Could the capybara be the Brazil equivalent to a rabbit at Easter?

Reporting from Rio de Janeiro —  Let’s put this story into rewind mode and see what you might have missed, or forgotten, or might not have known you cared about, or might have purposely avoided just so you could relive it here. A look back at day five of competition at the Rio Olympics.

Hey, mom, can we keep him?

On a wet, drizzly Wednesday, not fit for man or beast, it seems that the latter is more interesting than the former. And so enters the tale of the Brazilian version of the stray dogs of Sochi: the capybara. Now the capybara is in some need of public relations help because there’s little appealing about being known as the world’s largest rodent.

Capybaras are pretty common around these parts, but they seem to have found an affinity for hanging out at the new Olympic golf course, which plays host to a 72-hole men’s tournament starting Thursday.

ems as if the course improved their habitat. the land that the course was build was kind of Rio version of Irwindale, a dug out area with not a lot going on. The capybaras thought, hey, golf course beats low income housing, so they settled in.

For the unfamiliar, the capybara can weigh up to 150 pounds and have been described as a giant hamster. Or more like a cross between a gopher and a pig.

They actually make good pets, but are illegal to keep in California. Texas and Pennsylvania are two states that legally open their borders to this giant rodent. They are friendly and incredibly social, so it’s better to get two than one.

You also need a body of water nearby as they are quite aquatic. The connection to the water is so strong that at the behest of Venezuela, the Vatican had them reclassified as fish so that they could be eaten during Lent.

More than you wanted to know about the capybara? Promise you, those critters will be getting a lot of air time.

It’s still not easy being green

If there is a general theme to these Olympics it’s been that this will be known as the “shortcut Games.” Skimp a little here, nip and tuck some there. You almost expect to see a Brazilian Jack Lemmon worrying about the bolts to the stadium while investigative reporters Michael Douglas and Jane Fonda dig into the story. Don’t know the movie? Look it up.

That brings us back to the diving pool, which is still green. The organizers say it’s a problem with the alkaline level. FINA, the international federation that runs water sports, said the organizers ran out of chemicals needed to keep things blue. Any way you look at it, somebody goofed.

There was fear that the problem would spread to the water polo pool but according to some athletes they over-corrected and the water was so heavily chlorinated that it burned their eyes.

An independent pool expert in the U.S. told the Associated Press that it definitely looked like an algae problem, not an alkaline one.

The diving continued and China was denied a sweep of all the gold medals when Britain won the men’s 3-meter synchronized springboard competition. Sam Dorman and Mike Hixon of the U.S. picked up the silver, but in this case that;’s a good thing. No one expected such a strong showing. China got the bronze.

U.S. to get first boxing medal since 2008

It’s been a rough stretch for U.S. boxing, the group that graduated Ray Leonard, George Foreman and Oscar De La Hoya to prominence.

Nico Hernandez somewhat changed things with a unanimous decision over Ecuador’s Carlos Quipo in a light-flyweight quarterfinal. If you make it to semifinals you get a medal because they don’t have a third-place bout of the two semifinal losers. Wednesday’s win was OK but it was his upset of No. 2 seed Vasilii Egorov of Russia that put him in this good position.

Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan will be his next fight.

Obligatory drug item

Good news. No positives Wednesday. Still, there was an cloud of negativity over a sport associated with cheating — track and field. Sebastian Coe, head of the international track federation and the man who ran a brilliant Games in London, said he expected that there won’t be full crowds when track starts Friday.

Coe was also asked about all the dopers that will be allowed to compete. His answer: “It is the IOC’s event.”

Joe Friday, where are you?

A stray bullet was found near the stable area at the equestrian venue Wednesday. That’s two since the Games started. On Saturday one pierced the roof of the media center

The explanation for the results of weaponry were that gang members keep trying to shoot down police blimps. The blimps are used to monitor the area. An arrest was made resulting in more gunfire.

This comes at a time when a media bus was attacked by rock throwing miscreants on its way back from Deodoro, where the equestrian events are held. Since the Games have been held there have been many robberies at gun or knifepoint, some Swedish tourists were briefly abducted when visiting a favela and soldiers came under fire near the airport.

Does that make Rio less safe than any other big city? Let’s see how the rest of the time goes.

Help provided by Times staff writers Kevin Baxter,Lisa Dillman, Helene Elliott, Nathan Fenno, Bill Plaschke and David Wharton.

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