Bye Bye Beijing

I just lived through the longest, and yet, fastest 6 weeks of my life. I am sitting on a plane en route to the United States, typing to keep my fear of flying at bay as we streak across the Pacific Ocean. I’m sitting and thinking back on the past day, week, month, etc…and find it hard to place times with events that happened during my time in Beijing.

On my last night in China, I sat at a swanky jazz bar in Beijing with two friends and the scene was wildly surreal – the Chinese jazz band (with a female songstress) effortlessly, but with funk, covered melodies from Miles Davis and John Coltrane; the drink menu was listed on a 2 foot tall cylinder in code that was only decipherable by a red cover that moved up and down the illuminated tube; liquor bottles were shelved in human sized bird cages; and for my first time in Beijing, the wines were more expensive than what you find in the States for the same drink. The club was at The Hilton, where our marketing and executive staff stayed and rooms ran close to $800 a night during the Olympics, which somewhat explains the posh atmosphere.

As we drank our libations, we noted how we would recall an action or event and think it happened days or weeks ago, only to realize it occurred that very morning. Days were looooong, but weeks were swift.

The 2008 Olympic Games are over, yet even The Movement continues forward. Although most of the USOC staff have departed and returned home, a few have stayed to work the Paralympic Games which begin in a few days and will be held at the same venues employed for the Olympic Games. A whole new set of amazingly talented athletes will descend upon Beijing, but with much less attention unfortunately.

It’s hard to process the experience at the moment – it is all too fresh. As my boy Adam noted, we’ll look back on things that angered us in a few weeks and laugh and realize the gravity of the adventure we just completed.

But for my friends and family who faithfully read my stream of conscious scribed across the wireless galaxy, self-actualized processing needs to be immediate and uploaded! So I will do my best, after all, I am sitting on a 12 hour flight in business class (a perk for working at the airport with our extremely helpful United peeps). After all, I am here on this work trip only to serve….

The Beijing Soundtrack

Anyone who knows me knows two of my passions are music and movies. They also know one of my obsessions to over analyze life. Combine all three and you get what I call musical soundtracks to my life if certain portions were turned into movies. I never said I wasn’t a little special. Without further ado…my Beijing soundtrack, volume 1.

Shook Ones by Mobb Deep
The Message by Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five
“Don’t push me cuz I’m close to the edge. I’m just trying not to lose my head.”

Working an Olympic Games is hard work. Your days are extremely long, you live in small quarters (at least the folks at BNU and the Village did), you get minimal sleep, you are away from friends, family, and the culture you are used to. Everything is different. You don’t get days off. You work not for yourself but for a larger goal that you see others easily forget. Its rough. For me, I didn’t have one responsibility I could focus in on. I was assigned to several tasks that were very diverse from each other, which was tough. And honestly, I don’t think many people can do it. You could see it on people’s faces towards the end. Some people crack, others shine. We all got testy. I relied on people back home for inspiration (thanks Mom and Lindsay, you guys saved me in ways you never know). Other times, small things got you through the day. Amazing how a smile or pat on the back or watching an incredible race got you through the next couple of 15 hour days.

Can You Feel It by The Jacksons
The energy surrounding Beijing the days before and after the Opening Ceremonies was incredible. I can’t think of a more perfect song to describe it. And just like the video, we all hoped and looked to athletes larger than life to make it rain gold.

Beautiful Day by U2
The rain in Beijing always cleared up the skies and cooled off the temperature. And it truly illuminated how beautiful the city is. Lush green mountains, towering high rises for miles, clear skies…truly picturesque.

What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye
The Chinese do business very differently from the way we do business in the States. That isn’t they are wrong and we are right, or vice versa. It is a statement of fact. And this fact made work for us challenging on more than a few occasions. At times, you couldn’t worry about winning “the battle.” Sometimes you had push and compromise and swallow your pride and do what was best for the team, even if that meant more work for you. But before coming up with new solutions to resolve conflicts or hurdle obstacles, we were all left shaking our heads trying to figure out what the hell was going on half the time.

Eat It by Weird Al Yankovich
This was one of my favorite songs as a kid. I would stay up late at night just watch the video come on MTV back when they actually played videos. So this song comes to mind with all the various food options I cam across. Although I never at a fried scorpion, I know friends who did. I did eat more McDonald’s and KFC than I imagined I ever would in Asia. The food at BNU, thanks my man Adam and Miss Terri who I think secretly runs at least a pocket of Beijing, was ridiculously incredible. And healthy.

