The oiled Tongan flagbearer has bared all about being a professional athlete.

Russian Olympian Evgeny Korotyshkin posted a chilling snapshot of children brandishing guns after claiming he was mugged in Rio.

His gutsy swim at the 2000 Sydney Games made him a cult figure, but what has become of Eric Moussambani since?

Yet another mishap to hit the Olympic games - this time a man is reported to have been impaled on a fence outside media accommodation in Rio.

A Portia Woodman try right on half time proved to be the difference between a semi-final slot and a disappointing exit. New Zealand

COMMENT: You could trace the mountains in the night. In Rio, they stick out like fence palings and in the darkness the landscape looms, the cliffs a shade darker than the sky.

Its members call it, with an almost religious conviction, "the Olympic Movement," or "the Movement" for short, always capitalised.

COMMENT: I want Rio to make all the bad news recede when I watch its Olympic opening ceremony.

Brazil won the right to host the Olympics when times were good. But locals are now not so sure the city is up to the task.

Kiwi sportsman Jason Lee, who alleged he was kidnapped by police in Rio this week, is safe after a second scare in the Olympics host city.

The Kiwi sportsman in Rio who says he was kidnapped by men in police uniform now says the same police were outside his apartment.

Watch NZ Herald Focus: Jason Lee says he was kidnapped by men in police uniform and forced to withdraw money from ATMs.

Russia's doping programme saw drug dissolved in Chivas whisky for men and vermouth for women, to give them an undetected edge over other athletes.

This week, we look at sevens player Sam Dickson and his miraculous return from injury.

COMMENT: Today Brazil can say with confidence: we are ready to host the first Olympic and Paralympic Games to take place in South America.

ICYMI: An exclusive look and what makes TNZ duo Peter Burling and Blair Tuke tick

When Brazil was awarded the Olympics in 2009, the country was booming. Now it is in the middle of a crippling recession.

In the flurry of blue and white that lit up Rio de Janeiro's vast Sambadrome last week, black bands could be spotted on the wrists of some who marched to the driving beats.

High above Rio de Janeiro, travel boss Lee Thompson became the first man to take a selfie atop Brazil's iconic 40m statue Christ the Redeemer.

Residents of Rocinha, the largest favela in Rio de Janeiro, have been portrayed as domestic servants, thieves and uneducated nonentities for too long, they say.

There will be a RoboCop style to the face of policing in Rio when football fans turn up for the World Cup in Brazil next month.

Aerial trams and cable cars take visitors up mountains, over rivers and above cities, and sometimes these cable cars are the destination themselves.

Ipanema Beach's 2700 metres of smooth sand exudes the alluring free-spiritedness that defines the marvellous Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro.

Rio Fashion Week photos from the summer 2010/2011 collections.