Back from Beijing: The end of the trip.

Well, after 36 hours of travel, I'm safely back at home in Lexington, Kentucky. In short, it really was an amazing trip. As I've been away from the internet for the past 60 hours or so, I'll try to sum up everything that's happened since the last time I posted Monday night, Beijing time.

Monday night was really our first excursion on our own to get true Chinese food. It turned out all right, though it became quickly apparent why we hadn't gone out to eat more often. Quite simply, Beijing waiters and waitresses really haven't mastered the English language (and we haven't exactly mastered Mandarin, either). In any case, we had our (second) taste of real Chinese food. This time, it was the Beijing specialty: Peking duck. Aside from having a duck's head cut in two pieces set on a plate in front of us (cooked, at least...but still very clearly a duck's head), it wasn't too bad.

Tuesday morning, our last day in Beijing, we managed to get tickets through the company who organized our Beijing trip, Roadtrips for the preliminary rounds of Athletics. Our assigned seats were in "Tier 4," which we figured was probably the section above the nosebleed section. We were in for a pleasant surprise when we walked into a luxury box. Not bad! I have to give Roadtrips credit: they built a fantastic package for us, so if you ever wanted to go to a major sporting events (the Olympics, the Super Bowl, World Cup, etc.), this is the organization to do it with.

We came back to our hotel in order to check out and met up with Elaine and two of her teammates (Matt Grevers and Nathan Adrian) to go visit the Summer Palace in Beijing. There is the Tower to Buddhist Incense (pictured) built on top of a huge hill which offers a fantastic view of Beijing (so long as it's a clear day). In addition, we saw the Marble Boat (pictured), constructed by the Empress Dowager Cixi in 1893 with funds earmarked for the Imperial Navy. And no, the Marble Boat most certainly does not float.

I've successfully uploaded two pictures on this blog post. I promise: this is the last blog post without significant numbers of pictures or links to an album of pictures. I've got lots more stuff coming, as I'll post pictures, other stuff we learned while in Beijing, and a little bit of perspective on what's happened thus far. I'm hoping to get another blog off later tonight, but that will depend on how much Olympics I watch and how late I can stay up (I've been up for about 26 hours, and began traveling from Beijing about 40 hours ago).

From Beijing: Day 4

Well, another day in Beijing has come and gone. It's hard to believe that tomorrow is my last full day in Beijing, since it's been quite an experience.

This morning started with a trip to the television to watch Michael Phelps win gold medal number eight and complete one of the most dominating performances in sports history. In addition, the women's 4x100m medley relay captured the silver medal, earning Elaine a silver medal by swimming in the prelims Friday.

After watching Phelps and Co, we headed out to the rowing venue (it has an official name--but I can't pronounce it...like just about every other place here in Beijing), about 30km northeast of the Olympic Green near the airport. We were able to watch seven different finals, from double skulls to the marquee rowing event, the women's and men's eight. That would be eight rowers and a coxswain, each with one scull (for those familiar with rowing, forgive my ignorance). By the way, if you wish to be kept in suspense in hopes that NBC will air rowing delayed this afternoon (the 17th), I'd suggest you pause reading this until a bit later.

The one thing we had been unable to see in either swimming or track and field was an American gold medal. We wanted to see the American flag go up to the tune of the Star Spangled Banner, and while we saw several semifinal events that the Americans would go on to win, we had only heard Russian, Ethiopian, Japanese, French, etc. national anthems. Going into the final two events, we could add Dutch, British, Danish, Chinese, and Polish national anthems. Then came the final two events: men's and women's eight. The American women managed to start strong and hold onto first the entire way and win the gold medal. While the American men weren't able to make a sweep, they still captured the bronze medal behind the medal-deprived (at least in comparison to China and the United States) Canadians.

Speaking of the number of medals, it may be interesting to note that while in the United States we tally up the total number of medals and rank that way, you will never see that ranking in China. The United States is perpetually in second place, even though we outrank China in terms of the total number of medals, as China has more gold medals than we do. In fact, China hardly cares for the silver and bronze medals: it's the gold medals they really care about.

Anyway, my battery has dipped still farther, which, given that I am absent a working power cord, makes sense, but as I need this computer to work for three more days sans power cable, I'm signing off from Beijing. More to come tomorrow!

From Beijing: Day 2

So here's another day from Beijing. Today the weather was absolutely amazing. There was a blue sky (probably complements of all the rain we had yesterday which cleaned up the air). The weather was pleasant enough (mid-80's, maybe?), and the humidity was down. As such, it was an absolutely perfect day to visit the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall of China.

