- Liukin was spectacular in the Women's All-Around Yesterday, taking Gold. Johnson, who did nothing less than her normal was hurt by her bar routine and took Silver.
- Phelps is 6/6 (and as I am writing this 7/7 with his closest win yet .01 seconds!!) I am starting to get bored of him.
- We surpassed China yesterday in medal count and we are currently a comfortable 7 medals up. We still have a lot of ground to make up in the Gold medal count.
- Right now I am watching Men's speed walking; it is the funniest thing I have ever seen. This is a sad excuse for an Olympic Event.
Let's talk about how I was less than an arm's reach away from three Olympic Gold medals yesterday AND three Olympic Silver medals. All I wanted to do was reach out my little hand for a touch. Just a touch. I wouldn't take it. I would even put hand sanitizer on before touching it! But given the fact that I have to act professional, I begrudgenly restrained myself. I am sure by the end of these two weeks I will be just as used to Gold medals as Phelps. RIIGHT.
I didn't have to be at the Velodrome until 3:00 yesterday because events didn't start until 4:30. I spent the morning doing what I do best. Sitting in my bed watching the Olympics. Because the medal ceremony was so late for the gymnastics I had to rush to get ready because we now have a shuttle!!! While I cherished my long, sweaty rides, playing running of the dragon, and fighting for a seat, I my happy to be done with the subway.
When we got to the Velodrome I got a little camera happy, we all know I am not a camera happy person. I couldn't help myself. Plus it was a rare blue sky day so I had to take advantage. I was the stinky kid yesterday. Not by choice or lack of proper bathing. I pulled the smelly ONS bib out of the pile. It reeked. By the end of the day my shirt smelled enough that people started to think it actually might be me. We hid the bib to ensure that no one else would have to suffer the same shame and humiliation I did.
Shortly after arrival we are assigned our positions, mine being the broadcast zone. I was pretty excited about this placement, until I met Pinky. Amy took the three of us up there to get in the good graces of the broadcasting people. They are even more touchy than the journalists so you really have to butter them up. The EuroSport people were awesome. They warned us most of their interviews would be in German and French but were more than willing to translate if need be. Then there was Pinky. BBC Sports. Amy walks up, introduces herself and Pinky goes, "I know who you people are. I have dealt with you before. Stay out of the shot and if you get in the way I may ask you to move. Don't take it personally." We all take a few steps back at that response. However, Pinky proceeds to stare me down for a few seconds. I guess in an attempt to break me. Then she says, "I may get a little snippy and I have pointy elbows so watch out." At that we completely walk away. Pinky does not belong there for numerous reasons. Let me lay them out for you.
- She is too old to be a women's sportscaster.
- She is NOT cute.
- She is wearing a pink polo with a white and pink skirt, hence the beloved nickname Pinky.
- Her collar was popped. MAJOR NO!
- PLUS she is wearing her accreditation pass around her waste like a huge TOOL!
The main problem with Pinky is that we can't avoid her. The way her camera is setup makes it really difficult to get to the Australian Channel 7, CCTV, French or Germany. All of which are important groups of people that some one needs to be standing by. At one point she even tried to stop us from going through because she didn't want us to possibly move in front of the camera. So the number one rule of broadcasting zone is...don't piss off Pinky.
I get the lucky first stab at being by Pinky. The plan was to move past her before the races start and then freely move beyond that point. Wrong-o. I get over there and I am sandwiched in between her camera and some French guy's camera. I catch Amy's eye and tell her this isn't going to work. She comes over only to get another dose of Pinky. "I am not doing any interviews right now and I can't have people standing here in my line of sight." Uhh ok. What broadcasting school did you go to that you can't learn how to ELIMINATE DISTRACTIONS! Stupid woman. We walk away from her and decide we will deal with Pinky only when it is completely necessary.
Before I can tell you about the events for the day it would probably be beneficial to explain them. Otherwise these are just words that mean absolutely NOTHING. There were only two events yesterday, Men's Team Sprint and Men's & Women's Individual Pursuit.
Men's Team Sprint: This is a team of three cyclists. Each lead for a lap and then break off for the next cyclist to take the lead. Basically the entire race lasts about 45 seconds, and that seems to be a slow time. There are two teams out on the track each starting on opposite sides.
Individual Pursuit: With this event the object is to try and catch the other person. Two people are on the track, again positioned on opposite sides. The race is about 4 min 25 seconds, the length is 4 km for men and 3 km for women. Recording the fastest time or catching the other rider determines the winner.
If you really are looking to understand these I would go to youtube and try to find a video. It is hard to visualize unless you see it. So the only medal event yesterday was Men's Team Sprint. We had a crash on the very first race, boy does that look painful. The US team qualified for semi-finals, but didn't make it to the medal races. FYI eight teams qualify for semi's and then four move on to the two medal races. At that point the teams with the two best times in semi's compete for Gold and Silver and the other two compete for Bronze and the disdained, oh so close, fourth place. The qualifying races for Team Sprint are nothing to really write home about. They weren't OVERLY exciting, but the finals were SO EXCITING! The Bronze medal race was between Germany and Australia. We had a hard time choosing who to root for, but given that we are impartial we didn't really root for anyone. Ha. Traci and I decided we had to go with our blood, Germany. We love our new Aussie friends, but it's blood. Plus I interviewed one of the guys and he is just the nicest person ever!!! RIGHT CHOICE! They won in the last lap. The Aussie's were leading the entire time but in the last lap the German's over took them. They were so excited and crying. I love when athletes cry. I know it sound cheesy but it is so genuine. I have watched these guys practice for the last few weeks. I have talked to them about their expectations and to see them succeed it really gut wrenching. Tangent. The Brits and Frenchmen (the favorites) raced for Gold and Silver. Now that was exciting. The Brits had a World Record time in the qualifying race, surpassing the three time World Champion French team. Honestly, we didn't care who won because the Brits wouldn't talk to us for the last week and the French are the French. I know I'm not a nice person. I have come to terms with that. The Brits pull off a semi-upset, but given that they were predicted to win Silver, it wasn't all that shocking.
After the Brits did a couple victory laps, took their photos, and hugged their families the medal ceremony started. While the athletes were in doping control a color guard of Chinese sorts brings out the flags. I was impressed to see they treat each flag with the same reverence given to theirs. The flags were placed on the bar and held there until it was time to raise them. Then we saw the beautiful Chinese women bring out the flowers and medals. We were particularly proud of them because we have watched them go from water bottle laps in the velodrome to real medals and flowers. Oh so grown up. Anyway, despite the fact that it wasn't the USA there was still a certain excitement being there.
I really want to write more and I have pictures to post, however, I have to leave for work in 45 minutes and I have yet to shower. So when I arrive home tonight I will give you the rest of this blog post, complete with photos, and a rundown on today's Pinky interactions!! Haha. I just realized that I will probably get this done before you even have the opportunity to see the first blog!
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