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Pictures: Aug 17 Sunday – Robin reporting! Today, Willie Banks, Mike and I went out to the stadium for track!
Cathy used the last ticket for the seat I vacated, and got to watch the rest of the events. Willie and Mike figured out how to take the subway. I was impressed, as I would have still been stuck at the stadium if I had to get on a Chinese subway. Either that, or I might have ended up in Shanghai…Not only did they make it back, they also went to the night market afterwards so Willie could dare Mike to eat the ‘critters on a stick’ as I called them…do not even describe that please!!! Apparently Mike survived, and is still alive despite the fact he ate scorpions and other stuff he did not tell his mother about, thankfully.
Then we went in a T3 car back to our hotel, where we sat in the lobby and caught up on old times with our good friends. They are wonderful people, and we always have a August 16-18: Visa had a press conference here at the palace for Michael Phelps, and we met him and his mother. Here are a couple of pictures of that! Our good friends for years were Al Oerter and his wife, Cathy. Al was an Olympic Gold Medalist in discus, and the only Olympian to win 4 gold medals in 4 consecutive games, setting a new Olympic record each time, breaking his own record the last 3 times. He was at the Olympics in 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1968, the year Dick won gold in the Olympics. Al passed away in October, but his wife Cathy is here, promoting Al’s Project, Art of the Olympians, which he left in her capable hands when he passed. Cathy and I are very good friends, and as you can see, we had a blast at the silk market. Aug 15, Friday Robin Reporting! (Dick has been an Adidas athlete for 40 years. They made his jump shoes and have included him in the 'walk of fame' at the Adidas House exhibit in the mall at the main venue area.)
(Herr Lemke is the Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General for Sport in Development and Peace.) The gist was the UN’s promotion of sport for peace and development. They talked about the legacy of the games, how it will improve China, and every city that hosts it. They talked about how the athletes from Georgia and Russia released a touching picture of them hugging, and how much better the world would be if Athletes were heads of state…then Dick talked about the principles of Olympism, which are development of the whole being, of body, mind and spirit, and how Olympians are the ideal messengers. They have the respect of young people and hero status in their communities and they can bring these ideals to the world. It was wonderful. There was a small cocktail hour for the British Telecom media people back at the ORC, then they were setting up for a huge, 500 to 600 person party hosted by the International Judo Federation. Dick got snagged in details, so I went back to the hotel to change for the party. I made it back just in time to have a glass of champagne, find Ling and leave for the airport to get Mike. We were mesmerized by a huge screen TV showing the USA China volleyball game, which the girls were fighting back from a one game deficit, and I didn’t even see Mike come through the gate. He looked really tired, so we whisked him back to the ORC hotel, and went and got some dinner. He joined us a few minutes later, cleaned up, and I introduced him to everybody. Three gentlemen from Mongolian Judo introduced themselves to me, one of them turned out to be a friend of Dick’s. He was such a nice gentleman, and so very polite. I started talking about their horsemanship and asked about their ponies, and they invited us to Mongolia, an invitation I hope we can accept when things slow down someday. He said he would take us to places where nobody gets to go, where no people are, it would be incredible! They SO proudly introduced me to a very handsome, shy young man with them, our new Olympian Champion, gold medalist. I was happy to get a picture with him, he didn’t speak English, but he had a great smile. He will be a national hero there, how wonderful for them, they were so proud…POLSKA!! (Robin and the judo medalist from Mongolia) Aug 14, Thursday Robin has a bad sore throat and cold and work up stuffy but is feeling better this morning. We had a late, leisurely breakfast and she dragged me, kicking and screaming, out to the National Indoor Arena for men’s individual gymnastic finals. I was really glad we went; the seats were terrific, and I really enjoyed the whole thing. The Chinese went ballistic when their gymnast won the men’s all-around. We saw Prince Albert of Monaco and his beautiful fiancée in the Gymnastics Olympic Family Lounge, where we went after Gymnastics was over to grab some lunch. Robin tried a glass of the Great Wall white wine, she said it wasn’t half bad…a pretty good compliment for her. We came out to POURING rain, we were soaked in a millisecond and enormous, 4 or 5 inch deep puddles were forming at all the corners in the streets. We took a little covered tram to the T3 transport stand and couldn’t avoid walking through one