Preps underway
The first Olympics in Brazil are underway — aptly with football games in the sport's spiritual home and a win for the hosts.
In Rio de Janeiro's Olympic Stadium, the Brazilian women's team eased to a 3-0 victory at the start of its quest for a first Olympic gold.
Meanwhile, France routed Colombia 4-0 to take the lead in Group G of the women's Olympic football tournament at the Rio Games.
France and the United States both have three points in Group G but the French have a better goal differential as the Americans defeated New Zealand 2-0 earlier Wednesday at the Mineirao.
Pokemon medals
The hit, augmented reality game, in which players roam around the real-life world to collect virtual monsters and medals, became available in Brazil late on Wednesday. There had been much disappointment among those at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic games that they could not play the "Pokemon Go" game.
Some 30 nations already have the game from U.S. technology company Niantic, which uses characters created by Japanese video game maker The Pokemon Co. The Olympics officially open Friday in Brazil.
IOC pays tribute
IOC President Thomas Bach led a mourning ceremony Wednesday for the 11 Israeli athletes and coaches slain at the 1972 Munich Olympics — a tribute that a widow of one of the victims said brought "closure" for the families.
Bach, his voice cracking with emotion, read out of the names of each of the 11 Israelis and the German policeman who died after a raid by Palestinian gunmen in the athletes' village in Munich, the worst terror attack in Olympic history.
With two widows of the victims and several current Israeli team members looking on, Bach said the Munich massacre "was an attack not only on our fellow Olympians but also an assault on the values that the Olympic Village stands for." Bach led a minute of silence during the inauguration of a "place of mourning" in the athletes village in Rio de Janeiro. He hugged Ankie Spitzer and Ilana Romano, the widows of fencing coach Andre Spitzer and weightlifter Yossef Romano.
Dolphin alert
Olympic sailors competing in the Rio de Janeiro may navigate through fetid waters and possibly bump into floating trash. But if they are lucky enough, they might also sail past a few dozen dolphins that live in Guanabara Bay.
Despite the untreated sewage and toxic industrial pollution that flows into bay waters, 34 Guiana dolphins live, breed and feed in the bay.
Still, the dolphin population here is in rapid decline, down from 400 in the 1980s, according to marine biologists who track them.
Scientists warn that the grey mammals with bottle-neck shaped noses that adorn Rio de Janeiro's city logo could disappear from Guanabara Bay in a matter of years.
Visa’s payment ring
Visa is giving payment rings to 59 athletes to wear. With a tap on an NFC payment terminal, they can charge their Visa accounts. Giving the ring to Olympic athletes like swimmer Missy Franklin and decathlete Ashton Eaton lets Visa test the technology, while garnering buzz as athletes tweet about them and wear them around the Olympic village.