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Let the work of the Games begin
posted by: Ed Hewitt (August 8, 2008)
Given the way my own rowing career ended just five weeks short of the seleciton of the light men's four in 1996 - in a head-on collision between two straight fours at top speed - the last couple weeks before the start of the Games, as well as the spectacle of the opening ceremonies, is always a bit bittersweet. Lots of folks have been denied their shot at competing in the Olympics by a twist of fate, and there's no point in lingering on this stuff, but I do admit to an occasional sharp stab of regret, what the hell.
But once the racing starts, and we start churning out reports, quotes, photos, news and resources, and more, the sheer intensity (and volume) of the work and the environment is its own reward; it's great to see truly good rowing, and to see friends and neighbors going for it full bore. As 1984 gold medalist Brad Lewis wrote on row2k this morning, this moment at the rowing venue - the last few hours before the first race goes off, when an athlete's hopes, intent, and possibilities are one and the same, identically defined - is one of the very best moments in sports. As of right now, every athlete here may well have the best Games performance they can possibly muster; and even if their hopes do not pan out completely over the next nine days, they will always be among the ranks of Olympians, which I know myself will always carry its own special satisfaction.
At this moment of unbridled potential for every athlete in the Games, we wish them all ridiculous, tremendous luck these next couple days as they take their first shot down the course, and right into next weekend.
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posted by: Ed Hewitt (August 8, 2008)
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Are you ready?
posted by: Brad Alan Lewis (August 8, 2008)
Beijing morning, the day of the Opening Ceremony. Thin grey milk is the color of the sky. Any pollution, if it's present, hides inside this mask of thin grey milk. Not like LA smog, which is not timid in the slightest about showing its face, a grumpy painter cleaning his brushes on the horizon, brown and yellow, with a little copper mixed in for contrast. To the race course for a morning row. Pretty much all teams present and accounted for. The exception being the US men's eight. Every rower has promised his mom that he or she will win the gold - and thus far all promises are valid and intact. It's a good day to row. Maybe the best. Everyone is a gold medalist on this day. This Beijing/Shunyi course is a dead ringer for the Sydney 2000 course. Even the banners and bunting along the side look familiar. Recycling - good for the planet. Straight headwind, supposedly lighter in the afternoon, thus the races will be run then. Approaching the course, there was Ted Nash peddling a bicycle, on his way to coach yet another crew. Amazing. I'll have to ask him what rowing was like before sliding seats were invented. He'll outlive us all. Ken J, the US single sculler, took a long workout. He was training in Austin, Texas a while back, at the same time that I was there. I saw him sculling soon after I arrived in Austin, and immediately I asked him, "Where'd you learn to scull?" His technique was damn near flawless: catches subtle beyond words, (even at full power). His power application was perfect. Posture was impeccable. Huge erg score. And most importantly for a single sculler: nutty as the day is long. What more could you ask for? While Ken took his strokes, nine local women practiced handing out medals on the award's dock. They had a coach who drilled them repeatedly for about 90 minutes on the correct way to hold the tray that would hold the medals. After the rowing practice session was over, a Spare Scullers Race was contested, full tilt 2000 meters, with Official's boats, TV boats, overhead camera on a cable sliding smoothly in time with the lead sculler. Good race, too, damn close to the last stroke, won by an Australian sculler (world champion in the quad a year ago). Afterwards the top three finishers rowed to the award's dock, climbed out of their boats and were awarded mock medals, this being the final bit of training for the race organizers before the real racing begins on Saturday. Let the Games begin. Opening Ceremony. In sailing, the old saying is: 'If you can't tie knots, tie lots', which means, if you can't tie a bolin, keep tying granny knots and half hitches until you run out of line. (Then when you want to untie it, you get out a sharp knife and start hacking away.) I have a feeling the same strategy was employed for the Opening Ceremony. Perhaps it will play better on TV, as is sometimes the case. Will the TV cameras capture the epic heat in the grandstands? Epic. Not a breath of wind, humid like Philly at the peak of summer. Sweating like a sauna with a broken thermostat. The pre-parade acts were good to a point. I was actually hoping the producers would reanimate the Terra Cotta Warriors and have them drop in by parachute, crossbows at the ready. I suspect Spielberg had that in mind - then he quit as producer of the Opening Ceremonies to devote his energy to the latest Indiana Jones movie (the penultimate definition of a Hollywood sequel - keep remaking the movie until you get it wrong.) When you really get down to it, the problem is the parade of athletes. It goes on for eternity plus a day, made worse by the fact that the entry schedule didn't follow the usual order - Andorra to Zimbabwe - thus the crowd was left to wonder 'How many more countries can there possibly be? Answer: Lots. Countries with names I had never heard. Do these countries exist only to compete in the Olympics? American athletes didn't help the cause by insisting on marching into the stadium single file as though they were worried about land mines buried in the inner lanes. The reason is obvious: face time on TV. The whole world is going that way - ever since 'Hi Mom" signs were forbidden. I suspect at least three kids were conceived by Olympic athletes under the grandstand while waiting to enter the stadium. More to follow.