of the huge, deep puddles. At least 5 people with clipboards asked where we were going, and finally they found a driver for one of the fleet of cars sitting there. We relaxed back in the room, I worked on correspondence…then got dressed up for a trip out to the ORC. Tonight is the DITC reception there, for DeKalb International Training Center in Atlanta. The DeKalb Center was built during the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, and Rob Stull and Prince Albert are on the Board. Robin searched the web for Dressage results; our friend Debbie MacDonald from Hailey, Idaho is riding her beautiful mare Brentina, probably for the last time in competition, in Hong Kong. Brentina will retire after this, and although Debbie has a fabulous youngster coming up, Felix, it will be a sad moment. She’s riding on August 19th and if she qualifies for the finals will do their signature MoTown routine. This is the ‘freestyle’ which is choreographed to music of the rider’s choice, and the horse dances. It’s just incredible. Robin dragged me down to watch Debbie win bronze in the team dressage in Athens, and we were hoping to make it down to Hong Kong but it’s so hectic here, I doubt we’ll have time. Robin’s son Mike arrives this evening around 9:30 from Tokyo, so we’re excited to go pick him up. He’ll be demolished from the length of flying and the time change. Aug 13, Wednesday This morning, Robin woke up with a sore throat and cough, which has been coming on for a few days. Her ordeal in the rain didn’t help, so Simon got her some Contac and some Chinese herbal cough syrup and we decided to take it easy for the day. She stayed in bed and watched TV; there are feeds from around 6 to 10 different venues depending on the hour, some in English, most in Chinese. I caught up on correspondence, and in the afternoon we went over to the Beijing hotel to buy some tickets for some friends and Robin’s son Mike, who will arrive tomorrow evening. She may go to swimming tonight if she feels up to it, and I’m going out to the ORC. I invited Norm and Tommy out to the center for dinner, so that should be fun. Plus, I’m scheduled for another interview with Chinese television at 4pm.
She hopped in a transport car to go out to the swimming cube, and I went to the beach volleyball venue which is down the road from the Reunion Center. The transport cars will only take you to an official venue so we go to beach volleyball during peak traffic hours, as there is the left lane for Olympic vehicles, and taxis cannot use that lane. It’s so far to walk; everything here is on a huge scale. Beijing TV interviewed me for about an hour when I arrived at the ORC, and talked about how I developed my jumping technique when I was in high school. I even sketched out how I evolved from the scissors style to the back layout. Then I met Tony’s father who is the swimming coach for Perú and another Olympian. We traded stories about the differences in today’s Games, that are at such a huge scale compared to the 60’s. Robin was back at the hotel when I got there, she said she met Diane with the ticket, and made it for an hour watching swimming before she left in a transport car. She was happy watching Dressage from Hong Kong; she’s coughing and stuffy but hopefully will get over this soon. And I don’t need to get the same thing! Aug 12, Tuesday On Tuesday, Tony and I decided to go out to the Olympic Village to meet with the new chairman of the IOC Athletes Commission, and also try to meet some athletes, to let them know about the World Olympians Association and invite them out to the Reunion Center. She got back to the ORC around 7 PM, and was developing a sore throat so she decided to go back to the hotel instead of coming to Aug 11, Monday Not much to report on Monday. Tony and I met with our IOC liaison in the morning, Christophe, to organize better transportation to the Reunion Center. Then Robin and I went out to the ORC in the afternoon to relax and visit. That evening we went to a Media Reception for Chicago 2016 at USA House. We went with Willie Banks and met Diane there. Mayor Daly did a presentation; the press interviewed several Olympians and various dignitaries that were there from the organizing committee. They showed a very nice short presentation of Chicago and what a great job they will do featuring the compact nature of the city and how easy logistics will be. Also the city has a gorgeous waterfront area, with the beautiful Millennium Park featuring some of the most innovative public art on a grand scale. Most of the venues will be in the downtown core and along the lakefront, so it will be an excellent and very user-friendly logistical situation. (Opening ceremonies entertainment, there were 3 or 4 groups on the field dancing or doing acrobatics, in very colorful costumes. They were from all parts of China: Tibetans, Ugyars - doing their native dances.) Saturday, Aug. 9 This morning, despite our late night last night, I had an Executive Committee meeting for the WOA at the ORC at 10 AM. In attendance were also the IOC Sport Department director Christophe Dubi, and our IOC AC (Athletes