Olympics...week 1

The Olympics have been an incredible experience. The sights, sounds and overall atmosphere in Beijing during the last week has been like nothing I have experienced here before. The competitions have been amazing and the city has certainly put on its best face.

The first week of competition brought me to a wide variety of events. I have been very impressed with my seats so far, very pleased that the least expensive tickets did not put me too far away from the action.

The first event that I went to was Rowing. Unfortunately the weather was less than perfect but being at the Olympics for the first time more than made up for this downside. It was a humid day with a bit of rain so visibility was a bit of an issue. On a 2 kilometer course we were only able to see about the last 750 meters of the racing, though a large video screen did help make up for this. By the end of the session the rain had started to fall harder and eventually the session was called off until the next morning. We had other things to see in Beijing that kept us from coming back out to see the rescheduled event, but our taste of Rowing made us want to see more of the games. Looking back, this was probably my least favorite of the events that I saw. The level of excitement was tempered by the weather and lack of
visibility.

Day two brought us back out to the Shunyi Rowing Venue, but this time to watch White Water Kayaking. This has been, one of the most enjoyable events that I have seen. Our seats were general admission and because of the threat of rain most people had moved to the top of the grandstand. This left the lower rows open offering a perfect view of the course. The action was continuous and the announcer made the atmosphere much more entertaining than rowing. Even with only one competitor on the course, there was always something to watch. We witnessed our first American success of the games, cheered for the eventual Bronze medalist from Togo and met parents of kayakers from both Great Britain and Australia. This was a top-notch event that I would have loved to catch a second session.

The following morning I left my family to go through the Forbidden City while I made my way to Field Hockey. This is a sport that I knew little about but was filled in on the rules and strategy by the Australians sitting next to me. I was supposed to see two games but ran into some difficulties getting to the venue. I left my ticket at the apartment so I had to backtrack to pick these up. On my way back to the field, my bus broke down. I got off and instead of waiting for the next one, decided that the walk could not be that far, 30 minutes later I was still en route. Once I finally settled into my seat I was very happy to once again find that my seats were much better than I had anticipated. I was in the third row, right behind the goal.
Later that same day, the boys in the family went to Beijing Worker’s Stadium for Football (soccer). We saw Brazil and Nigeria play followed by Sweden and Canada. This was the final match in group play for the women and determined who would go onto the next round. Brazil won the first game. They have gone on to advance to the final this week where they will play the United States. In this match we got to see a hat trick by Christiana accentuated by a bicycle kick goal. The second match was taken by Sweden. We once again had great seats, though the legroom was a little bit tight.

The last few days my family was in Beijing I had a few days off from spectating. When they went to Xi’an, I stayed back to watch Volleyball and Swimming. Volleyball is another sport that, while familiar with the basics, I do not really follow. In the two matches that I saw, I saw Russia beat Algeria and Brazil dominate Kazakhstan. Brazil was clearly a dominant team and my pick to win the gold medal. After watching Volleyball I made my way to the Olympic Green to brave the crowds, buy some souvenirs and take in the sights and sounds of this area. The line to get into the Beijing 2008 official store took me almost and hour to navigate but I really did not have much else to do between events. The Green was amazing, showcasing the architecture of the venues and of course the official sponsors as well. The weather was beautiful, clear blue sky and dry air, a rarity this time of year in Beijing. Following the afternoon of taking in the Green I finally got to see some swimming. I had applied for a lot of tickets but wound up with only this one. I saw the preliminaries of the Women’s 50 Free and Medley Relay and the Men’s 1500 Free and Medley Relay. This broke my string of good seats as I was way far away from the pool. Nevertheless, I was thrilled to be there and can now say I have been to Olympic swimming. I saw a new Olympic Record in the 1500 by Grant Hacket and a near miss in the 50 Free by Cate Campbell.
To close out the first week I saw what has been the best match of my experience so far. On Saturday I had Water Polo tickets to three early round matches. The first was a close match between Italy and Germany, the second a blowout but the third was where the real excitement was. The United States played the defending World Champions, Croatia. The U.S. needed a victory to put itself in a position to automatically move to the semifinals. The team played excellent defense and came away with a 7-5 victory.

Over the first week there were many highlights but if I had to say, I appreciated and got more excited over the team sports. It is much more exciting to “pick a side” instead of cheering for individuals. This also helps brings the nationalism aspect into play. There will be more to come but for now this is a recap of the first week of events for me.