So we did, and we had a great time. The Ming Tombs are impressive, if only because they're very peaceful and beautiful. "Tombs" is a bit of a misnomer, since we saw no tombs and no bodies. The closest we got was a sort of mausoleum, as well as the "Sacred Way" which is a set of roads leading up to the tombs. It was the first of two World Heritage Sites.

The other, of course, was the Great Wall of China. My first impression of the Great Wall is "busy." Indeed, it was wall-to-wall people. For that, I have a list of the top 5 ways to make life difficult for other visitors on the Great Wall:

1. Bring an umbrella, and, like most Chinese people, be shorter than me so that the prongs of the umbrella are right at eye level.
2. Stop for pictures at inopportune places to take pictures (think Asians and photographs)
3. Stop for a picnic in the middle of the Great Wall.
4. Walk extra slowly up the Great Wall.
5. Be a VIP so that you get a motorcade and the Wall all to yourself, so that you stop anyone from getting out.

Not that any of this happened to us....

Anyway, we managed to get two tickets for the prelims of the 4x100 medley relays, which Elaine was able to swim the 100m butterfly leg in. She and her American teammates did quite well, qualifying third for the finals Sunday morning (Saturday night in the US). The lineup will probably be Natalie Coughlin for the backstroke, Rebecca Soni in the breastroke (who claimed the gold medal and the world record over Australia's Leisal Jones), Christine Magnuson in the butterfly (the silver medalist and American record holder), and perhaps Dara Torres for the freestyle (who has the fastest 100m split in history). The competition will be from the Australians, who hold the world record.

The men's 4x100m medley relay team qualified first for the finals, and will lead out world record holder Aaron Piersol in the backstroke, former world record holder Brendan Hansen in the breastroke, world record holder Michael Phelps in the butterfly, and Jason Lezak in the freestyle (who holds the fastest 100m relay split in history).

Sorry about the lack of pictures...it takes up too much time to upload it to the server from here in China. We have a lot, but for most of them they'll have to wait until we get back from China.

My battery allotment for the day is up, so I'll post more tomorrow. I'll also be posting some recaps of stuff I didn't get to here later on.

From Beijing: Day 1

First off, my power cord decided to stop working, so I'm going to be living on my battery for the next few days. In fact, I won't be able to charge it until I get back the United States. So the posts will have to be short and sweet, I think...

Elaine came in 7th in the 200m butterfly. Two Chinese swimmers claimed the gold and the silver, and smashed the world record in the process. They were relative unknowns coming into the Olympics, though I'll have to check how unknown they are when I get back. My impression is that this is one of their first sanctioned events, which is at best suspicious.

She has one more race tomorrow: the prelims of the 4x100m medley relay, which the Americans should do very well in. The event starts at 6:30pm Beijing time on Friday (that's 6:30am stateside), and the finals will be held the following morning. I may be able to go to that event. Tomorrow (other than perhaps that Olympic event), our schedule includes the Ming Gardens and the Great Wall of China.

It's been a rainy afternoon so far, though hopefully that will take down the pollution a little bit (which is indeed pretty bad). The National Stadium and the National Aquatic Center are pretty incredible looking in person...far better than what you see on TV.

Anyway, pictures are taking too long to upload to blogger, so I'll try to devote a later post to just pictures, if and when I get the chance. Since I'm living on battery for the next week, I've used up my daily allotment. I'll have another post up tomorrow!

We made it!

We made it all the way across the Arctic Ocean to Seoul and then to Beijing, and we are safely in our Beijing hotel room. The weather is hot and very humid. We're jetlagged, and since we get up tomorrow for our first event (swimming: includes the women's 200m fly, men's 200m IM semis, and women's 4x200 free relay), we're headed to bed.

In other news, Elaine Breeden grabbed the last spot in the finals of the 200m butterfly, so we will indeed be seeing her swim tomorrow morning. That will be very exciting! The event will be televised live in the US starting at 10pm (EDT) on NBC.

And We're Off!

Dad and I leave tomorrow morning at 10:08 a.m. We'll arrive in Beijing at 8:05 p.m., Beijing time the following day. I'll try to post to this blog, complete with pictures and results, as often as I can while I'm in Beijing.

Elaine swims tomorrow morning in the heats of the 200m butterfly. The semifinals for that event is tomorrow evening, with coverage on NBC beginning at 10pm. The following night at the same time on NBC, the finals will be broadcast live. We have tickets for the finals of that event.