Commission) liaison Peter Talberg from Finland. In attendance were Charmaine Crooks (Canadian, Athletics 1992), George Andreadis (Greek, sailing), Amadou Dia Ba (Senegal, Athletics 1996), Tony Ledgard (Perú, cycling), and myself. Absent were Kieren Perkins (Australia), Daichi Suzuki (Japan), and Stefka Kostadinova (Bulgaria, Athletics, 1988, 1996). Daichi is a famous champion in swimming and works for their television network and had a conflict since swimming has begun. Stefka is President of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee and had meetings at the same time. I will meet with them personally to discuss our business matters. We conducted some important business for the WOA, and then the meeting was adjourned. We took (Graphics on the side of the Adidas House on the Olympic Common) We met Mayor Richard Daly of Chicago, his wife Maggie, and President Bush, the former President. It was a very pleasant affair, small and personal. Robin met a fascinating man who is the head designer of the entire Olympic project for Chicago, he builds labs and complexes for Abbot Laboratories, and he’s here observing and taking pictures of all the venues. Afterwards, back to the ORC, where I got to sit down and relax for a little while. Robin went off to men’s gymnastics with Diane and Willie Banks, and I came back to the hotel. She appeared around 11, and had a great time at gymnastics. Her credentials got her in the door without a hitch, and since it was a preliminary round she did get to sit in the stands with Diane and Willie to watch the competition. She also went briefly down to the Hospitality area, where she reported good wine and food, and excellent seats right next to the floor exercises. Friday, Aug. 8th Opening ceremony day for the Beijing Games! We read signs that we had to be back in the hotel at 4 PM for buses to take us to the Beijing Hotel, and then a cocktail hour there prior to the bus ride to the stadium. We went out to ORC, where I met with several board members, including Amadou Dia Ba (silver medal, 1996, 400 hurdles), from Senegal. I also met with the chiropractors who are there as partners, who have donated their time to be here, and will provide chiropractic services for the Olympians at our site. The girls decided to go back to the hotel early to get ready and frantically called us that the last bus was leaving Park Plaza at 3:20. Luckily we were on the way, and I barely had time to throw on a clean shirt before heading downstairs. We met our good friend Bart Connor who was waiting for his wife, Nadia Comaneci, in the lobby. Nadia swore she would be the last one, but Robin got on the bus one second before the motors started and off we went. We sat with Bart and Nadia, and Johann Koss and his fiancé Jennifer. Johann is the president of Right to Play, as well as 5 time medallist in Albertville and Lillehammer in Speed Skating. At the Beijing Hotel we went into a small reception area to mingle, and then boarded buses for the stadium at about 4:30.
(Robin & Dick with Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci on the bus before leaving our hotel for opening ceremonies) The Bird’s Nest Stadium finally came into view and it was incredible! We piled out of the buses and took many pictures of the various buildings in the complex, the famous water cube building which looks like a giant bubblewrap and houses the swimming events; across the way gymnastics. All in one large location. The stadium was amazing, the graphics area around the top was beautiful, very modern and high tech. We had almost 3 hours to wait, but there were many, many performers on the field, hundreds of dancing groups from all areas of China performing traditional Chinese dances, acrobats, people in all manners of colorful costumes on stilts, everything you could imagine. There were dancers from Mongolia, Tibetans, & Ugyar (a Tatar tribe) from the mountains. It was fabulous and could only be done by the Chinese. Then they had us open the bags found on each seat and go through the various props within, flashlights and colored light wands, little drums for when the athletes came in, and the red and white flag scarves to wave when the torch appeared. We watched in amazement as row upon row of square boxes on wheels were pushed out into perfect formation and conjectured what could be in the boxes…acrobats? Doves? Then, boom, they all lit up and in unison so perfect it was like listening to one drum, 2008 drummers began to play. The lighted drums formed patterns, and eventually they began to count down to the magical 8/08 at 8 seconds after 8 for the exact second when it began. Don’t know how much they showed of this on TV, but it was really impressive in person. Then 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1- and the fireworks started!!! I’m sure everybody watched it on TV, and I truly hope that the incredible, seamless flow of each section to the next, the flawless execution of each spectacle came through. One most impressive part was the 2008 men doing Tai Chi: when they leaped around and landed on their foot it was as if one foot landed, the precision was staggering.