But my favorite memory comes from the time I had dinner with Jacque, Adam, and Beth and bit into a dumpling – only to realize (a little too late) that it was filled with not only pork, but also some type of vinegar sauce. As I bit down on it, I heard it squish and pop and watch out of the corner of my eye as juice sot out across the table nearly scalding Jacque’s face. We all shared a food laugh.

You’re So Vain by Carly Simon
One of the disheartening things about the experience was the number of people I came across who weren’t athletes, yet completely thought the Olympic Games were about them and for them. Maybe I’m just a sport purest and think the Olympics are about excellence in sport performance on the world’s grandest stage. And I realize that with the support of fans, friends, family, staff, etc. the Games wouldn’t be the extravaganza it is. But ultimately, it all comes back to the athletes and their experience. They come first. And when I saw people push that concept aside or not take that into consideration at all and instead place the fulfillment of their desires first, I would find myself shaking my head. It certainly causes the Games to lose a bit of the luster it attempts to illuminate.

Inner City Blues by Marvin Gaye
Staying at BNU gave us a chance to see and experience much more of the culture of Beijing than what would have been experienced had I stayed at the Hilton or what was seen around the competition venues. The culture of Beijing is very different. Although the people of China were extremely nice and generous, there were just so many things about the everyday of life of the populace I couldn’t get used to. Now I never saw any of the abject poverty I imagine may exit in the country provinces outside the city and most of what I saw never made me sad, just uncomfortable.

People spat with regularity, whether outside or inside. And they let you know it was coming as they hawked them up from deep down, gutturally calling to their ancestors to bless their phlegm. Infants usually didn’t wear diapers; instead they wore pants with slits in them and no underwear. And when nature called, they went. Sometimes the parent lifted the child above a trash can and helped them shake it out. Other times, they joined them in the process and merely squatted along with them.

Because of the socialist system(my guess), most Chinese people you worked with never made decisions. And if you needed to solve a problem that arose, it was often a painful process to get taken care of because you always had to go through some immense bureaucratic process, or talk to 12 managers to receive authorization 10 days later. We found that if you became very aggressive (but not violent or threatening) and asked a lot of questions, you could out last that person’s patience and get what you wanted. This also worked with haggling at the various markets. Unfortunately, this brings out an easily agitated and flippant disposition in me that I did not enjoy. I am glad to be leaving that behind.

There were also very dissimilar ideas of what was considered hygienic to our own. People washed their underwear in the street. Some shop owners sold items wearing only pants. Folks were always moping, but never changed out the water. Beijing city life was interesting, but not for me in the long run.

Mathematics by Mos Def
· China was going after 119 overall medals and won 100 (51 gold)
· The US set the bar for 45 golds and earned 36 (110 overall)
· Over 100,000 Chinese volunteers were employed and could be found everywhere.
· The US had the largest team delegation with 594 athletes
· I stayed in China from July 17th through August 28th
· 6.8 rmb = $1
· China spent over 2 billion dollars on their sport performance plan
· The USOC budget is generally around $100 million per year
· An estimated 14 million people live in Beijing
· Over 350 million people in China don’t have access to clean drinking water
· The US has approximately 300 million in population
· Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals or 22% of the US Team’s gold medal haul, he now has 13 overall
· Someone lifted more than 550 pounds over their head to win a gold medal in men’s weightlifting
· 9.69 and 19.30, the times Usain Bolt flashed through the 100 and 200 meter dashes in world record time
· 20 - number of hours I slept over the course of 6 weeks, 20,000 - the number of hours I worked (both wild approximations)
· 50 – the number of hours I will sleep this weekend
· 0 – the number of hours I will work this weekend
· 2 – the number of suits I had made in Beijing
· 2 – the number of Chinese women I found attractive
· 1 bike purchased in Beijing
· 350 – the amount of rmb spent on said bike ($51 American)
· 2 – the number of glasses of wine in now takes me to become intoxicated

For the Cool in You by Babyface
Superstar by Lupe Fiasco

American Boy by Estelle with Kanye West

The Chinese love Americans. I had my picture taken daily. Seriously. I know I’m pretty, but even that was a bit much. And Beijing went bonkers for Kobe Bryant, Dwane Wade, Michael Phelps, anyone who was blonde or African American, gymnasts, Jenny Lang Ping, and pretty much anyone on Team USA.