Olympics: 100m butterfly semis

Well, first a brief recap of other action. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh start off NBC's live prime time coverage as the defending gold medalists in the women's beach volleyball (I ought to reference my previous blog regarding my thoughts as to why NBC is airing beach volleyball on primetime). The Americans easily won in two sets.

Also, Michael Phelps kicked off the evening in the men's 400m IM against good friend Ryan Lochte. Phelps was dominant in what was said to possibly be his toughest individual event, winning the gold medal and breaking his own world record in the process. Lochte, though he was even with Phelps at the beginning of the breastroke, Phelps' weakest stroke, he fell to third and the bronze medal.

And finally, regarding Elaine Breeden. While being seeded sixth going into the semifinals, she was about a half second off her prelim time, and ended up tying for sixth in her heat. Unfortunately, that wouldn't be enough to make it to the finals. Fellow American Christine Magnuson managed to break the American record, and will have a solid shot at a medal tomorrow night in the finals.

Elaine's next race will be on Tuesday night, Beijing time in the prelims of the 200 fly.

Olympics: 100m butterfly prelims

Can I just say right now how much I hate NBC? They advertise that they're broadcasting thousands of hours of the Olympics online. Which is great, right? Except that doesn't include swimming, because they'll show the prelims delayed this afternoon. At least they'll show them live tonight. However, if you want to see badminton, cycling, or equestrian, you're all set.

Thus, I dutifully got up this morning to see Elaine's swim online at about 7am this morning. No live feed. The best I got was the results of the heats. She managed to place 6th in the field of 49 with a time of 56:06, easily getting her to the semifinals. Jessicah Schipper of Australia won the heat with a time that is almost a half second faster than Elaine's. She's definitely the favorite to win gold in Beijing in this event.

She'll swim again tonight (well, in Beijing it'll be tomorrow morning), at a little after 10pm Eastern time. The swimming event starts at 10, and Michael Phelps will start his quest for 8 gold medals first, with the finals of the 400m IM (which he set an Olympic record in this morning). Elaine will probably swim in the second race of the evening, in heat 1 of the semifinals in lane 3.

Edit: Elaine will indeed be in heat 1 in lane 3, right next to fellow American Christine Magnuson in lane 4. Expect it to be at about 10:10 EDT.

The Olympic Trials in Review

So here's a list of my top 10 events that occurred at this year's Olympic Trials:

1. Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff: Each had five chances to make it to Beijing. Each succeeded in all 5. Phelps will go for 8 golds (including three relays), and leaves Omaha undefeated in all his races. Hoffwill compete for 6 golds, and is the "female Phelps".
   
2. Dara Torres: at 41, setting an American record and qualifying in 2 events as the oldest swimmer to make the US Olympic team
   
3. Tyson Gay (1): He ran the fastest (wind-aided) 100m dash in history at 9.68 seconds
4. Brendan Hansen: A month ago, Hansen was the world record in the 200m breastroke until Kosuke Kitajima took it away. Hansen wound up 4th in this event, and will have one shot at Olympic gold in the 100
   
5. Tyson Gay (2): Unfortunately, the world champion in the 200m dash isn't going to be competing for a medal in that event, since he fell during the quarterfinals of the 200m dash and strained his hamstring
   
6. Cullen Jones: is the first fully African-American to make the US Olympic Team in a long white-dominated sport. Perhaps we'll see the first African-American president this year too.
   
7. Aaron Piersol: The Texan backstroker set one world record and tied another in his two events to lock up those two events in Beijing. There's no doubt
   
8. Jeremy Wariner: Heavily favored to win, he placed second in the finals of the 400m dash. He will, however, make the Olympic team and look to break Michael Johnson's record in that race.
   
9. Gary Hall, Jr.: One of the most interesting swimming figures, missed the Olympics completely after not placing in the top two in the 5om freestyle.
   
10. Elaine Breeden: For me, this is easily the biggest event (and so a good one to end on), since she qualified in both the 100m and 200m butterfly

I'm biased, and lots of other great stuff happened. Both the Track and Field and the Swimming teams for the United States look very strong headed to Beijing, and despite a couple setbacks, we should do very well in the premier sports of the Games. It's going to be awesome!