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posted by: Brad Alan Lewis (August 8, 2008)
Beijing morning, the day of the Opening Ceremony. Thin grey milk is the color of the sky. Any pollution, if it's present, hides inside this mask of thin grey milk. Not like LA smog, which is not timid in the slightest about showing its face, a grumpy painter cleaning his brushes on the horizon, brown and yellow, with a little copper mixed in for contrast. To the race course for a morning row. Pretty much all teams present and accounted for. The exception being the US men's eight. Every rower has promised his mom that he or she will win the gold - and thus far all promises are valid and intact. It's a good day to row. Maybe the best. Everyone is a gold medalist on this day. This Beijing/Shunyi course is a dead ringer for the Sydney 2000 course. Even the banners and bunting along the side look familiar. Recycling - good for the planet. Straight headwind, supposedly lighter in the afternoon, thus the races will be run then. Approaching the course, there was Ted Nash peddling a bicycle, on his way to coach yet another crew. Amazing. I'll have to ask him what rowing was like before sliding seats were invented. He'll outlive us all. Ken J, the US single sculler, took a long workout. He was training in Austin, Texas a while back, at the same time that I was there. I saw him sculling soon after I arrived in Austin, and immediately I asked him, "Where'd you learn to scull?" His technique was damn near flawless: catches subtle beyond words, (even at full power). His power application was perfect. Posture was impeccable. Huge erg score. And most importantly for a single sculler: nutty as the day is long. What more could you ask for? While Ken took his strokes, nine local women practiced handing out medals on the award's dock. They had a coach who drilled them repeatedly for about 90 minutes on the correct way to hold the tray that would hold the medals. After the rowing practice session was over, a Spare Scullers Race was contested, full tilt 2000 meters, with Official's boats, TV boats, overhead camera on a cable sliding smoothly in time with the lead sculler. Good race, too, damn close to the last stroke, won by an Australian sculler (world champion in the quad a year ago). Afterwards the top three finishers rowed to the award's dock, climbed out of their boats and were awarded mock medals, this being the final bit of training for the race organizers before the real racing begins on Saturday. Let the Games begin. Opening Ceremony. In sailing, the old saying is: 'If you can't tie knots, tie lots', which means, if you can't tie a bolin, keep tying granny knots and half hitches until you run out of line. (Then when you want to untie it, you get out a sharp knife and start hacking away.) I have a feeling the same strategy was employed for the Opening Ceremony. Perhaps it will play better on TV, as is sometimes the case. Will the TV cameras capture the epic heat in the grandstands? Epic. Not a breath of wind, humid like Philly at the peak of summer. Sweating like a sauna with a broken thermostat. The pre-parade acts were good to a point. I was actually hoping the producers would reanimate the Terra Cotta Warriors and have them drop in by parachute, crossbows at the ready. I suspect Spielberg had that in mind - then he quit as producer of the Opening Ceremonies to devote his energy to the latest Indiana Jones movie (the penultimate definition of a Hollywood sequel - keep remaking the movie until you get it wrong.) When you really get down to it, the problem is the parade of athletes. It goes on for eternity plus a day, made worse by the fact that the entry schedule didn't follow the usual order - Andorra to Zimbabwe - thus the crowd was left to wonder 'How many more countries can there possibly be? Answer: Lots. Countries with names I had never heard. Do these countries exist only to compete in the Olympics? American athletes didn't help the cause by insisting on marching into the stadium single file as though they were worried about land mines buried in the inner lanes. The reason is obvious: face time on TV. The whole world is going that way - ever since 'Hi Mom" signs were forbidden. I suspect at least three kids were conceived by Olympic athletes under the grandstand while waiting to enter the stadium. More to follow.
