Sorry about the longer than expected delay. No excuse
Before I go into last night’s opening ceremonies I have to tell you about our trip on Thursday to the Great Wall. After a good workout in the morning, our team along with some other athletes and media from Sports Illustrated and The New York Times took an 80 min bus ride from Beijing to see the Wall. We all had a great time. We had to park in some small town where we all did some souvenir shopping before taking a gondola up to the wall. Once up there the team posed for a couple of photo ops then had the chance to take it all in during a 30 min hike. It is hard to imagine that this wall that stretches for 4000 miles was being built in 400 BC. It is a pretty amazing site to see, even through the haze, how the wall just stretches along the mountain ridge for as far as you can see. For our trip down from the wall the team decided to bypass the gondola for an alpine slide, which is basically a sled on wheels that runs down a metal track similar to a bob-sled. We all had a great time.
The first link below is a picture of the team on the wall from SI.com
The Games are now officially underway.
We all got to march in for Opening ceremonies last night and the experience was moving to say the least. It all started out around 5 PM when we had to gather in our opening ceremony outfits for our transport from the village to the venue. Everyone was really excited and photos were being snapped all around.
Our first order of business for the evening was to be transported to the fencing venue where all the athletes were going to meet President Bush. Each team also was afforded the opportunity to pose for a picture with the President. It seemed like the President was very happy to be there and he really took the time to talk to many of us. When I had the opportunity to introduce myself to the President, I mentioned that I was a major in the Marine Corps. President Bush upon hearing that, grabbed me with both hands by the head pulled me close and said, “Major, I love the Marines, thanks for serving, Semper Fi.” Good stuff.
After meeting the President, there was some more time to mill around and meet the other athletes. I was able to talk to and get pictures with LeBron James, Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, and Coach K. Beach volleyball stars, Kerri Walsh and Misty May. I also had the opportunity to get a picture with the President’s wife, Laura Bush, very nice woman. I wish my internet connection was a bit better over here so I could upload my personal photos, but the connection here is too slow, sorry.
After leaving the fencing hall we walked over to the gymnastics arena where we waited for about 90 minutes before we started our march over to the “Birds Nest” where the ceremonies were already underway.
Once team USA was called up, we were the140th country to march on, we stared making our way over to the stadium. The excitement in the group was building as we started down into the tunnel before coming out on the field. We all started chanting, U-S-A, U-S-A. It was amazing feeling as all 600+ of us, including our coaches were together as one team.
Marching onto the field is a great experience as 90,000 plus fans are there to cheer us on. The feeling cannot be topped my many. What a great time. After about 90 minutes on the field, the torch was lit in an amazing fashion and we all marched off the field and made our way back to the busses to take us to the village.
Since I cannot post my own pictures I am attaching a link to a bunch of photos from the USA Wrestling website. Sorry about that.
Three days till competition.
GO USA!
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_g
allery/0808/oly.thursday.scenes/content.7.html
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I am the coach for the US Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling team and a Major in the US Marine Corps.
Member Since: 6/17/2008
