“Go home, gringos!” — Aussie hockey star’s globe-trotting family face rough reception in Rio

AUSSIE hockey star Fergus Kavanagh’s family are attending their third Olympics, but they haven’t been welcomed to Rio with open arms.

Tom and Mollie Kavanagh meet up with their son Angus Kavanagh and his girlfriend Adinda Gribben as Athletes gather at the "Edge", the Australian Olympic team meeting place in Rio for training and to relax.

“GO home, gringos!”

That insult hurled at the parents of hockey star Fergus Kavanagh represents the mixed emotions of those crossing the world to support their family members in Rio de Janeiro.

Many of those wives and girlfriends met their family at The Edge yesterday, the lush Australian oasis away from the chaotic Rio streets.

But while the London Olympics basked in the spirit of friendliness from locals, that is a world away from the apathy of this city.

On those streets where there is not crime there is instead anger at the Olympics from a community beset by poverty and justifiably furious at their country’s plunge into recession.

Mollie Kavanagh and husband Tom have travelled to Rio from West Australia’s Karratha, 1600km north of Perth.

She says the vibe on the street shown by that taunt about foreigners in Rio is vastly different to the joyous, celebratory mood of London’s festival of sport four years ago.

“Our accommodation is in a safe area and we have been very lucky but we were standing at traffic lights in broad daylight at Ipanema and a car went by with the window rolled down and someone shouted, ‘Go home, gringos’,’’ she said.

Tom and Mollie Kavanagh meet up with their son Angus Kavanagh and his girlfriend Adinda Gribben as Athletes gather at the "Edge", the Australian Olympic team meeting place in Rio for training and to relax.

“I wouldn’t say they are (embracing the Olympics), we haven’t had anyone that has been extra-friendly at all since we have been here other than our host in our hotel.

“(The security threats) make you much more aware. In other countries you would be much more relaxed about what you would wear and carry, whereas here it has been the bare minimum.”

Kavanagh is supported by his parents and partner Adinda Grobben, but his brother and his partner have decided against making the trip given Rio’s challenges.

The Kavanaghs are at their third Olympics and have become world travellers since their boy hit the big time with the Kookaburras team.

“We have had a lot of travel, we would be millionaires had we not done it,” he said (laughing).

“I think nearly everyone has some family coming across. We have done the main tournaments.

“This is our third Olympics and we have done the World Cups and Commonwealth Games. We live north in WA so it’s difficult enough to get out and about and expensive.

“We have been quite lucky.”

Australian basketballer Patrick Mills has hired private security to help protect his family, while America’s basketballers are protected in their luxury yacht by a bulletproof fence.

Now comes the question of whether the spectacle of these Olympics will win over the locals or enrage them even more.