Day of Goodbyes

It's really weird to say goodbye to the way you've lived for seven weeks and the people that you've come to love over the past seven weeks to go back to normal.

Last night, we went to a alumnus' house to watch the Closing Ceremonies. Then, we went to the ONS Party so we could have one last soiree with all of our ONS buds. I'll really miss them.

Today, throughout the course of the day, I've been saying goodbye to all of the Australians. That was really hard. I mean, the first chance I can, realistically, I'm headed down under. And, I have about 10 couches to sleep on once I get there.

And, my final goodbye of the day is to you people. Over the past two months, you've kept up with all of the insanity of these games, this job, and this city. I hope along the way you could learn some stuff and laugh a lot, and feel like you too were in Beijing for the games.

A couple of thank yous:

• Fountain County Neighbor. I know that a lot of you wouldn't have even known about the blog without reading it in the Neighbor every week. I can't thank them enough for publishing it in its enitrety.
• Journal & Courier. Even though I wrote a couple of times on the J&C blog, but they were awesome for publshing what we all wrote.
• YOU! Mom and Dad have been telling me how many people are reading this and, to be honest, I'm blown away. Thank you so much for all of your comments and e-mails. Thanks for being interested. Your reading eyes were the motivation to keep blogging and keep being as detailed as possible.

My flight leaves tomorrow afternoon, and I'll be back tomorrow night, back to the American life I'm used to. But, there is no doubt, that I will never EVER forget the life that I had and that I have truly grown from my Beijing Adventure.

Bye.

Oh, and PS, I found my camera.

Sad Day

Today marked the end of an era in my life, albeit a short one. It was our last day of work.

It's a shame the way things were laid out, because Olympic Mountain Biking could be one of the most boring events in the games. Just to give you an idea, I fell asleep today on accident. And, it was such a non-prioirty that all of us be there that, if I hadn't had woken up and decided to go down to the Mixed Zone, no one would have woken me up.

So, today we did a lot of sitting around and really felt like two days shoved into one. It honestly, to a lot of us, felt that we had a full day, took a long break, and had another, all the while not really doing much at all.

After work, we headed off to Tim's, this barbecue/Tex-Mex place we found here, with all of our staff. It was nice to have us all in one place, just like the Chinese restaurant a few weeks ago (even though it seems like FOREVER ago). We ate, drank, watched an Australian diver win the gold, watched the American relay teams win gold, and watched the American Women's Basketball team practically win gold. But, the entire time, there was a sort of sad feeling in me, because, even though we will most likely meet up with the ONS crew tomorrow night, tonight could have easily been the last time we see them.

I hope not. I hope that, in December of 2010, I'm in a paid position covering Curling at the Vancouver Olympics for ONS. Yeah, it's been discussed. I hope that I can, in the next year or so, make it to Australia and see Amy, as well as all of my new Aussie friends.

The memories of our weeks here came flying back at me. The time Ernst asked me and Chad to go interview a female Mountain Biker...who was a guy. The picture that hung up on our whiteboard of a Fuwa who had fallen down. The names we had given to various people in the mixed zone, like Pinky and Witchy...and VeloFred. The press conference today where, in translation, a man told us he had a cervical injury. That's right. He had a cervix.

These cannot be recreated and will never be duplicated. I hope that I can just take the most from this experience and move on.

Day of Disappointment

So, last night, when I finished blogging, I totally had, in my head, the picture of a blog about how BMX was awesome and then we went to the softball game and saw the US team win gold.

But, the best laid plans...well, they never play out.

BMX was canceled because when we woke up it was pouring rain. So, we got all the way to the venue, were there for about an hour, and came right back to the dorm. I took a nap, watched some TV, and got ready for the game.

The game that we lost.

That's really all I can say. It was extremely disappointing and a sad way for the Americans to go out in the last softball game ever at the Olympics (for now). But, we witnessed history and had a pretty fun time doing it.

I just hope tomorrow is better.

You Know a Day is Blogworthy...

...when you have to make a list of what happened, making sure you don't forget anything.

The day started out early, thankfully with a shuttle to the Cluster for the first day EVER of BMX racing in the Olympics. We got to the office and Ernst was playing Ernsty Claus. He all of a sudden had all of these presents for us, which was pretty incredible. One of them was this lanyard that was rainbow colored, which prompted Krystyna to say, "I had no idea Ernst was hiding his gay pride keyholders from us this entire time." If I had been drinking milk, it might have poured out through my nose. But, you have to take into consideration that this was at around 8 in the morning, so we were all a bit loopy.