As Bart said at one point, “That’s it, I can’t think anymore, my brain can’t take it!” Of course watching the athletes march is always so moving, especially for us Olympians, and there was a huge cheer when the US athletes were announced. President Bush was in the VIP area, and the crowd cheered again when they showed him on the Jumbotrons screens, waving and applauding for the team. (Robin and Willie Banks) When the torch arrived, we again were trying to guess how they would light it. For the whole ceremonies, we were looking and looking for the torch, and they managed to ‘unroll’ a portion of the top of the stadium, to create that funnel shaped torch. We were definitely looking elsewhere when that happened and nobody in our group saw it until somebody pointed up, wow, there it is!!! The cohesive nature of the scroll motive was spellbinding, down to the athletes creating the pictures as they walked over that part of their circuit. We also liked the scroll unrolling behind the Chinese gymnast as he ‘ran’ the path of the torch from Greece around the world and around the top of the stadium, We didn’t get back to the hotel until 1:30am, by then I was really starving, and luckily they had kept the restaurant open so we could get dinner. Robin got me a salad and some soup to take in the room. By then, as you can imagine, I was really exhausted, but well worth the effort to see that incredible spectacle. All we could say was, I’ll bet the London 2012 committee is just shaking their heads that the bar is now set at a new world record height for Opening Ceremonies! Thurs., Aug. 7th Today is the build out day for the ORC and tonight is the Opening Gala. It’s hot and muggy but we’re starting to get used to it. After a nice buffet breakfast at our hotel, I attended to a meeting of ‘Sport for Development and Peace’, International Working Group, attended by 37 nations, with the purpose of adopting a resolution on using the power of sport for development and peace. (Dick and Robin, then Johann Koss, Norwegian speed skater, won gold at Lillehammer also at Albertville, Jennifer Lee his fiancé, Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci) Then it was pandemonium when I arrived at the ORC late afternoon. Workmen were everywhere; they were assembling a TV studio for programs to be broadcast from the The party started at 7, and I didn’t have time to go with Robin to the hotel, so she went back to change. I worked on my remarks for the ceremony. We were hoping for at least 300 people, our concern being the slightly remote location of the Palace, but as the parking lot started to fill up, the anxiety over a sparse attendance was replaced by anxiety over a more than double the expected number, we stopped counting at 400 cars, and around 7 the formal ceremony started. I asked Charmaine Crooks who is a board member from Canada, to host the ceremonies. She does a very professional hosting job for events like the IAAf (International Athletics Federation which is global track and field) gala in Monaco. She introduced me, I said a few words about the mission and immediate goals of the World Olympians to create an Olympians’ communication system and to organize Olympians and activate the National groups. I thanked my staff, Director Rob Stull and miracle worker John Amabile, who pretty much does it all, and Simon Hu for his invaluable assistance, as well as Tom Kirkwood, an American living in Beijing. We stayed for about an hour, and then left in a car provided by Visa, to go to another reception by President Jacques Rogge for Lausanne, home of the IOC and epicenter of the sports world. Then we went to the Adidas Gala. I have had a relationship with Adidas for 40+ years; I knew Adi Dassler, his sons and brothers when the company was just starting. I have stayed at Adi’s home in Germany, and they designed and made my jumping shoes. They have the shoe I won the gold medal in on display in the global headquarters in Germany. I was hoping to arrive sooner than we did, as the dinner was over by the time we arrived. However, we did get so say hello to some old friends, and by then it was time to call it a night. I just can’t stay up and dance and have late night fun anymore, I needed to get some rest. We felt that the opening gala was a tremendous success, everybody raved about it, we received phone calls and E-mails in torrents congratulating us for such an amazing venue and great party. It was a big night! Wednesday, Aug 6th. Robin reporting!! Again up at the crack of dawn for both of us. The Secretary General, Tony Ledgard from Lima, Perú and his wife Natalia arrived last night, so we met them in the lobby. Tony comes from three generations of Olympians, both his father and grandfather were swimmers and he was a cyclist. We went over to the Beijing Hotel again, only this time we decided to take a motorpool car. Here, a word on Accreditation: We are given plastic cards to hang around our necks, with a picture and some stickers, a hologram. The stickers represent access to various services, the hospitality venues, and the hotels. We have the coveted ‘infinity’ symbol which means we can go into almost all the venues without tickets and sit in special reserved seating areas for that competition. We also get to take the motorpool, cars which will take you to whatever official venue. It’s deluxe! Dick and Tony also have OLV stickers so they can go to the Olympic Village to meet with current athletes. So, after getting our credentials at the Beijing Hotel, Dick and I finally got back to the ORC. There, Simon’s wife came and introduced herself and asked if I’d like to go shopping. With her were two extraordinarily cute 14 year olds, her daughter and niece. It was about 3 PM by then. They whisked me away to a mart called Ya Show, 4 stories of little 10 x 10 foot booths filled with every conceivable piece of clothing, purse, shoe, & belt in the world. I needed to buy some shirts for the Executive Committee of the WOA, so we walked around and found some nice Tommy Bahama style shirts in linen, and started to haggle.
