Besides feeding and getting to know the Olympic athletes, my favorite part of the games was actually getting to see the events! Since you last heard from me, I was really lucky enough to get to see the Modern Pentathlon, and the USA MEN’S WATERPOLO SEMIFINALS!!! If you can believe it, a Russian won the Modern Pentathlon and I was there in the pouring and questionable Beijing rain to see it.
The modern pentathlon features five events packed into 12 hours; fencing, shooting, swimming, horseback riding, and a final run. We acquired the evening tickets, so we were able to see the horseback riding (yawn) and the running event. Watching thirty something horses run and jump over the same jumps wasn’t the most exciting hour and a half of my life but we made the best of it! And then, the most shocking thing began happening in all of the events I was able to see. Horses began failing to clear the hurdles. We saw riders fly off the horses and horses fall down and I think I had my eyes covered half the time. I couldn’t believe I was at the Olympics and watching this madness! Everyone ended up being fine but I was more than ready for the horseback riding event to be over.
The running event was also a bit bizarre. The running event is a 3K staggered start and the start order is determined by the points ranking after the first four events. So the last place athlete may not begin running until the first place runner is half way finished. The strangest part is that the running event is on a track but the athletes do not run the typical laps around the track. Instead, a course has been set up where the runners must zig zag through the lanes. It seems a bit stupid but I guess it makes the dullness of running around a track less boring.
My favorite event by far was the USA Men’s Waterpolo Semifinal. My fifth and final event was finally the Americans! (At this point, I had felt I was turning part Russian after all the Russian events!) But acquiring these tickets was pretty funny. I had just finished an 11 hour shift of work that began at 5am and I walked into my room and fell into my bed. Five minutes into what I thought would be the best nap of my life, I heard a knock on the door. Cait had just been given a small pile of tickets and my great nap of all time suddenly changed from a permanent plan in my day to a mere idea. I threw on red, white and blue, and was in a cab faster than the time it took me to fall in my bed.
The water polo event was a blast! First, to be in the USA section, cheering with other Americans, and waving American flags made me feel like an American again! And, because we had been serving these athletes every single day, twice a day, we had gotten to know them pretty well. (Like I said previously, the water polo players were the most friendly and we all knew them on a first name basis). So that definitely made this event really amazing!
Now, I know nothing about water polo. Tony (their leading scorer) and I had a discussion about this one day at lunch. I told him that I thought lacrosse was to the east coast as water polo is to the west coast and he agreed. (wow I am so profound sometimes..haha.) But anyways, it is not that difficult to understand, unlike Grecco Roman wrestling for me. Basically it is a mix of soccer and basketball in a pool. The USA ended up winning 10-5 and the American fans went wild, including me! It was nice to feel obnoxiously patriotic again!
One of the biggest things that I had hoped to see during my time in Beijing was the Bird’s Nest! (The home of the track and field events). But because of tight security during the games, your only chance of getting a glance at this spectacular structure was if you had a ticket to an event in or near the venue. Luckily, water polo and the modern pentathlon were both in close proximity so I took full advantage of the photos, even from a distance.
To be honest, it is one of those things that takes your breath away. I was in awe. And to see the flame was just awesome. It is not only massive but the design is something that any architect would love. To the left is the water cube (the home of all of Michael Phelps’ eight gold medal victories) and at night it is completely lit up! Both venues are beautiful.
And finally, the story of the Olympics (at least in China) was the USA men’s volleyball team. On the final day of events, the men’s team beat Brazil in four sets to win the Gold Medal after the biggest tragedy at the games. As I’m sure you all know, head coach Hugh McCutcheon’s father in law was murdered during the games.
During that match, I was working a shift at the USA House and I can’t put into words the atmosphere of that place. People were crying, cheering, hugging each other and screaming all at once! I threw my serving tray on the bar and just stood in front of the tv with goosebumps. I feel like it’s one of those stories that can be made into a movie one day and to think that I served them every single day was pretty cool. In the days leading up to the finals, my grilled cheese obsessed men’s volleyball team was pretty much silent. The only discussion that I overheard going on was strategy and Brazilian names. The men’s volleyball team were all super tall and really nice! It’s one of those Olympic stories that epitomize the Olympic spirit! I hope you all had a chance to watch a little bit if not all of that game!
Here is the staff at the HPTC on our last day. While it was sad to say goodbye to the Olympics, I think we were ALL ready to be done working. Waiting on people is definitely not my next career move but it was something that I took advantage of and enjoyed completely.
Overall, the Olympics were even more than I thought it would be! I feel so unbelievably lucky to be a part of this experience and I think it was such a great way to transition back to the states. For all my fellow PC grads, the Providence Digest has asked me to write another article for the next issue and accompanying this article will be the picture below. AJ, Cait, Mike and myself took a photo with two other PC grads ’05 who work for the USOC and Lopez Lomong. He was the USA’s flag bearer during the Opening Ceremonies and he has a remarkable story of survival from Darfur. He was such a nice guy and his enthusiasm at the games was contagious. So PC’ers, check that out this fall!!!
I hope everyone has enjoyed my updates from Beijing! Next stop, AMERICA!
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