympic Park and the Main Press Centre (MPC) are based. Barra is not close to the downtown part of Rio and Fridays are the worst days for travel - apparently everyone drives to work on Fridays rather than taking public transport. It took us 90 minutes to get there but eventually we made it in time for lunch and a series of admin tasks, including getting Brazilian phones and getting set up on the Rio 2016 email systems. Lunch and dinner, when we're there, at the MPC is pretty good: there's always salad, then two sorts of rice and the very traditional Brazilian 'feijao' or beans, then a choice of meat (usually beef or chicken) or fish or a veggie option. Plus fruit and cake or yoghurt. It's easy to eat far too much!

Saturday, Sunday and Monday were spent at the MPC too, learning about the CMS for inputting news stories and how to navigate the vast repository of information and data provided for journalists. When it goes live properly, this system has biographies of every athlete, and keeps journalists up to date with results, start lists, facts, rules and of course our news stories and quotes from athletes throughout the Games. It's an incredible resource and we need to know how to use it properly as of course time is always of the essence in getting quotes and news out there.

Road to work with Christ the Redeemer ahead

The three of us staying downtown have had to commute out to Barra each day. There's two routes - via the toll road, or 'Linha Amarela' (literally, 'yellow line') which is a bit quicker and takes us past one of the biggest favelas in Rio, the Complexo de Maré. The favela is divided from the road by big plastic screens and pedestrian footbridges allow people to cross from one side to the other. The other route is more scenic, taking us under the Corcovado (the hill with Christ the Redeemer on top) and past the rowing venue and Rio's racecourse, before coming through the more upscale bits of Barra. It's a bit of a trek but at least we've seen more of Rio than our colleagues staying closer to the Olympic Park. The other night on the Linha Amarela we passed two lads riding horses bareback down the road, which even made our taxi driver exclaim.

Being in town also meant that on Saturday night, as we left the MPC before dinner, we went to grab a bite near the hotel and found a couple of bars in the backstreets with music playing and a real party atmosphere. That felt a bit more like Brazil and it was nice to sit out with a cold beer and good company and soak it all up.

Main press centre at sunset

Our team is fantastic - a fairly small, but incredibly experienced group of journalists from around the world. Quite a lot of us have worked at least one Olympics before and I know several of the group from London. Others have worked at other major sporting events or are serious sports specialists. It's quite a privilege to be included in the group and I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not just a rowing geek and that business journalism skills transfer over quite nicely to sports. I shouldn't be any more intimidated interviewing the Kiwi pair than I am interviewing the managing partner of a law firm with turnover of over £1bn!

We've been given today or tomorrow off, which gives me the opportunity to visit my venue at the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas this afternoon as well as doing a spot of sightseeing and postcard-buying. Athletes start arriving at the weekend and most of the venues open for training on Sunday or Monday, and that's when the work will really start as we seek out news stories ahead of competition.

In the meantime everyone's keeping an eye on the IOC's decision on the Russian team, following the report yesterday linking the Russian government to state-sponsored doping practices. If Russia is excluded from Rio it will have an impact on many sports, including 'my' sports of rowing and canoe sprints. It's been interesting reading some of the initial reaction from the rowing community; Olympic champion Mahé Drysdale posted a strongly-worded comment on the affair on his Facebook page yesterday and Matthew Pinsent (@matthewcpinsent) has also been outspoken on Twitter, for example. That story will keep on developing in the fortnight before the Games begin.