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For these three Montrealers, the Olympics is a trip of a lifetime

For these three Montrealers, the Olympics is a trip of a lifetime

RIO DE JANEIRO – The first order of business, when you’re packing for a trip of a lifetime to see the Summer Olympics in Brazil, is to acquire the appropriate accessories.

For brothers Matthew and Thomas Karamanukian and their friend Zachary Pitts from Laval, Que., that meant … Canada onesies.

The must-have Canadian cheering staple is available online from TipsyElves ($84.95 plus shipping) and claims it will “Keep your buns hotter than a plate of poutine,” with its fleece-lined interior.

On a steaming hot afternoon in Rio Tuesday, as they watched Genie Bouchard and Gabriela Dabrowski put up a valiant effort before going down to a tough Czech team, that was literally true. They were feeling that fleece – big-time.

“We did it for Canada,” Thomas Karamanukian said. “It was definitely worth it. We almost passed out. I had to sit down.”

The three elves have been all over the Olympic Park since they arrived. And they have not gone unnoticed.

“(Monday) was brutal. We went to the other side, to the swimming, and we must have taken a hundred pictures, everyone was asking! And then, we went to the wrong stadium so we had to sprint all the way down to the right one. So we were joking around, pretending to do hurdles on the way,” he said.

These three can't walk 100 feet without being stopped by other Olympics fans wanting a photo with them. (Stephanie Myles/opencourt.ca)`
These three can't walk 100 feet without being stopped by other Olympics fans wanting a photo with them. (Stephanie Myles/opencourt.ca)`

The trio has been on the Team Canada and Rio Snapchats. And their phones are blowing up as pals back home text them pics of their TVs when they show up. As Eh Game talked to them after the tennis, a Brazilian woman came up to them and offered to buy the Blue Jays ball cap right off one Matthew Karamanukian's head.

Matthew and Thomas, 26 and 22, and Potts, also 22, are staying for the entire Games, having rented a condo that’s about 15 minutes away under optimal traffic conditions (which is to say, never).

“We all work in restaurants. We work hard, and we’re all in school, too,” Matthew said. “We saved some money and we know the Olympics was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. No mortgages or anything, so we’re okay with that.”

They’ve already been at the rowing, the swimming. They’re headed to the volleyball Thursday.

But the doubles match at the tennis venue Tuesday was the highlight so far.

Here's what they looked (and sounded) like.

The three were relentless – despite the heat.

And they weren’t even close to being beer-fuelled enough, because the ushers had warned them that if they left the court (which was at capacity), they weren’t going to get their seats back.

So they kept at it. Between every point, they shouted encouragement to the Canadians – all Bouchard fans, and previous visitors to the Rogers Cup where they were able to briefly meet her – they gave equal time to Dabrowski in the Olympic spirit. After every point, they were up. After every lost point, they yelled, “You got this! Nice try.”

But partway through … a new twist. At the end of the first set, a whole new complement of Czech supporters had come along, threatening to outshout them. There were other Canadian supporters there, chef de mission Curt Harnett among them for a while. But they were most definitely not getting into the spirit to an acceptably loud Olympic degree.

No matter, the onesie guys were on the job.

“I want whatever they’re on, to have that kind of energy throughout,” Bouchard said afterwards.

The three amigos were sitting in the front row of a section of stands that was nearly entirely filled otherwise with Czechs. So the banter back and forth between them added to the festive atmosphere.

Among the Czechs was veteran Radek Stepanek, a former partner of Canadian Daniel Nestor in men’s doubles, who was intensely following the women’s doubles and got MORE than annoyed with the three Canucks after Bouchard and Dabrowski won the first set.

Throughout, the three had been mimicking the various Olympics sports – pretending they were rowing, and canoeing, swimming and doing archery. Given they had failed to prepare an adequate selection of songs and cheers, this was going to have to do.

But Stepanek was having none of it. When his team won the second set, he stood up and started making fun of the Canadians by doing the rowing thing and pouting his lips at them.

Luckily he was behind them and they didn’t know about it until they were told, so it didn’t get personal.

“We heard he was there. That’s what we wanted to do (get in his head),” Pitts said.