EUGENE, Ore. — At about the same time newly minted members of the U.S. Olympic track team get their uniforms, they’ll be led to a TV monitor featuring a map of Rio de Janeiro with three dots: the athletes’ village, the track team’s training center and Olympic Stadium.

None of them are all that close to each other; all will take a long time to reach.

USA Track and Field CEO Max Siegel said Tuesday that after a few visits to Brazil “we realized logistics would be a problem.”

So, in addition to counting on the Olympic traffic lanes that will supposedly make travel easier for the 120-plus U.S. track and field Olympians, USATF staff is making it clear to the athletes that they need to build in plenty of time to make their way through the city.

It’s expected to be a 45-to-60-minute drive from the athletes’ village to both the stadium and the training center.

“It’s getting coaches and athletes to understand that it’s not going to be easy, like London, where everything is easy and right there,” said Robert Chapman, USATF’s associate director for sport science and medicine.

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Siegel said USATF is working with the U.S. Olympic Committee on contingency plans in case traffic does end up as snarled as some predict. Aretha Thurmond, a four-time Olympian who is now director of international teams for USATF, said staff will be on the ground a full two weeks before the Olympic track meet starts to make test runs to the stadium.

GOLF: Brendon de Jonge of Zimbabwe has withdrawn from the Olympics because he doesn’t want to miss two tournaments as he tries to keep his PGA Tour card.

De Jonge is 12th player to pull out of the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where golf makes its return after a 112-year absence.

AUSTRALIA: Two-time Olympic cycling gold medalist Anna Meares will carry the Australian flag at the opening ceremony for the Rio de Janeiro Games on Aug. 5.

SPONSOR: Consumer products maker SC Johnson says its OFF! brand has been named the official insect repellent supplier for next month’s Olympic Games, to be held in Rio de Janeiro amid ongoing fears about the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

The Racine, Wisconsin-based company says the repellant will be provided to athletes, volunteers, staff and media at the games.

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BOXING: Professional boxer Hassan N’Dam has ended the Olympic hopes of U.S. light heavyweight Jonathan Esquivel with a victory at the final qualifying tournament in Vargas, Venezuela.

N’Dam won a narrow decision in his first Olympic-style bout since 2004.

N’Dam is a 32-year-old French-Cameroonian veteran who fought at the Athens Olympics. He briefly held two interim middleweight championship belts during his 11-year pro career.

He is one of just two prominent boxers taking advantage of the International Boxing Association’s (AIBA) decision to allow pros to compete for Olympic spots.


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