Day 6 Monday August 11

Beijing China. Within hollerin’ distance of the Bird Nest.

First things first! Monday (I think!)

We just returned from the today’s finals and they were as electrifying as they could possibly be! The USA Men’s 4 x100 free relay --- unbelievable. We can talk about the USA and their win but to be honest Australia, France and the USA teams were simply amazing ... collectively. Twelve guys who can swim like that…. Astounding to watch. We saw Sullivan set the world record (47.24 sec) on the first leg for Australia. Then we saw France maintain a lead over Australia and the USA until the last two meters. The last two meters! Wow. The arena was absolutely deafening loud at the finish and yet most of the fans were from China! I really think that there is a great appreciation for spectacular performances regardless of the affiliation or nation of origin.

There is the ‘Phelps factor’ to consider though… and the Chinese are really pulling for him. He wasn’t the only one relieved to see Lezak’s photo finish. Or appreciative of it…. or astounded by it! The USA (and France to be absolutely truthful) broke the world record by 4 seconds. FOUR SECONDS! Astounding. But let there be no doubt. The world loves Michael!

Look at this: Phelps swam 47.51 sec, Weber-Gale, 47.02; Cullen Jones, 47.65 : Jason Lezak … 46.06 seconds!

In other events:

Kosuke Kitajima has to be considered to be one of the world’s best ever breastrokers. Ever. He won the 100 meter breaststroke today in a new world record time of 58.91 seconds. I guess that says it all given that he set the world record, huh? Alexander Dale Oer won silver and Hugues Duboscq was third. But Kotajima was “the man.” No doubt.


The women’s winner for the 100 Fly Lisbeth Lenton-Trickett was superb. I am running out of superlatives I guess! It is easy to look at second place swims as losses…but I just cant look at it that way. Christine Magnuson from the US silvered in 57.1 seconds- which is fast in anyone’s book!

And talk about surprises! The Brits swam phenomenal in the women’s 400 free. Adlington, who is having a tremendous meet, won in 4:03.22 overtaking America’s Katy Hoff in the last 5 meters. Joanne Jackson placed third for a Gold – Bronze finish for GB. Katy swam much better in the prelims when she came back in about 1:00 in the final 100 meters. Today, however, Coach Steen suggested during the race that she was “pressing too hard” in the third 100 and would have a tough time overcoming the charge at the end. He was right of course (but we wont admit it as we don’t want it to go to his head!)

Non-swimming related items… the weather is …uhhh, warm. Again. But it remains overcast for the most part so it is bearable. I have been trying to get Coach Steen to “stroll” ( rhymes with Joel) rather that “walk with a purpose.” There is a big difference in that showers are required after a walk and strolling is “absorbing the environment” rather than succumbing to it. It hasn’t been easy.

We are now staying in the A-House apartment Hotel (?) that seems to be attached to the Holiday Inn Express. Somehow. We enter on what appears to be the back side of the building… and ….. this might be intentional… who knows?

Rather than a 45 minute to an hour cab ride…. we’re looking at a 10 minute walk to the swimming venue. We look out over a ‘traditional park’ with ponds and trees and traditional Chinese wooden structures. It is a beautiful setting considering we are located in the midst of a city of some 10 million people or so.

The traffic has been minimal up until today. Because of the time change we are having trouble figuring out what day this is! We didn’t figure out until almost too late that this was Monday and the traffic was much heavier as a result. Our driver was an ‘Andretti wanna-be’. But the drivers do not break the speed limit. They do change lanes rather randomly. It is best to just to look out the side window.

There are actual lanes reserved for Olympic vehicles and vehicles in these lanes are not delayed. Nor do they seem to drive within any posted limits ( though I can’t say I can read the signs to verify if they are!) It is amazing what waving a pair of Olympic tickets here can accomplish. Everyone smiles and you are immediately waved past all barriers. It is a good thing to have tickets… yes. You betcha.


Yesterday’s hypothesis about me being able outrun Coach Steen (if need be) may have to be revised. We arrived at the security station for the Olympic venues at 9:45 – about 15 minutes before the Finals were to began. Jim did not want to miss the first event and so he “made purposeful haste” toward the water cube. I simply didn’t know he could move that fast. Believe me, he can. Perhaps it is all a matter of incentive and motivation. I recommend that you do not get in his way when he is determined to arrive “on time.” Mass x velocity equal inertia. Remember that.

We are getting prepared for the afternoon’s events. Our first goal is to find some well-prepared duck esophagi and perhaps broiled sea squirts. Jello with green peas? We admit to having a cheeseburger from McDonalds yesterday in the Village only out of convenience. They were similar to the real thing but not exact. I suppose that is about what the Chinese say concerning the ‘Chinese food’ in the states. Similar but not exact. More later.