The World Is Yours by Nas
The Olympics really catered to the athletes competing. The Athlete Village was amazing. BNU was incredible and we went above and beyond expectations to provide an incredible training environment and an even more memorable experience for our athletes.

But the Games belonged to the Chinese more than anyone. The Opening Ceremonies were ridiculous. 51 golds! Wow. They were winning everywhere and everything. The venues were breath taking. They truly opened their doors to the world and proved they are a force to be taken seriously.

I Miss You by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes
For all us of who were away from our families and loved for such a long time. This trip also makes you realize how much you really love American culture and your material possessions and so many little things we take for granted. Like English, telephones, washers and dryers, coffee, good plumbing, pedestrian right of way, running trails, 8 hour work days, weekends, and so much more.

Jigga What by Jay Z
The album version of this song is also called Nigga what, Nigga who. And the two words I most often heard in mandarin were jiega and niega. But there pronounced jigga and nigga. They mean “this” and “that.” And I could never get used to hearing “that” in mandarin.

Midnight in a Perfect World by DJ Shadow
The lighting of the Torch during Opening Ceremonies was incredible and took place during the midnight hour. No one could have imagined how insanely cool that would be. London and Vancouver have their work cut out for them.

Too Hot by Kool and the Gang
During the days when humidity was at its peak and the sun was shining bright, the temperature inside and out was stifling. Even for a heat lover like myself it got tough. Those first few weeks were impossible to stay hydrated. You were sweating out everything you took in. And most buildings had poor cooling systems, so you were always sweating. Working out was tough. The days I was on the track with former teammate Eli Bremer, we were drenched 10 minutes into our warm up.

Even though I'm now back in the States, I'll keep throwing out a few post Beijing thoughts. I still have to document my Walmart and Hooters experiences, as well as my visit to the Great Wall and other notable stories. So stay tuned!

Back at the airport

I can't believe I am in the stretch run. Almost 5 weeks in the book. The Games are winding down and I am heading back to the airport - this time to make sure everyone gets back on to the plane and back home.

After that first day at the airport, I never properly talked about how crazy it was. It got soooooooo packed with media. It got scary at times. And it was draining. Just look at the throng of people waiting for Team USA to come out of baggage claim. One glance and you can see why we had to "sneak" Michael Phelps into Beijing. It was normal practice to bring 4 or 5 of our biggest staff members to serve as body guards as we escorted athletes to the Village buses and away from the crowds.

Check this series of pics to see how packed things got. I only hope it doesn't get this way the second time around. Wish me luck.

So your family works in textiles...and ham.

My experience here in China has been amazing. But that is simple and ambiguous. And obviously fitting with the USOC's ad campaign "Amazing Awaits."

At times it has been amazingly beautiful, other times is has been amazingly maddening, and from to time it is amazingly depressing. I imagine that with all the good must come some bad - or at least tough moments...

So here are some of my top "amazing moments" in no particular order (and I pretty much pulled them out of my arse).

Amazingly Heartbroken

On the first day of competition, I went to see my good friend Emily Caruso compete in women's 10m air rifle. Her event was the first medal opportunity of the Games and she hooked me up with a personal ticket. Before I continue, some back history...Emily and I dated on and off for nearly 2 years (2003-05). I was young, stupid and wanted to be an international player and wound up treating her terribly in the process. This is something I will always regret and never forgive myself for because she is a great person and will make some guy very happy for the rest of his life. But despite acting like an evolving bipedal troglodyte, she gave me the chance to remain great friends with her and for this I am very grateful. And I was very happy to be in China to watch her compete. Or so I thought...

Who really wants to watch anyone shoot at a target 10 meters away for 75 minutes? Apparently a lot of Chinese. I got to the event an hour early and didn't even get into the venue. Despite having a ticket into the shooting complex, I couldn't get into the event and see her shoot because it filled to capacity quickly. Instead, I had to go into the venue where the final would be held and wait for 2 hours, hoping that Emily would push past the prelim shoot. And when she didn't make it, I was crushed. For a million reasons, but most importantly because she didn't fulfill her goal and dream of winning an Olympic medal. She missed making the final by one shot. (Women shoot 40 shots on a 10 point target the size of a dime. 400 is a perfect score. The top 8 shooters advance. #8 to advanced with a score of 396, Emily shot a 395. She missed it by an eye lash quite literally. This was pretty much the same result she had in 2004).