So, we headed on over to the BMX track. I posted pics of it earlier, but it's pretty incredible. We were all looking forward to the inaugural BMX Olympics. But, it started off pretty boring.

It was hot, which didn't help. But, the way the BMX is set up is that every rider goes through two seeding runs which then splits them up into quarterfinals for the guys and semis for the girls. There was literally two hours of just one person on the track at a time, riding by themselves. All the excitement we could muster was due to the overzealous announcer exaggerating and editorializing about each run. AWFUL! THE MAN IS AWFUL!

Anyway, it was pretty boring until the actual racing started. Then things got really exciting.

So, it seems that the first turn of the track is slippery. Apparently, according to many of the riders I talked to today, they were not only well aware of this fact heading into the Olympics, but they brought it up to the powers that be a year ago and no changes were made. I'm starting to think this was intentional, because there were a few big crashes today, all on the same spot on the same turn. Maybe it's like the reason most people watch the Indy 500: to see who wins and watch any crashes that may occur. Maybe the Olympics and UCI know this? Ahh, who am I to say?

Well, needless to say, all of the crashes and the suspicious lack of enthusiasm in the crowd gave the journalists (as well as us) a lot to talk about today. It was an early day that wasn't very long at all, but seemed pretty long. All I can say is that tonight, you guys will probably see the BMX finals, something that you won't want to miss. Just try not to listen to the announcer in the background and you'll be fine.

After work, I fell upon something quite amazing...an opportunity to go to the Softball Gold Medal game tomorrow night. So, I jumped on it. I had the money and the time, so why not? How many times am I going to get this opportunity again? Well, considering I never thought I would get to see any events in the first place, I'll go with slim chances.

So, Kelsey and I headed on over to this guy who had the tickets. And it was some of the most interesting time I've ever spent.

From the subway from the venue to our first transfer, we met a guy who sells beer at the Cluster. And, the most fascinating part, other than the part where he offered us free beer whenever we wanted, was the fact that he had an accreditation that looked exactly like mine, except for ONS Flash Quote Reporter was replaced with the more awesome title of "Tsingtao Beer Vendor". How awesome is that?

So, then, we went on another little jaunt on another line where nothing interesting happened.

Then, we got on another line (yes, it was as complicated as it sounds). We call the guy, we get in his car, and get the tickets. Really all I can say about that.

Now, to get how all of this next part of the story started, I have to explain something about the name of the station we had to stop at in order to get to our new destination, the USA House (ie the Holland House) and, more importantly, the USA Store.

It was called Dog-something and Shithi-something. So, we called it by it's obvious abbreviation.

When we did so, this guy in official Canada Team gear laughs and says hi to us. So, since he was all decked out, I asked if he was with a team. It turns out he wasn't, but he was officially there with his wife, who used to be...wait for it...an international gymnastics judge.

Yes, those people who you yell at on TV when you see them. It turns out their quite nice and will explain the new gymnastics judging system to you. If anyone wants an explanation, I'm dying to give one at some point. It actually makes a lot of sense to me now.

Then, we were on the escalator up, and Kelsey said, "You know what would be awesome? If we walked out here and there was a Starbucks, just waiting for us."

So, after we went to the Starbucks that was right outside the station, as if it were waiting for us, we went to the store. It took a long time to find, but an amazing thing happened on our journey. People were really willing to help us.

We didn't have a map. We didn't have anything written in Chinese characters to point at. We didn't have anything translated. All we knew was that the USA House was near the Jasmine restaurant and Gate 9 of the Worker's Stadium.

But, people knew where all of those things were and, while being accompanied with two British people who were working for the US Sailing team, we eventually found the house. It's an amazing store. First of all, I haven't seen American prices in more than a month, so that was refreshing, if not at the same time depressing, a penultimate reminder of how much more expensive everything is going to be once I get back to the states.

So I stocked up on Americana at the US Store, hit up Annie's Italian Experience for food, and headed on back to blog with you fine people.

Make sure you come back tomorrow for a blog after the Softball game.

See, in the business, that's we call a tease, people!

Looong Day

Today was the last day of the Track Cycling, and, to be honest, I'm kinda sad about it. It goes back to that whole thing that I'm used to the track at this point and I'm not sure I'm ready to have to grab quotes from BMX riders or Mountain Bikers.

That being said, I was up early today to head over to the velodrome and then interview some Mountain Bikers. The big challenge with the mountain bike course is that, as I've said in a previous post, it's carved into the side of a mountain. This makes it extremely hard for the athletes to train on the actual course...and, therefore, extremely hard for us to pin them down for an interview.

