Congratualtions to Jenny Hodson from Creighton, South Africa, for making it into the Bejing Olympics 2008.
So YES! Im at the olympics!!! its all real now, definitly not battling to know where i am and whats going on. Its just rings, logos and little teddy things with those strange mascots everywhere you look. And a million athletes, its strange to see new countries who dont paddle, such unfamiliar kit and faces.
Also strange to have our regatta course totally dominated by rowers, they are scary from the view of a tiny K1 when they are bearing down on you at 100kms/hour going backwards in an 8! Definitly no aurgument there, we get out the way!
I had a good session this morning even though i felt the effect of paddling at 3am! I felt powerful in the boat, its slowly coming back after all the travelling. so gogod to be on the water and my boat is still as beautiful and mind blowing as ever! Jone, who made it for me from nelo, is so proud of it too, says you can spot it from far! He loves it as much as me! cant wait for you all to see it on tv.
The course is AWESOME! Its everything an olympic course should be and more. The whole area is decorated in a blue colour and along with the steel buildings it looks increadible. The bouys are so straight and everything is perfect.
The chinese are increadible how they go all out to make you happy. Theres no way of getting lost theres a little blue helper wherever you look. It feels like when you smile and say thanks you youve made their whole year! They love practising their english and look so disappointed if you dont understand. From what we see of china its a perfect place, theyve cleaned up and every flower is beautiful, every tree pruned just decorations everywhere. The attention to detail is mind blowing. There are huge cicadas in the trees and they make a huge noise! I found one and i thought it was a whole group of them, but when i got close it flew off and there was silence! Amazing how thay are almost deafening, there are loads in the village.
Guess they planted indigenous trees! As a green olympics so far they are impressing me, they have 100% recyclable eatingutensils, the plates are all cardboard not plastic and there are different recycling bins everywhere. The only pity is they havnt managed to do anything about the smog. Its terrible, i could never live here, you never see the sun or the sky. this morning was really thick i dont think you could see more than a kilometer away. it doesnt even feeel like we are in a big city, we could be isolated in the middle of farm land! its very strange, guess the poms havnt noticed the difference! i dont think of it as smoke, or i think it could really work on your mind. And whew its hot, the sweat just runs down your body all day, your clothes are constantly wet. I would hate to be a runner in this. at least we can splash our faces, and up in Shunyi, the regatta course the wind blows a bit more than here in the city. last night we went to the ambassadors dinner. held at the Westin hotel, which is where sport and recreation south africa are staying for the duration of the games. well its the same hotel that george bush booked into, last night half way through our evening so the police presence was all there with huge security, we were just keen not to be anywhere near him!
Well sascoc has done itself proud, apparently they are blowing a neat 15 million ronds on the trip for themselves, the total incentive money for medlaists is 500 000 ronds, shared between all. hope the hockey dont take a medal it can come down to as little as 5000 fr a gold medalist! But we not worried, its the usual story nothing unusual. The dinner was fancy, we wore our formal wear, they made us look great in carducci shirts and fancy wool suits, they dont seem to mind that we walk around like clowns with kit way too big at all other times!
But we making do, roly shared her pants with me as they fit a little better. our paddling kit was made by a south african guy, roy from venom and hes done a fantastic job. we are super happy with our trisuits and training clothes. So thats whats really important.Anyway more news soon, they are shutting down now as we all have to get reaady for tonight. oh my word tonight!!!! its awesome! so excited.
I hope you ccan all watch, hope your bosses are going to let you get out of work! its the olympics after all!