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08/08/08
posted by: Ed Hewitt (August 8, 2008)
How humid is it here? I couldn't sleep through the night, so took a run at 5:30am. 50 minutes later, this is what I looked like; I estimate I lost 6-8 pounds. The streets were already bustling at 5:30; a block or two from the hotel is a public outdoor gym, which has a full collection of a couple dozen exercise stations, including balance beams, situp stations, leg presses, situp machines, a treadmill, a stairmaster-type thing, rowing machines, and more. Folks of all ages were hitting the machines already, and a few meters away I found a couple dozen folks doing tai chi routines. No one was wasting time getting 08/08/08 started, whew.
I found a new park along the river, which had a sculpture garden, meandering trails, and more; folks were already fully engaged in their days here as well, including several folks doing chants and yells at the top of their lungs as they took their morning walks. As I emerged from the park, at 6:30 sharp I could hear the sound of ringing bells and announcements, which were unexpected but not strange; it wasn't until I got back on the streets that I realized that the bells and announcements were pouring forth from very powerful speakers mounted high on every street pole in the neighborhood. I have no idea what the one male and one females speakers were saying, but it was certainly an eerie way to start a morning I thought would find me running in the street alone. much too orwell-esque for a first morning in china.
08/08/08 is considered an extremely lucky and fortuitous date; Beijing will experience a record number of marriages today, so many that officials are concerned they will not be able to keep up, and may have to leave people at the altar come the end of the day.
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posted by: Ed Hewitt (August 8, 2008)
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Beijing Adventures
posted by: Heather Mandoli (August 8, 2008)
Hello again! Days seem to be flying by here at the Olympics! We have already been here for over a week already and things are really starting to pick up down at the rowing venue. Most of the rowers have been here for at least five days or so, but other people, such as the media and racing officials, are now starting to roll in. A word about the number of rowers, the Olympic regatta is one of the smallest international regattas. Countries must qualify to be able to compete, and they greatly limit the number of spots in each event. For example in the women's eight event, my event, there are only seven countries here at this regatta; USA, Romania, Great Britain, Australia, The Netherlands, Germany and us, Canada! Though at the pervious two world Championships, there have been at least twelve women's eights entered each year. It is another reason why the Olympics is such the pinnacle event in the sport of rowing. This regatta is really limited to only the very tip top of the best rowers in the entire world. And I am honored to be part of it! I mentioned the media has started to hang around the venue. It is amazing the number of media that has already been around the course and I'm sure it will just escalate from here! Rowing is not a sport that receives a huge media following, so to have reporters with microphones, cameras and tape recorders in your face when you come and go to practice, is quite strange. Media outlets from Canada are doing a very good job of following our team, since there are some medal hopefuls from our group, and since we as a nation aren't winners of hundreds of medals at the Olympics, every medal hopeful is usually followed quite closely. I hope with all of this coverage we will be able to show off the sport of rowing to the rest of the world! I remember watching the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and seeing rowing for the very first time. I thought is looked like such a cool sport back then, when I was only thirteen. Little did I know, twelve years later I would be the one rowing at the Olympics for other thirteen year old girls to watch! The day to day life of a soon to be Olympian, me, isn't filled with too much adventure or excitement just yet. We have a regular twice-a-day training regimen going with resting and relaxation back at the hotel in-between sessions. Things on the water are going very well, and it will be great to test all our hard work against the other fantastic countries in our event. We have however had two afternoons off of training since arriving. During both of them, we were able to excursion out of the hotel on some great little adventures! The first afternoon off, we headed into Beijing to the Pearl market. What an experience that was! It is a five storey market place packed with venders of all sorts. There are different copyright laws here in China, so there are great knock off designer clothes and handbags of every brand name you could think of. There is also a lot of silk and pearls, as this seems to be two big sellers here in China. But the incredible thing about this place is you have to barter for everything. And boy do these merchants know how to barter! Though there are some pretty good barters on our team as well. Lets just say I wouldn't be going to the barter Olympics if there was such a thing. I started to feel bad arguing with the lady I was buying some pearls from, so I gave in quite early. I still think that I paid a great price for them, but I know some others got theirs for a bit cheaper than mine. Oh well, I left happy! The other afternoon we had off, we went into the athlete's village. This was very cool! I can't wait until we move into Beijing, once the racing is all