Day 5 at the Olympic Trials

Well, tonight is the fifth night of the Olympic trials, and the night that Elaine will try to secure her second spot on the United States Olympic team. Standing in her way will be Mary Descensa, Kathleen Hersey, and Kim Vandenburg, all very capable swimmers. I'll be updating this blog throughout the evening, so stay tuned. Elaine's event will be broadcast live on USA, or you can watch it online. This link will have the video posted at 8pm eastern.

As a recap, earlier today Michael Phelps placed second overall in the prelims of the 200 IM, an event that he holds the world record in. Rebecca Soni recorded the top time in the 200m breastroke, and 3-time Olympian Amanda Beard placed third. The semifinals for both events will be tonight, and the finals tomorrow night. The finals for the 100m freestyle will also be tonight, as will the finals for the men's 200m breastroke, featuring Brendan Hansen, who will try to take back Kosuke Kitajima's month-old world record. In any case, tonight should be a good night for swimming!

UPDATE Congratulations to Elaine Breeden!! She won the 200m butterfly, and will be heading to Beijing in three events--both the 100m and 200m butterfly as well as the 4x100 medley relay. In other updates, Lochte and Piersol look to be going strong for the 200 backstroke tomorrow night. Lochte is also going against Phelps in the 200 IM, both of whom easily won their semifinal heats. Cullen Jones, the first African-American to hold a world record, qualified for the 4x100 freestyle relay. Dara Torres moved to the finals with one of the top times in the 100m freestyle with her old school underwater technique. The shocker of the night was Brendan Hansen, the world record holder a month ago in the 200m breastroke, missing out on the Olympics in that event. Assuredly, the Japanese are celebrating, as Hansen is the biggest threat to Kitajima bringing home gold in the 200m breaststroke.

In any case, it looks like we've got a swimming schedule chock full of great events, from the semifinals of the men's 200m IM, the finals of the men's 100m freestyle, the finals of the women's 200m butterfly, and the 4x200 women's freestyle relay. It looks like it'll be a great trip!!!

Day 4 of the Olympic Trials

Well, we've seen a solid start to the morning prelims in Omaha. In the men's 100m freestyle, one of the toughest events of the competition, Jason Lezak set the American record in his heat. Garrett Weber-Gale followed in the next heat by resetting the American record. In the next and final heat, Michael Phelps was 0.14 seconds away from Weber-Gale's record. Quite a start! Phelps' coach said that he won't be swimming in the semifinals tonight in order to focus on the finals of the 200m butterfly.

The next race, the prelims of the women's 200m butterfly, saw a very fast set of results, as the cutoff for the semifinals was at 2:12:58. Elaine Breeden had the fastest time of the field with 2:07:72, besting Tanya Chrisman's second place time by a full 1.26 seconds. To view the prelims of future events, go here. Tonight the semifinals of this event will be broadcast simultaneously on USA and online. I'll try to post the link to the live video feed as soon as it's up. In addition to finals in the men's 200 butterfly, the semifinals of the women's 200 butterfly, Brendan Hansen will swim in the semifinals of the 200 breastroke, with the finals Thursday night.

UPDATE This page should have a link to the live video of the Olympic Trials, starting at 8pm eastern.

UPDATE 2 This page takes you straight to the video feed from Omaha. Go Elaine!

UPDATE 3 Elaine Breeden lowered the personal best she set this morning by recording a 2:07:33 in the second semifinal of the 200m butterfly. She'll take the top seed in tomorrow evening's final. Congrats, Elaine, and good luck tomorrow night!!

Congratulations to Elaine Breeden!!!

As a recap of the race, which you can watch here¹, the winner of the 100m butterfly in the 2004 Olympic trials, Rachel Komisarz, jumped out to an early lead out of the start. The favorite, Christine Magnuson, recent graduate of Tennessee, caught up with her and made it a two person race for most of the race. Coming out of the turn from the 50, Elaine Breeden (pictured) was fighting for fouth place. As the swimmers made it to the 75 meter mark, the field was tightening up, and as they went under the flags, it looked like Rachel and Christine were going to punch their tickets to Beijing. However, as the swimmers came into the wall, Elaine pulled enough to reach the wall 0.16 seconds ahead of Komisarz to place second behind Magnuson.

Congratulations to Elaine (and Christine) for making their first Olympics with this event, and we'll be looking forward to seeing her in China. As a note, we won't be in China during the 100m butterfly (the finals which will be shown here in the US on NBC during prime time on Sunday, August 10). Anyway, I'll keep you posted on more happenings at trials throughout the rest of the week.


1. note: works best with Safari over Firefox 3. It requires the installation of Microsoft Silverlight software to work.