Winding Down in Rio: DBBC’s Kinas Finishes Olympic Announcing

DBBC Radio Announcer/Account Executive Patrick Kinas called a lot of history while at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. He called the final Olympic swimming races, and wins, of legend Michael Phelps, as well as the record-breaking swims of Katie Ledecky. After finishing up at the pool, Kinas moved on to call a variety of other sports, meeting many of the medalists and competitors that captured the news back home.

Here are the photos from his final few days in Rio. Definitely one for the history books, and an experience he won’t soon forget:

SLIDESHOW: Patrick Kinas Photos from Day 12 in Rio
A little change-up on Day 12, which brought me face-to-face with global superstars and Olympic champions on the track.

From DBBC’s Patrick Kinas: Usain Bolt. He’s rather fast.

From DBBC’s Patrick Kinas: A look at Olympic Stadium, hosting the Track & Field events, as well as the Opening and Closing Ceremony to the 2016 Rio Games.

From DBBC’s Patrick Kinas: Caught up with Team USA volleyball player Micah Christenson after team’s quarterfinal win over Poland. He’s repping USC well in Rio.

From DBBC’s Patrick Kinas: Prelude to USA-Poland men’s volleyball quarterfinals. The men swept the 2nd ranked team in the world and are into the semifinals Friday, seeking Olympic gold for first time since 2008 in Beijing.

Patrick Kinas & Brianna Rollins — From DBBC’s Patrick Kinas: Olympic Champion Brianna Rollins after winning gold in the100m hurdles. She wears the flag well. First ever Clemson female track athlete to win individual gold at the Olympics.

Kristi Castlin & Patrick Kinas — From DBBC’s Patrick Kinas: 100m American Kristi Castlin after capturing bronze in the historic 1-2-3 USA finish.

From DBBC’s Patrick Kinas: Olympic champion long jumper Tianna Bartoletta after upsetting teammate and defending gold medalist Brittany Reese on Thursday night.

From DBBC’s Patrick Kinas: Czech javelin thrower Petr Frydrych, into the final on Saturday.

Rio Closing Ceremony — From DBBC’s Patrick Kinas: Check another box in my Olympic experience.#ClosingCeremony

SLIDESHOW: Patrick Kinas Photos from Day 12 in Rio
Day 13 complete – spent it covering one of the most remarkable upsets in US history that won’t get its just coverage, but the first female wrestling Olympic medal and it was won by a young woman who defeated the Muhammed Ali of the sport, a Japanese wrestler who has won the last 3 Olympic golds and 15 world championships. From there, covered basketball for the first time in Rio, with Team USA’s women taking out France to advance to the gold medal game for the sixth straight Games. They’ve won 48 consecutive Olympic match-ups and will play Spain for the Gold, a team the vanquished by 40 last week.

From DBBC’s Patrick Kinas: A look inside Carioca 2, host venue for Olympic wrestling. This pic will make Ryan Mitchell feel right at home from 5,000 miles away.

From DBBC’s Patrick Kinas: Helen Maroulis after her stunning Gold medal victory over the legend of women’s freestyle wrestling Japan’s Saori Yoshida.

From DBBC’s Patrick Kinas: Here is the Japanese wrestling star Saori Yoshida, who members of the Japanese media tell me is a HUGE star back home. At one time, she won 119 consecutive bouts. She’s a 15-time World Champion, and WAS the three-time defending Gold medalist before those fateful six minutes Thursday. She was devastated by the loss, to the point where she was crying uncontrollably once the bout ended, through the entire medal ceremony and into the mixed zone to address the media. To her credit, she stood there and answered questions as she wiped away the stream of tears, and bowed to all after their interviews ended.

From DBBC’s Patrick Kinas: Here’s a look at a Japanese celebration after Risako Kawai won gold. The wrestler ran over to her coach and slamming him to the mat twice to begin the party to the roar of the crowd, then her coach ran onto the mat, hunched over, and she moved beneath him and carried him on her back around the mat with the Japanese flag. The crowd went wild.

From DBBC’s Patrick Kinas: Team USA’s Diana Taurasi after the 86-67 win over France. I talked with Diana and Angel McCaughtry after the game. McCaughtry saw my NC State gear, slapped high-fives to “represent the ACC.”

From DBBC’s Patrick Kinas: A look inside Carioca 1 at our NBC Radio/Westwood One broadcast position, which is the host venue for men’s and women’s basketball.

From DBBC’s Patrick Kinas: Here’s the elevator panel to the media village condos. I’m on the second floor, which means I press 1 to get to my floor. Or I can press 2-degrees, which also gets me to the proper floor. The main floor is 0 or T, with the garage located at Negative 1. Of course it is. To make the confusing elevator ride even more enjoyable, there is a loop of music through the speaker system, consisting of exactly one song which is looped a full 15-seconds. As if intended another reason to say this is my Groundhog Day experience. I was told there would be no math….

SLIDESHOW: Patrick Kinas Photos from Day 14 in Rio
A little late, but here is Day 14 in a nutshell, culminating with a 2-minute one-on-one interview (and slightly blurry selfie) with the best sprinter and self-proclaimed Greatest Olympian of All-Time, Usain Bolt. Enjoy the homestretch.‪#‎WeAreAllExhausted