finished, so we can live the day to day life in the village. The place is huge! There are traffic lights and streets with buses for the athletes and a ton of huge beautiful apartment buildings that are each assigned to a different country to stay in. Each of these buildings has their countries flags flying out of each window. It is awesome! On the grounds around these buildings there are rivers and beautiful gardens. There is a very calm feeling about this living area. Right next door to the living apartments is the cafeteria. This is quite an experience! This cafeteria is the size of four football fields, and seats 15,000 people. There are two huge salad and fruit bars with produce from all around the world. There is also a bread bar, with every kind of bread and baked good imaginable. There are hot food in three sections, a Mediterranean section, an Asian section, and an International section. There is also a McDonalds with a full menu. To top it all off there is a coffee bar with all the fancy coffee drinks that McDonalds now sells. It really is an incredible experience. You can be reassured that no athlete could ever starve in a place like that! Also just walking around the cafeteria (which is did for at least thirty minutes before deciding what I wanted for lunch) you see athletes of all shapes and sizes and from every corner of the planet! It really is amazing. At the village there is also a section called the international section where there is a hair dresser, general store, post office, florist, bank and any other amenity you may need while you are staying in the village. Very handy and well thought out! Overall it was great to see the village and what was happening there, though I think I am quite happy with the way we have arranged our accommodations. Being nice and close to the race course is very convenient and saves on hours a day of commute time. Also being out and away from all the craziness of the village really allows us to focus on rowing and our racing and then once we are finished with that, we have a whole week to soak up and enjoy all the wonderfulness and adventures the village has to offer. Well, today is quite a special day, as the games officially start! 08-08-08 at 8:00! It is really incredible that this day has finally arrived. I have had a countdown on my computer for the past 400 plus days, to today. I have looked at it everyday thinking that it would never come, but amazingly it is already here! Wow! In Athens the rowers opted not to attend the opening ceremonies, but this year, the women's rowing team has decided that we will go. I am very excited, since originally I had figured that this was one Olympic experience that I would not be able to participate in, but it is! The decision was one we discussed to at length with each other. There are both pros and cons to attending the opening ceremonies, but we all came to the conclusion that the pros greatly out numbered the cons. This is a once in a life time opportunity (sometimes twice or three times in a life time if you go to more games I guess). We all have memories of watching the Opening ceremonies on television from when we were little and we all wanted to add participating in them to our overall Olympic experience. We are in the very best shape of our lives, and don't feel an evening walking around and sitting in a stadium is negatively going to effect our performance in two days, so we are going. And in only a couple more hours and I'll be on the bus driving towards the bird nest stadium to officially start my first real Olympic experience!
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posted by: Heather Mandoli (August 8, 2008)
Hello again! Days seem to be flying by here at the Olympics! We have already been here for over a week already and things are really starting to pick up down at the rowing venue. Most of the rowers have been here for at least five days or so, but other people, such as the media and racing officials, are now starting to roll in. A word about the number of rowers, the Olympic regatta is one of the smallest international regattas. Countries must qualify to be able to compete, and they greatly limit the number of spots in each event. For example in the women's eight event, my event, there are only seven countries here at this regatta; USA, Romania, Great Britain, Australia, The Netherlands, Germany and us, Canada! Though at the pervious two world Championships, there have been at least twelve women's eights entered each year. It is another reason why the Olympics is such the pinnacle event in the sport of rowing. This regatta is really limited to only the very tip top of the best rowers in the entire world. And I am honored to be part of it! I mentioned the media has started to hang around the venue. It is amazing the number of media that has already been around the course and I'm sure it will just escalate from here! Rowing is not a sport that receives a huge media following, so to have reporters with microphones, cameras and tape recorders in your face when you come and go to practice, is quite strange. Media outlets from Canada are doing a very good job of following our team, since there are some medal hopefuls from our group, and since we as a nation aren't winners of hundreds of medals at the Olympics, every medal hopeful is usually followed quite closely. I hope with all of this coverage we will be able to show off the sport of rowing to the rest of the world! I remember watching the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and seeing rowing for the very first time. I thought is looked like such a cool sport back then, when I was only thirteen. Little did I know, twelve years later I would be the one rowing at the