But, we got a few, which was all we needed. The nice thing is that we're done with having to get interviews and such from the BMX and Mountain Bike because the events start tomorrow. Plus, not nearly as many people care about those as compared to the track.

Today, I felt really productive for the first half of the day and then didn't feel like I was a useful member of the team at all in the afternoon. Firstly, I fell asleep reading "The Daily Show and Philosophy" (and I may have drooled in the book a little bit. Seriously, we all just passed out during our hour and a half break.), then went up to the track and sat in the ENG zone, which has become the mixed zone that wasn't supposed to be.

Essentially, the journalists learned early on that the athletes weren't going all the way over to the actual mixed zone, so the journalists just kinda found a spot to pester them. So, therefore, we were there too because we stalk the journalists for our own personal gain. So, I was there in the ENG, the name for this new zone, all day. Every time an athlete came through, either a) someone else had them and was in a better position than me or b) the athlete didn't speak English...or c) the athlete was someone we really didn't care about.

So, I really didn't do anything until Chris Hoy won his third gold medal...yeah, he doesn't stink...that I did anything. Then, I was busy the rest of the night.

It was kind of a boring day, but honestly a pretty exciting day. A lot of great races, some controversy with the Chinese Individual Sprinter, who fell and got to race again and won, but then bumped the other rider so was disqualified. It was nuts. I also met a really nice guy from EuroSport and bonded with the New Zealand TV guys again.

Up early tomorrow for the first ever day of BMX! Up early, but also done by 1:00. Perhaps off to find the USA house for some team merchandise and then off to do some much needed laundry.

Oh, and I understand that some people might want to e-mail me questions or whatnot. That's totally awesome. My e-mail, if you want to send any questions or comments my way, is pwrighth@purdue.edu OR philwrighthouse@gmail.com.

We Screwed Up

Today, we knew was another big day. We had the Men's Team Pursuit final, the Women's Points Race, and a lot of sprint qualifying. When they put the schedule up of who was going where, I was frightened, because I saw my name up there...a lot. The two medals mixed zones and the two press conferences after those events. I was going to be busy. I was looking at the list and commented on having to be in a few places at once. Amy told me that I was their go-to guy.

Scary, I know.

First up was the Points Race. With the PR, the women ride 100 laps (no that's not a typo) and then, every 10 laps, they sprint. The people who win the top four spots from each sprinted lap get points. The person with the most points wins.

Early on, within a few laps, there was a huge crash. We're pretty sure it was no one's fault, just two bikes running into each other. But, nonetheless, in the aftermath, USA's Sarah Hammer was holding her collarbone (broken collarbones are the most common cycling injuries) and Trine Schmidt, a 20-year-old rider from Denmark who I interviewed during training, was down. Trine got back up...Hammer, obviously, didn't.

So, after the race, when Marianne Vos from the Netherlands had won, saving the Netherlands Cycling Team from being a complete failure at these games (just Google Theo Bos...if the word overrated doesn't show up on your screen ten times, it should be considered a surprise), I waited around to see if I could talk to Trine, since she was involved directly in the crash and lived to tell about it (I still don't know how Hammer is). After she got done with a really long interview with all of the Danish press, she saw me and remembered me. The medals ceremony was about to start and neither of us could go anywhere once it started so we had this really long interview, which was awesome. She showed me where the crash and fall had BURNED THROUGH HER SUIT and gave her this nasty raspberry and these scratches all over her arms. It was crazy.

Then, I hit up the PR press conference. The bronze medalist didn't show up. This has been a very common thing: people not showing up for the press conferences. The most common excuse is that they have to go to Doping Control. I wish I could write more about what the athletes go through, but all I can give you is the quote I got from Great Britain Cycling GOD Chris Hoy today:

"It took two hours. It was really unorganized and very unprofessional. When you're competing on a world stage you expect it to be a little more organized than that. I didn't get to eat until half past eleven, and I had a race the next day."

Really, what more is there to say about that?

Anyway, we had the press conference and then went back up for the Men's Team Pursuit. Great Britain broke the record that they set last night. I was actually taking down Hoy's quotes while watching him watch his teammates. He kept telling us, "They're going to break it. They're on pace." It was pretty awesome.

Things were going perfectly. We went back down, and Lauren and I dominated the TP press conference. And, by dominate, I mean we were the only two people who asked the silver medalist Denmark team any questions in English. Seriously, the DANISH PRESS was sitting in the front row...and they didn't say a word. Not even a Danish word. Ticked me off.