After the final, I snuck my way into the athlete area and found her. People were asking her for interviews, but when she saw me, she came over and we walked to a quiet space to get away. There I hugged her and she cried. And I cried. Ask anyone who knows me...I am not one who cries. I am surprised to know I have tear ducts. But I wanted to see my friend succeed so badly that it hurt to see her come up short. And it hurt even more to see that realization on her face. I'm getting teary eyed just thinking about it now.

I told her I was proud of how she competed and that she should be as well. I told her she was amazing just to be here when so many people gave up on her. I told her she was great...and it is all true. I don't know if it helped...but I think me just being there lifted her spirits a bit.

In the following days, we hung out a bit and talked about her future and and her emotions. And in the end I was very happy to be there for my friend...even if it made me cry.

Amazingly Bad Draw

Another good friend of mine is epee fencer Seth Kelsey. He and I have trained and competed against one another in fencing as well as Rock Band. He is unique in every way imaginable. He is also a great fencer, arguably one of the best ever for the US. He has been on fire the last 6 months, winning medals at international tournaments no American ever has. This elevated his world ranking to 5th in the world coming into the Games, giving him a great seeding.

Yet somehow, he drew the absolute worst person he could get...Fabrice Jeannetof France (who is the fencer I dream of being). And we were all worried. Seth is one of the more confident people I know, but he was not happy with his draw. His opponent should be ranked in the top 3 on the world, not top 30. Yet as we say, in order win, you have to beat everyone at some point.

Sadly, Seth couldn't pull it off. He started out cautious, going down 5-1 early. But he came back strong to take the lead at 8-9. But the Frenchman was too good and experienced in the end and Seth lost a heart breaker 15-12. Jeannet went on to win the silver medal. Go figure.

Amazingly Random

A few nights after both Seth and Emily competed, we were all hanging out on the roof deck of the USA House. The USA House is where our marketing department rubs elbows with sponsors to make money for our athletes. It is very different from the performance side of the USOC, but just as essential for gaining revenue that allows us to best care for our athletes.

Anyway, we were hanging out and talking about random things. Our conversations are usually always random, but they were enhanced with the help of some Dionysian libations. In any case, the subject of Emily's Italian ancestry came up. And Seth, being the most well traveled out of all of us mentioned that Emily's family originates from northern Italy where her peoples would have specialized in textiles....and ham. How he knows this, I have no clue freaking clue, but it was hilarious and is a prime example of Seth's amazing uniqueness. Never a dull moment around him.

Amazing Grace

One of the several jobsI have here in China is serving as a training partner for one of my old teammates Eli Bremer. Although it isn't an official responsibility, it helps to have a rabbit for some of his runs as well as someone who he can talk to during workouts. And I am more than happy to oblige him.

One day when we were working out the BNU High Performance Training Center track, we shared the running lanes with none other than 400 meter runner Jeremy Wariner. Wariner and his partners were doing 150 meter sprint repeats while we were doing some 200's and 1k's. Now we were by no means going slow. We were cruising through 400 splits at mid 60's and hitting 200's at 29's. But we can't come close to comparing ourselves to Wariner. So we stopped just to watch him run through a few intervals. And talk about a beautiful stride. Wow. Long and graceful, smooth and effortless. It was crazy to watch him glide across the track. He didn't look as if he was putting any effort in, but he absolutely gobbled up the track. Eli and I could only giggle giddily.

Amazingly Small

The television really does add weight to people. You have no clue about anybody's size until you see them up close.

Jeremy Wariner might be really fast, but he is a twig. I have more muscle mass then he does, and I am lucky to weigh 145 pounds and stand 5 feet 8 inches at the moment. And that is the same for most of the track guys. Tyson Gay has the smallest feet ever and a jarringly thin upper body. Shalane Flannigan, bronze medalist in the women's 10k towers over her African counterparts, but she is lucky if she hits 5 feet even and 100 pounds.

I could go on, but the bottom line is that Olympians aren't as big or statuesque as we imagine. I have a much better physique. But this shouldn't surprise anyone ;-)

Amazingly Amazing

Just being able to experience all that I have so far and continue to cheer on our Olympians still competing.

A great night (morning) of swimming.

