Day 4 Aug. 9

A little closer to mid-city! (7 a.m. Beijing and 7 p.m. Bloomington)

The swimming prelims began today! On one level you have to say, “it is just a swim meet.” The pool is fifty meters long. Same lane lines… same starting blocks. Same rules. But on another level (much like last night’s Opening Ceremonies) the Olympic Swimming competition is so much more. The history and pageantry is simply overwhelming. Add in the wonderful facilities… “The Water Cube or Bubble”, and the talented athletes and this becomes a spectacular event. While it is true that we’re just here sitting in the stands, it really feels as if we are actually part of the event as the atmosphere here is truly electric. I know that you’ve heard this before from others, but the excitement is tangible. Everyone here is so friendly and all are in such a great mood. What an honor it is to be able to be here and be witness to this. It does give one a renewed optimism on the future of mankind. Maybe we can cooperate through dialogue and communication. Maybe we can help each other solve the problems of the world that by and large we have created for ourselves. China and the Chinese are uniformly optimistic about the future. Attending the Olympics really allows you to see that we truly are “one world” and that we can argue and fight… or work together in exchange and spirit of cooperation. When we choose the later, anything is possible. As John Lennon wrote: “imagine all the people…” We are really not so different.

The scope and magnitude of this World event is absolutely mind-boggling. The roads in and around the city are lined with marigolds and poinsettias. Yellow and red, the colors of the Chinese flag. Absolutely beautiful. Not thousands but most likely millions upon millions of them. All appear to be watered by hand and all are in full bloom - right now. About every 100 ft or so there are two volunteers to pick up scraps of paper etc and to help tourists find their way. There are trees planted on either side of the roads by the tens of thousands. Boulevards have been recently sodded. Flags are everywhere and are welcoming the athletes and peoples of the world. Everything is spotless and clean. The Chinese attention to detail is remarkable and simply stunning.

One thing that impresses me is the variety of color. The hues of the uniforms and colors of the warm-ups are contrasting and striking. But the variety and colors of the peoples of the world are also a marvel. Bloomington at times seems a bit too homogeneous in comparison. All of the athletes are so proud of representing their countries and so honored to be a part of all of this. There is a certain undeniable beauty - clear and transparent on the faces of the participants here! There are times when the efforts put forth in sport seem so pointless when compared to other things we could be doing. And then you witness this and have to wonder if it isn’t true that the children are the answer and sport is a valuable vehicle. Enough philosophy.

On to swimming… 100 breastroke for men is one of the most competitive events that will be contested here. Chris Brammer, Will Scofield and Kosuke Kojima have suggested through their research that there are ten swimmers vying for a spot in the finals. Hansen from the USA and Kitajima from Japan are the clear favorites. But athletes from five other countries have a shot according to our statistics. Both Australia and Great Britain have two athletes that have a great chance and could load the finals. An outside shot (and a pretty good one) for a medal is Dale Oen from Norway.

The men’s 400 IM is the final event and one that starts Phelp’s march towards completing 18 swims and eight gold medals. His main competition is from the other American in this event… Ryan Lochte. If you watched the trials you saw that Lochte gave Phelps everything Michael wanted. If he holds back because he is “saving energy” for his later events… his hopes for eight golds could end quickly. I’ve been told that Phelps “swam through” the trials so as to be ready for the Games. But the margin for error is so small here that anything can happen.

We are heading over to the Olympic Venues soon because we don’t know how long it will take to get through security. We are also hoping to get photos of the “Bird’s Nest” and the area around the Olympic Venues. Luck be with us! Optimism is the word for today.

Update: The venue is fantastic. It very spacious and bright inside. The walls are heavy plastic and are apparently inflated. So it really is like a bubble. The lighting can change from blue to green to purple and such in different patterns. Marvelous. The Chinese are prepared to accommodate thousands at the Games and because there is not a lot taking place.. getting in and out of the Olympic Park is a breeze. Now… if only there was a breeze…. It would be great! The warm-up pool is behind the competition pool and can be viewed from above… much like the pools at Terre Haute. Only the pools are both 50 meters … not 25 yards. You can watch the swimmers warm up and cool down from the second floor.

Update as of 10 p.m. Beijing time (10 a.m. Bloomington time)

Here is how things have worked out…. I think. We didn’t get any heat sheet. The printer never delivered them. A few glitches on the first day. And no results were posted….. but I am trying to remember the best I can. Phelps and Lochte made it to the next round as did Hoff. The American 4 X 100 free relay qualified well and it looked easy. Larson Jenson looked terrific… maybe the best of all of the Americans tonight. Brendan Hanson did not look particularly fast. But fast is relative and he swam fast enough. I believe all of the Americans moved forward. It was exciting to watch the Chinese swimmers qualify. You could tell that they had extra incentives. The crowd is mostly Chinese – as you might guess. Tickets are extremely hard to come by for everyone. If you don’t already have them…. You can forget getting them at this point. Sergie Feshenko, who recently graduated from IU, qualified to move into the next round in the 400 free. I think you can find tonight’s results if you google BOGOC-2008… Beijing-2008.

The Chinese people have spent a lot of time learning English. They all enjoy the chance to practice with us when given the chance. Big big smiles.