CBC's Andrew Chang in Rio: The prep work for reporters covering the Olympics

I often get asked how much work is involved in preparing for the Olympic Games as a reporter?

The short answer: a lot!

As with most assignments, it starts with getting to know the right people — the athletes, coaches, sports federations and even fellow journalists who've done the job before.

• CBC's Andrew Chang shares his Rio experiences

They're the people who can answer questions, such as who are the big medal threats out there or how did that athlete's injury affect their training? 

From there, it's a lot of research.

You need to know the sports themselves inside and out:

What are the tie-break rules, for example, if two gymnasts get identical scores on balance beam? Then the gymnast with the higher 'execution' score wins.

Do swimmers advance directly from preliminary heats to the finals or do they have a semi-final to get through first? The answer: In races 400 metres and longer, there isn't a semi-final but in all other races, there is. 

You also need to know the athletes. 

Who are the Canadians likely to make the Olympic team? Who are the medal contenders? Who are the international threats? Who are the reigning Olympic champions and world champions? 

Who has an interesting story to tell? Who is active on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? 

And all this just begins to scratch the surface. I was assigned to cover gymnastics, swimming and diving, but after my initial round of research in gymnastics alone, I had 160 pages of notes on rules, athlete biographies, day-by-day breakdowns of competition and interesting nuggets, factoids and story lines.

I eventually managed to focus that down to about 40 pages of useable, accessible material — and I stress the word 'accessible,' because you need a pretty darned good system to be able to find all the information you've compiled.

Otherwise what good is it?

At this point you might be asking yourself: do you really need all that?

Well, the answer is no.

Truth be told, you probably only actually end up using about 10 per cent of your research material. The problem is that you have no idea which 10 per cent you'll need.

But I should probably mention we also get plenty of help. There's an entire team of researchers dedicated to building an internal CBC Olympic research site that provides a mountain of material. The trick is figuring out what's useful, what isn't and what more you might need tailored to your specific role.

And we're not done yet. 

There are also all the little logistical things a person always has to deal with when travelling to a new country, such as what kind of electrical outlets do they have and what's the currency?

How do you get around? What vaccinations do you need? What are the safety and security risks?

That last point alone is a big topic.

Before we traveled to Rio, every member of the team had to go through an online security course, while creating emergency profiles for ourselves should things go sideways.

For example:

• If you were kidnapped and had to read a propaganda message on camera, what secret gesture could you use to communicate that you are being tortured and your life is in imminent danger?

• If there is some kind of catastrophe, is there a quick, 'proof of life' code word you could text or email blast to all your contacts, that could let everyone know you're alive and is a word only you know, so that it can't be falsified by someone else who might take possession of your phone?

And at this point, we haven't even gotten into the nitty gritty of actually touching down and starting work.

Long before Day 1 of the Olympic Games, you're making additional contacts on the ground, figuring out how to navigate the Olympic Park, where to find food, how to track down family members of athletes, et cetera.

It's a lot of work that on more than one occasion already has forced me to choose between food and sleep, because you can't always have both.

I usually choose sleep.

Sounds painful? Exhausting? Unbearable? Maybe.

But it's also an opportunity to travel to a new part of the world, to meet incredible people doing incredible things and to witness the greatest sporting event on the planet.

And that, dear readers, I wouldn't trade for anything in the world!