Olympics for other thirteen year old girls to watch! The day to day life of a soon to be Olympian, me, isn't filled with too much adventure or excitement just yet. We have a regular twice-a-day training regimen going with resting and relaxation back at the hotel in-between sessions. Things on the water are going very well, and it will be great to test all our hard work against the other fantastic countries in our event. We have however had two afternoons off of training since arriving. During both of them, we were able to excursion out of the hotel on some great little adventures! The first afternoon off, we headed into Beijing to the Pearl market. What an experience that was! It is a five storey market place packed with venders of all sorts. There are different copyright laws here in China, so there are great knock off designer clothes and handbags of every brand name you could think of. There is also a lot of silk and pearls, as this seems to be two big sellers here in China. But the incredible thing about this place is you have to barter for everything. And boy do these merchants know how to barter! Though there are some pretty good barters on our team as well. Lets just say I wouldn't be going to the barter Olympics if there was such a thing. I started to feel bad arguing with the lady I was buying some pearls from, so I gave in quite early. I still think that I paid a great price for them, but I know some others got theirs for a bit cheaper than mine. Oh well, I left happy! The other afternoon we had off, we went into the athlete's village. This was very cool! I can't wait until we move into Beijing, once the racing is all finished, so we can live the day to day life in the village. The place is huge! There are traffic lights and streets with buses for the athletes and a ton of huge beautiful apartment buildings that are each assigned to a different country to stay in. Each of these buildings has their countries flags flying out of each window. It is awesome! On the grounds around these buildings there are rivers and beautiful gardens. There is a very calm feeling about this living area. Right next door to the living apartments is the cafeteria. This is quite an experience! This cafeteria is the size of four football fields, and seats 15,000 people. There are two huge salad and fruit bars with produce from all around the world. There is also a bread bar, with every kind of bread and baked good imaginable. There are hot food in three sections, a Mediterranean section, an Asian section, and an International section. There is also a McDonalds with a full menu. To top it all off there is a coffee bar with all the fancy coffee drinks that McDonalds now sells. It really is an incredible experience. You can be reassured that no athlete could ever starve in a place like that! Also just walking around the cafeteria (which is did for at least thirty minutes before deciding what I wanted for lunch) you see athletes of all shapes and sizes and from every corner of the planet! It really is amazing. At the village there is also a section called the international section where there is a hair dresser, general store, post office, florist, bank and any other amenity you may need while you are staying in the village. Very handy and well thought out! Overall it was great to see the village and what was happening there, though I think I am quite happy with the way we have arranged our accommodations. Being nice and close to the race course is very convenient and saves on hours a day of commute time. Also being out and away from all the craziness of the village really allows us to focus on rowing and our racing and then once we are finished with that, we have a whole week to soak up and enjoy all the wonderfulness and adventures the village has to offer. Well, today is quite a special day, as the games officially start! 08-08-08 at 8:00! It is really incredible that this day has finally arrived. I have had a countdown on my computer for the past 400 plus days, to today. I have looked at it everyday thinking that it would never come, but amazingly it is already here! Wow! In Athens the rowers opted not to attend the opening ceremonies, but this year, the women's rowing team has decided that we will go. I am very excited, since originally I had figured that this was one Olympic experience that I would not be able to participate in, but it is! The decision was one we discussed to at length with each other. There are both pros and cons to attending the opening ceremonies, but we all came to the conclusion that the pros greatly out numbered the cons. This is a once in a life time opportunity (sometimes twice or three times in a life time if you go to more games I guess). We all have memories of watching the Opening ceremonies on television from when we were little and we all wanted to add participating in them to our overall Olympic experience. We are in the very best shape of our lives, and don't feel an evening walking around and sitting in a stadium is negatively going to effect our performance in two days, so we are going. And in only a couple more hours and I'll be on the bus driving towards the bird nest stadium to officially start my first real Olympic experience!
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photos from Brad Alan Lewis (2/2)
posted by: Brad Alan Lewis (August 8, 2008)
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posted by: Brad Alan Lewis (August 8, 2008)
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photos from Brad Alan Lewis
posted by: Brad Alan Lewis (August 8, 2008)
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posted by: Brad Alan Lewis (August 8, 2008)
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