Beijing Opening Ceremonies 1 year ago today 8-8-08

[grecoref]

I thought I would share some random memories as I recalled it was on year ago today that I attended the Opening Ceremonies for the 2008 Olympic Games.

The flight... Gustavo Velez from Indy. representing Columbia and I were on the same flight...at the Indy Airport I met Tracy Stoelting from Avon who was selected to umpire the women's Softball competition...13 1/2 hours or so from Chicago direct to Beijing. I had an exit row so I was very comfortable. I only slept a little on the flight. Even old guys get excited I guess. I sat beside an agent of one of the Dream Team players...I can't recall which one at the moment.

Arrival...I was in the Beijing Airport no more than 45 minutes. That included customs, baggage claim and getting my credential autorized. The credential or ID card served as our entry visa into China, entrance to the venues and our hotel. If you wathced any of the Games on TV you saw these.

Hotel...the hotel for the wrestling referees was the same hotel used for the Jr Worlds in '07, so I was familiar with it. It was down short street off a main street. Along the short street were small stores that sold water, snacks, etc... and a few restaurants. The hotel was very large. It had several buildings including one that had a fitnees center, sauna, indoor swimming pool, bowling alley, pool tables and a small bar.

Humidity...I cannot describe how humid it was. Believe me it was worse than anything I have experienced here in Indiana. Rick Tucci was the other referee from the US and he complained about it also...and he lives in Ft. Lauderdale.

Opening Ceremonies...We went by bus about 3 hours prior to the start...we had to get thru tons of traffic and security...there was a special lane on the expressway for Olympic vehicles so we made good time as I recall. We went thru a couple of security checkpoints along the way. The Olympic Stadium and the Water Cube where the swimming events were held were side by side.
The feeling inside and out of the Stadium was electric...this was the real thing...something I had waited for, for a very long time. Again, I can't describe the humidity it took your breath away it was that bad.

The Ceremony itself was awesome. I will never forget the look on the athlete's faces as they entered the stadium. Some knowing they would win..other's hoping..others knowing they would come up short yet this was their moment in the sun.
We had special seating and I could shake hands with the athletes as they entered the stadium...I saw some of the wrestlers and the Dream Team.


The Great Wall...it was only about 45 minutes by bus and it was awesome. It spans about 4000 miles and the part we saw was still in good shape. There was even a Starbucks.

The venue...same venue as the '07 Jr Worlds. Capacity about 7500 or so...air conditioned and about 10 minutes by bus from the hotel. We had a special security entrance and we were even subject to search and metal detectors...just like airport security.
The referees marched in every session to a standing ovation. I'm not jokng...even the US photographers couldn't believe it.

Our performance...Greco...in '07 we were World Champions, in Bejing, one bronze medal by Adam Wheeler. Lots of factors here...Harry Lester gets beat at the Trials by a high school kid....not so good draws and not so good wrestling...I felt really bad for Brad Vering...he trained so hard for so long and he earned a silver medal in '07..and came up short here. I remember when he lost, as he was walking out of the arena, he looked back at the mat with the most regretful look I have ever seen...lesson learned guys, don't leave anythng behind.

Women's team...some new faces and again only one medal. Randi Miller did what she had to do when she needed to do it. It wold have been special to have Pendleton's Katie Downing on the team but it wasn't meant to be

Freestyle...One medal and it was Gold. Henry Cejudo's performance was inspiring. He had a plan and he followed up on it. I recall referees from other countries being impressed by him...while I'm on that subject...it is customary for the referees to congratulate a referee if their country won a medal. Tucci and I only got congratulated 3 times....I grew weary of congratulating the Russians. Overall, in freestyle we underperformed. Mocco was close to a medal and didn't get it done. Some of the other's wrestled poorly...Zadick and Schwab for example...Hrovat and Askren were too inexperienced and Cormier couldn't compete because his kidneys shut down from cutting too much weight...he was 18 pounds over the day before weigh-ins...there is no excuse for this. In my opinion he shold have to return all his gear and equipment and pay for the plane ticket...his actions, along with the poor performance of a few of the others resulted in Kevin Jackson's removal of his coaching duties. A word about KJ....I think the world of him and I wish him great success at Iowa State.

Random merories....
I attended a dinner at the US Olympic house in Bejing where I met the US Ambassador to China

Tucci and I had a US Olympic cell phone so we could stay in contact with USA Wrestling coaches and team leaders in case there were any changes to the rules or if anything else came up....We hit contacts once and found that we had numbers for EVERYONE who had a US Olympic phone...including Coach "K" of the Dream Team. Tucci and I joked about calling him for tickets....we did not call.

I bought a handmade, cut off the bolt, measured twice, cashmere suit for $150.

Tucci ate scorpion and beetles...I did not. We did have some great food and the Chinese food is not like it is here...it's good just different. We did find a Friday's,  did Subway and McDonald's once each for a quick lunch. The Chinese Wrestling Federation took us out for Peking Duck. That was  very good as well...we went to one place that grilled the fish with the head still on and some places served chicken that way too.

That's all for now

[FlyNavy]

Thanks for the info.  That was probably the most interesting and informative post I've read on this board!  Great stuff.  Thanks again.

[twinwrestlersmom]

Thanks for the insight, Very interesting .

[Drooke]

I always take special notice when I see your screen name at the beginning of a post and this is the reason why.  Pure Gold.

Grecoref, I would love to see you have a permanent blog on this site where you can "put down on paper" (so to speak) some of the remarkable memories and current happenings that you have experienced.

What say you... and Y2?