I'm spoiled. But I am also blessed. And thankful. I have a great job right now with AMAZING perks. I've been in China for nearly a month and still haven't had a full day off. However, I have been able to get some downtime to see some events recently. This morning happened to be one of them.

Today I got the chance to visit the Water Cube and check out some fantastic swimming. Have I mentioned I really enjoy my job and get some awesome perks?

When we got here, out supervisers told us to make a list of our top 3 picks to check for events we wanted to see and they would try their best to get us a ticket. My first two choices were obvious - modern pentathlon and men's epee fencing. I was offered a ticket to fencing but had to work that day, but in replace of it, I was given a ticket to this morning's session of swimming (which was evening for folks in the US).

If you didn't see it on tv, the roster of races that went on today were men's 200 m free final, men's and women's 100 back final, women's 100 breast final, men's 200 fly semi's, and women's 200 IM semi's. Not a bad replacement ticket. Haha....I can't even type that with a straight face.

The racing was ridiculous. Michael Phelps is SO INCREDIBLY FAST. It blows my mind how good he is. Back when I was still competing as an athlete, I had the honor of sharing pool space with him when he came down to CO to train for a brief altitude camp. My coach would pull me out of the water just to watch his technique and see how it supposed to be done.

Flawless. Efficient. Effortless. Really, really, really x 100...good.

While in CO I saw him do a workout where he kicked 50m faster than I could swim. That's really when I knew he was on a completely other level.

And that's the great thing about watching the Olympics and great athletes live. You truly get to see how talented they are. And for sport neds like me, that's akin to Malcolm X going to Mecca. Just opens your mind.

Outside of Phelps, it was great to see Team USA completely dominate the racing. 4 finals and 7 medals. Holy cow. 2 world records! Seriously? And I got to watch that in person?

Here are a few tidbits of inside info for you to nibble on...

• Phelps is a nice guy and shy. Who always tries to remain low key and is rarely demanding. he was great to work with when we picked him at the airport and got him onto the Village bus without notice.
• Phelps wanted that 200 record. You could tell because he wore the full body suit when he normally wears just the leg suit. It is really too bad we didn't get to see him race Ian Thorpe and Vandenhoogenban in their primes. He would have cleaned their clocks.
• Great to see Aaron Piersol win the backstroke in the 100 and break his world record. The guy is California cool. I don't think I have ever seen a more laid back person. And he is a U Texas alum. Gotta love that.
• Natalie Coughlin is hot. But you already knew that.

• Watching the racing in person is a bit anti-climatic. Its hard to tell who wins becuase they don't immediately display it on the monitor. At least not in finish order. They post it all according to lane assignment. So the entire crowd has to wait a few seconds to figure out who won when it is close. And every race looks close. Also, without the build-up from a television broadcast, you don't get that overwhelming feeling unless you know the sport and can appreciate what happened. For example, when Coughlin won, the crowd was kind of apathetic because it wasn't a world record. And that felt really odd. Here she won the gold and was 2 tenths off her record, yet the crowd was silent. Strange.
  
• Because of the seeming lack of crowd energy, it almost more fun to watch the racing on the big screen tv's we have in the dining hall with all the staff and athletes who are all cheering wildly. The energy after yesterday's men's 4 x 100 was ridiculously intense. One person said they could hear all the shouting and cheering while on the elevator coming off the 11th floor (dining is on the 2nd floor).


• The crowd at women's water polo was more intense than it was at swimming. Go figure.

• The warm up pool is behind the medal podium. It is out of view of camers and spectators.


• From my vantage point, Phelps is getting tired. He was stretching his legs all through the medal ceremony and immediately before his 200 fly. And in that race, he really took his time and conserved energy - which is hard to believe considering he broke his Olympic record. It is ridiculous how much better he is than everyone else. He should win 8 golds as long as everything holds up in the relays. His toughest challenge will be his teammate Ian Crocker in the 100 fly. But I would throw money on him winning 8.
• I talked to one of the coaches today and he had a great theory on why Phelps is so good. He believes it is because he has only had one coach, and that chemistry is so strong that it translates to some amazing perfomances. Bob Bowman knows exactly how far to push such a talented phenom...and it is scary how good he is.

That's all I have for now. I'll try and post more this week. Everything has been insanely busy up until a few days ago. And it will get crazy again shortly, so I'll do what I can to keep you all updated. Hope everyone is well! Please keep emailing me!