It was all going well...

...until we screwed up.

To be honest, it wasn't really our fault. And I say we because, even though I had no part in it, we're a team and it's everyone who screwed up.

There was some confusion at the end of the day about one quote from the GB TP team and who said it. It was attributed to one guy, but probably said by the other. The problem was, we figured out, was that they switched numbers. Every cyclist has a number, a number that is put on all of our start lists for each event. In a team mixed zone, you have some sort of idea about who's who, but most of the time you're talking to team member X and have no idea what the person's name is.

In that situation, as we were told during our training, you do a couple of things.

1. Listen for the journalists. A lot of times, they will throw the athlete's name into the beginning of a question. If you can hear the name and match it to the start list, you have whoever is speaking.

2. Look at their number. You can see the number, match it to the list and you're good to go.

Unless cyclists have switched numbers.

And that HAS to be what happened here. Has to be. I poorly took a couple of quotes from one of the guys in question (later, when I went backstairs to put them in, they were the same as quotes that had already been put in, so I didn't bother) and thought that he was guy X until the press conference, when I realized he was guy Y.

So, all of that confusion, the retraction and the correction and all of the sense of failure that came with it put a damper on what was otherwise an awesome day.

Oh, and before I go, I thought I would go through the rest of the week I have left here. Some people I've been talking to from home have been curious.

TUESDAY- BMX & Mountain Bike Training; Men's Madison, Women's Sprint, Men's Sprint
WEDNESDAY- BMX Seeding (Probably done by 2 p.m.)
THURSDAY- BMX Semis and Finals (Probably done by 1 p.m.)
FRIDAY- Women's Mountain Biking
SATURDAY- Men's Mountain Biking (LAST DAY OF WORK)
SUNDAY- Day Off and Closing Ceremonies
MONDAY- Day Off
TUESDAY- Flight Home

Blogathon

So, I haven't posted in a few days, but, to be cliche and at the same time completely honest, work is crazy right now. So, since this post will cover three days, I'll split it up so everyone can follow the insanity which is working as a flash quote reporter at the Laoshan Velodrome.

DAY 1

It was the first day of the games. One of the good things was that we didn't have to be there until late. The track cycling schedules each day start around 4:30 so we have to get there around 3:00. Plus, the past couple days, we've had a shuttle that picks us up and takes us there, avoiding the rugby scrum that is trying to get a seat on the subway.

So, we get to the velodrome and it was nice to see everyone again. Andy (our Sports Information Specialist) Ernst and Amy (our two ONS reporters) and Krystyna (our ONS supervisor) hadn't all been in one place since our big dinner more than a week ago. It's also nice because we know there's only one medals event today, so it should be a pretty easy day.

Then, the chaos started. I told you last time about how they moved the mixed zone, right? Well, they moved it and now, we found out as the day went on, they were restricting our access to it.

Let me make something clear to everyone who might be confused. The mixed zones are where we do our jobs. The jobs that they brought us here to do. It's the only place we can do that job. And, as we work on our first day, they are only letting about four of us in there at a time. Sometimes, entire teams will come through the mixed zone. What are we supposed to do then?

But, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I've talked on the blog before about adapting to new things and that's exactly what we had to do. What was going to be all of us in the mixed zone, ready to pounce on a moment's notice on an unsuspecting athlete became shifts of us frantically running up and down the stairs when we weren't just sitting in the office, watching the events on TV. It's a really dysfunctional way to do it, but it's the way things have to go now, so we're working with it.

It was a really long first day. Like I said, there was only one medal event, but, after it, we had the medals ceremony and then the press conference and then had to make sure we had to get all of the quotes we had from all of the mixed zones and interviews and press conferences into the system before we left.

Also, let me point to something that could become a common thread to all of the rest of these blog posts. GREAT BRITAIN IS AMAZING AT TRACK CYCLING! Seriously, in the past three days, with five medals events, GB has won eight medals. EIGHT! It blows my mind how much of a machine they really are. It's stunning.

That being said, I've heard "God Save the Queen" about 20,000 times, it seems. And, yes, it's "My Country 'Tis of Thee," but when I hear it with Bradley Wiggins or Rebecca Romero standing with a gold medal around their neck, it's hard not to get lost in the Olympic moment.

GB rocking the drome makes our lives a whole lot easier, because the interpreting skills are pretty non-existent until we get to the press conference. So, having at least one of the medalists (most of the time the gold ones) guaranteed to speak English is a big benefit to us.

