From the time I left my house to go to the Worlds on July 25th 'till the time I get home will be about 6 weeks of travel and events. Right now I'm in China.
The last few days I have spent with the USOC on an Olympic Goodwill Tour in Beijing. What an amazing opportunity this has been. There is no way I can convey in words what a privilege this has been. I'll talk about just a few of the things I can remember.
The first day of the trip (Thursday) we started off with a formal Press conference with many different Chinese and American journalists and photographers. Pretty much answered questions like how our preparations are going coming in to '08, what we have thought about Beijing thus far and what affect the Games will have on Beijing. Here is video link on NBCSports.com that has me answering a question about the pollution.
Both Thursday and Friday nights we went to the house of US Ambassador to China, Mr. Clark Randt. Turns out his wife is from near my hometown in Napa, CA so we hit it off directly. Very few times have I been to dinners like this. Just amazing the history of the house we were in, as well as the people of whom we were in the presence of. The second night at the house had us interact with many of the Olympic sponsors that included GE, United, etc.
The Olympic venues are unreal. The Chinese are really going all out and are so prepared for the '08 Olympics. They are fully prepared in all aspects of the Games it's unreal. Pollution, traffic... everything will be perfect come 8/8/08. Everything in China seems to be centered around the Games. There are many digital billboards around the city counting down the start of the Olympics.
Friday went to one of the training schools in Beijing. Here they trained badminton, table tennis, various martial arts and a few others. There is nothing like this in America. 20 ping pong tables with 6, 7, 8 year olds battling. I decided to play a few 7 year olds. I couldn't even return their serves. I was having fun but they took our game very serious. Here is a pic of me on ESPN.com with my competitors. They finally started smiling when they realized how ridiculous I played.
Saturday we headed to The Great Wall. It was a great big workout haha. This is something everyone should experience it's truly breathtaking. I think I even heard a pilot saying we needed to turn off our electronic devices we were so high up.
I am here with 5 other athletes Gao Jun (Table Tennis), Howard Bach (Badminton), Lindsay Pian (Archery), Iris Zimmermann (Fencing) and Erin Popovich (Paralympic Swimming). I consider them all great friends now. Just in case any of them read this- $34.50, be a man!
The Chinese are very respectful. Certainly makes me feel the need to return the kindness that they have given to all of us athletes.
Now that the press tour is over I will be hanging out in China until 8/24 where I will be racing at the Olympic BMX venue. I plan to head to the 1 year-out Olympic celebrations on Wednesday with a few of the USOC members. It's going to be a big blowout.
Amazing trip that's all I can say. I know I forgot to include many more things but I'll keep updating when I remember. The USOC are awesome people, the Chinese rock, I've made many new friends and this trip has made me want to come back even more next year to compete in the best Olympics of our generation.
Donny
