The first day was a lot of running around, chasing down athletes for interviews, quick typing, sweating, and sheer enthusiasm for being a part of the actual Olympics. I caught myself, at various times throughout the day, just stopping for a brief second and realizing wow, i'm at the olympics. Inside the buildings. Meeting the athletes. Touching the walls and floors of the building. Shaking so hard that it was actually difficult to take notes! The adrenalin rush was intense all day long.
Our work life consists pretty much of first watching the qualifying rounds to see if any of those favored to win do not place in the final 6 or 8 (depending on the event) and then going to watch the final. After the final, we find the medal winners and any "big losers," (those favored to win who did not in fact achieve that goal) and interview away. On Saturday, i got to interview the bronze medalist from Croatia who was not on anyone's radar before the finals and who ended up with a medal! She was so excited abou it, you could feel it. I actually did not think i would have the chance to ask any questions, and then she ended up walking past all the media having only talked to the Croatia media, so I ran up to her and asked her about whatever I could come up with on the spot. We got some okay quotes but at least we got something!
In the afternoon, i got to test out my French interview skills (which are a little rusty I must say....) because a French shooter was a favorite who finished 26th in the qualifying round!!! He was ranked 3rd in the world coming into the event, so it was a pretty big letdown. Anyway, I got my point across, stuttering and stumbling away, and I was the only (so i'm told....) journalist to have talked to him! So that was pretty cool:)
Today (Sunday) at the venue was a little less hectic, now that the media have toned down a bit. Everyone was only here the first day because our sport got the first medal of the games, so once that excitement was over, shooting fell lower on the list of AP and Reuters priority. But that just gives us more responsibility, so it was okay!
This morning we attended the Women's 10m Air Pistol qualification and final, and the final brought a very interesting mix of athletes. China with gold, Russia with silver, and Georgia with bronze. With the current circumstances involving the silver and bronze medalists' home countries, we all knew this was an achievement for the headlines. After the medal ceremony, the two women hugged and kissed on the cheek in a moment of sportsmanship that ignored outside influences and exuded sheer joy. The press conference was full of questions of this symbolism, the lesson the world should learn from this show of affection, of unity, and of the difficulties facing the bronze medalist from Georgia. The comments were all along the lines of the fact that politics does not involve sports and that the Russian and the Georgian are friends and have been for a while, and that there is no reason they should not embrace. It is what the Olympic Games are all about- what they aim to show the world is that unity is possible, at least for a few weeks....
The final match of the day was Men's Trap (where they shoot clay targets from under the stage where the shooters are standing and they have to shoot the flying targets in mid-air). This was a really fun event to cover because it's very laid back and outdoors, and it's actually very exciting. There was a shootoff for 3rd place, and it rained pretty much the entire time. This made note taking very hard when doing interviews! But all in all, it was a fun and accomplished day, and we had a great time:)
Us American volunteers in our super hot uniforms:)
Jen, me, Addy, and Julia
The madness of the press conference for the first medals awarded at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games!!!!
1 comment:
Hey Sweet Pea - You had me smiling and laughing all the way through! what great commentary, I was sure you were standing beside me and I was in the mix! The USA is so lucky to have you there representing us in such a marvelous open and appealing way. I miss you like crazy, your Moms and I are having fun and thinking up creative ways to get into trouble.
Take care, big hugs and kisses> BTW Dane is thrilled Maxine gets more MOCHA everyday.
Love Fran
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