There's been some bad news here in China. Two American tourists were attacked at a popular Beijing tourist site early this afternoon. One of them died on the scene and the other is in critical condition. The attacker jumped to his death immediately after the attack.
I don't know if the local Chinese news stations are covering the story or not, but I'm sure it will be on in the US in the morning. Full story at Yahoo.
The USOC has asked us to tell everyone we are okay. "It was an isolated incident, a crazy person, not politically motivated, etc, etc." So, please, no worrying. This morning, I flew from Beijing to Dalian and am staying at a maximum security compound. No, wait, it's actually a fancy beach resort for the US Track & Field training camp, however the security here, even before today's incident in Beijing, has been very very tight. Even within the hotel, I was stopped and forced to go back to my room because I forgot my credentials when I went to lunch. And we are the only people staying in the hotel. The only other people here are hotel staff and Chinese security personnel. The hotel is 40 minutes from the Dalian airport and we had a police escort the entire way. Traffic ahead of us was forced off the road and at intersections, all cross traffic was stopped and backed up for blocks. Our manager said that we were being given the same kind of security details as a visiting head of state would receive.
In order to get in a long workout, I have to leave the compound (it really is a 'compound' with fencing and a security perimeter). There is a practice track 10 minutes from here by bus. Tomorrow, they are closing 7.5 miles of roadway along the waterfront for all of the distance athletes to use as a training site. I have to sign up for the shuttle to any training venues two days in advance which is going to be hard for me because I often decide what my workout will be the day before.
I'm going to write more about the Opening Ceremonies in a future post (and sneak in some photos), but for now I need to get some rest. It's been another busy day. I'm looking forward to a nice easy 22km workout tomorrow, a dip in the hotel pool, and a nap. Training camp: gotta love it!
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
Opening Ceremonies
Wow!
I'm just getting back to the Olympic Village after an amazing Opening Ceremonies. It was a rush to walk into the National Stadium or Bird's Nest in front of over 90,000 spectators who roared when Team USA came out of the tunnel and onto the track. It was only louder when the Chinese delegation came out much later.
I thought it was appropriate that I walked in with the other two US racewalkers: Kevin Eastler and Joanne Dow. We didn't racewalk because we would have been going too fast for the NBC cameras to get good shots of us waving to all of our fans at home. In fact, it was the only time I've been in a stadium and had volunteers telling me to "Speed up already, you're slowing everything down."
If you want to see me on the telecast (which was broadcast live all over the world, except in the US thanks to NBC), look for Lindsey Davenport (I was right after the tennis players) and Jenny Finch (I was right before the women's softball team.) And I was on the side closest to the stands.
I won't spoil the secret of the lighting of the Olympic flame, but it was pretty awesome. Cathy Freeman lighting the flame in Sydney was more dramatic, but this was pretty creative, too.
It's almost 2am here in Beijing and I leave tomorrow morning at 8:15am from the village to the airport for Dalian. Off to bed. (I would post photos from the Opening Ceremonies but the IOC and USOC are being super-duper strict about what can be posted. If I follow the rules to the letter, I won't be able to post any photos from the Olympic Village, any Olympic venues, or of any athletes... so look for some rules to be broken shortly.)
I'm just getting back to the Olympic Village after an amazing Opening Ceremonies. It was a rush to walk into the National Stadium or Bird's Nest in front of over 90,000 spectators who roared when Team USA came out of the tunnel and onto the track. It was only louder when the Chinese delegation came out much later.
I thought it was appropriate that I walked in with the other two US racewalkers: Kevin Eastler and Joanne Dow. We didn't racewalk because we would have been going too fast for the NBC cameras to get good shots of us waving to all of our fans at home. In fact, it was the only time I've been in a stadium and had volunteers telling me to "Speed up already, you're slowing everything down."
If you want to see me on the telecast (which was broadcast live all over the world, except in the US thanks to NBC), look for Lindsey Davenport (I was right after the tennis players) and Jenny Finch (I was right before the women's softball team.) And I was on the side closest to the stands.
I won't spoil the secret of the lighting of the Olympic flame, but it was pretty awesome. Cathy Freeman lighting the flame in Sydney was more dramatic, but this was pretty creative, too.
It's almost 2am here in Beijing and I leave tomorrow morning at 8:15am from the village to the airport for Dalian. Off to bed. (I would post photos from the Opening Ceremonies but the IOC and USOC are being super-duper strict about what can be posted. If I follow the rules to the letter, I won't be able to post any photos from the Olympic Village, any Olympic venues, or of any athletes... so look for some rules to be broken shortly.)
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