So, it was a long, long day. After the day, we went to the Holland House. All of the countries have kind of embassies for the games, where people from that country, as well as others, obviously, can go and be a part of their home during the Olympics. One thing that makes the Holland House interesting is that it's all sponsored by Heineken. Yes, that Heineken. The green beer with the red star (honestly, I just called it that because I didn't want to type Hein...never mind) bought out an entire building, covered it in orange and had it turned it into a giant party.

We were there for a while and then, once it closed at 2, we headed off to Sanlitun.

Where I left my camera, never to be seen again.

Yes, kids, that's right, I no longer have a camera. I still have a lot of pictures and can get more from people, but I got it out of my pocket and left it.

DAY 2

We knew coming into the day that it was going to be a rough one. We had three, count 'em, THREE medals events, plus some big time names in semis and qualifying rounds. Plus, whenever we got off work, we were going to try to haul it to the bird's nest to get to use whatever we could of our Track & Field tickets we got. And THEN, I was off to Sanlitun to try to see if the bar still had my camera, which, as you know now, was a wasted trip.

So, as expected, it was a long day. There was a lot of running around, thinking quickly, trying to be in more than one place at the same time. A lot of elbowing, scribbling, squinting to read computer screens, sloppy notes and electronic timing systems. A lot of drinking water any chance you could, actually watching the race any chance you could and wishing you could eat all of the chances you couldn't.

On the upside, and it was a big upside, we saw some awesome races. I mean, big name and awesome race, one after the other, with the kiddies from the other side of the pond dominating the entire time.

So, we left, found a taxi surprising quickly (we had heard rumors that getting a taxi to travel to the Bird's Nest from the velodrome was a bit of an issue because they wouldn't travel out of a certain district) and headed on over. We got to seats (not our seats, but seats nonetheless) just in time to see the Jamaican guy break the WORLD RECORD in the 100m Sprint. It was really quite amazing to see a packed stadium of people from all parts of the world cheering for this Jamaican guy who was dancing around the track, on top of the world.

And, that was the only race we saw. But, we saw the best one, so it's all good.

Day 3

Today started out with the downside that we didn't have a shuttle. After the blow of losing my camera, I didn't feel like muscling through the subway. Ahh, the things we do for this job.

So, today we only had one medals event again, but still, some pretty big names in other events for qualifying. We spent the first big chunk of the day in the office watching handball, which is quickly becoming the summer version of curling for me. Oh, and for those of you who don't know, curling is the best sport ever from the Winter Olympics. And, yes, the thought has crossed my mind that I might do this all again in Vancouver. But, as the cliche that I've heard from so many athletes over these past couple weeks goes, "Let's just take it one day at a time."

And, I'm just here to help the team. You have to give a 110% and, the good Lord willing, things will work out. Things will work out.

Anywho, we watched handball for a while, then got to work. Again, a lot of running around and trying to get as many quotes as possible. I met some really nice guys from New Zealand television.

By the way, there are two mixed zones. The first is the broadcast mixed zone, where all of the television and radio people do their interviews. It's turning out that a lot of athletes are going through there and not heading to the press mixed zone, which is the place where we've been kicked out of. The BMZ is really cramped and lined with camera cases, wires, cords, mics, video screens, all sorts of things. So, today, I was waiting to interview Allison Shanks, who had just lost out on getting a bronze in the Women's Team Pursuit, something that was considered something of an upset. So, I started talking to the NZ guys, making sure of where their cameras were going to be so I wouldn't be in their way, when the silver medalist Wendy Houvenagle from (shockingly) Great Britain, came to do a quick little interview. From where I was standing, I could hear her just fine and was getting fine quotes. But, to my shock (seriously this time) the NZ guys moved out of their station so I could get through and hear Wendy better.

This is the BMZ equivalent of giving some stranded random person on the side of the road a tow or a jump. It rarely happens and when it does, you're so freaking thankful.

So, I got quotes from Wendy and from Allison and that was huge. Then, I got back up to see the GB Men's Team Pursuit break the world record. Yeah. They're not that bad. So, I waited and waited for the team to come through, only to find out that they weren't doing any interviews. Instead, Ernst and I did talk to their coach, who was a heck of a nice guy and even took the time to explain some of the tactics of this race and the race that they have to run tomorrow to me. I mean, I mostly understood it, but we asked him about the race and went in to an awesome, if not flash quote-y, answer about drifting and the perfect timing you have to have. Really nice guy. Favorite part was when we asked if they were expecting to break the record and he said, "Yeah, we expected to break the world record. Just not this soon."

It must be nice to be able to be that cocky.