It was the Olympics of Bargaining; Ling and I walked out of the booth at least 3 times, they shouted at each other, the girl calculated and recalculated, and finally we agreed on a price. I also ended up buying some really beautiful cashmere shawls, and a new purse. Then into the mineral spa, a super hot, super mineral-y soak for about 20 minutes. Then they gave us matching pajamas to put on, and we went upstairs for dinner. A true, authentic Chinese buffet, most of which was pretty hard to identify…hhmmm, interesting texture. Ling would laugh, oh that’s jellyfish! It was surprisingly more chewy than you would think. After a lovely leisurely dinner, Ling took us to the VIP lounge area, large over-stuffed chaises with hassocks, covered thick towels, super soft and comfy, with a console between them, a flatscreen television on a swinging arm if you wanted. They brought us iced tea and fresh fruit, and Ling ordered a pedicure and manicure for me, and the best foot massage I’ve ever gotten. By this time it was around 11 PM, I was totally relaxed and falling asleep. She said many nights they just sleep there, and that the club is open 24 hours. It was tempting, but she poured me into a cab and I managed to make it up to the room with my new Chinese red toes. What a day! Tuesday Evening, Aug. 5 I woke up at 6 am, probably a function of a tad of jet lag. We had coffee at a thoroughly Western Starbucks across from the hotel, and then decided to walk to the main IOC hotel, which was a major mistake. I was wearing my jacket and dress shoes, and I still get tired far more quickly than I think I should. Even that early, the air is heavy and damp, so we were glad when we finally found the Beijing Hotel, the center of the IOC world. It's extremely luxurious, like a five star hotel in Paris, and the scale is huge, the décor ornate and decidedly Asian-flavored.
After a wonderful breakfast buffet, Robin and I went out to see the Reunion Center site. One of the people instrumental in helping with our arrangements for the WORC is Tom Kirkwood, an American who has lived here for 22 years and speaks fluent Chinese. I was lucky enough to have him along on my tour of the grounds, so we got some interesting details from the people who work there as most Chinese do not speak any English. Prince Jun Palace, PJP, is an ancient palace which was the traditional residence of the son of the Emperor. It was built around 1640, and was the home of 15 generations of princes. It was originally on a different site, but was moved in the 1980’s to its present site, in a beautiful park around 20 minutes away by taxi. The Palace is really a compound, surrounded by a wavy brick wall, with innumerable small buildings within the compound. The princes’ residence house is in the middle. You can tell it was a royal residence because of the very high thresholds entering the buildings. The higher the threshold, the higher the status of the person. There is a lake surrounded by pavilions, where the princes would take their guests, and they would watch traditional Chinese entertainment, like opera, across the small lake. The concubines lived in adjacent buildings, now private dining rooms. The emperor’s grandchildren lived here too with the various wives and concubines. They built large rock formations around the lake to simulate being in the mountains, for Feng Shui. I was a little vague on exactly the purpos The residence building consists of one huge room, all done in red, now a large conference room, with two smaller sitting salons on each side of the entry. There are tea houses around the lake, a small hotel, a beautiful restaurant, and offices. It’s hard to say just how many different buildings there are. There are three major palaces in Beijing, and with the Forbidden City, this is one of them. (Our waitresses were the two cute girls who waited on us at the PJP restaurant on Wednesday night.) This amazing venue was given to the WOA by the municipality of ChoaYang where it is now located, for the duration of the games. I was part of a delegation of Olympians in 2001 on Olympic Day in June, when the city of Beijing dedicated the Palace to the Olympians for the Reunion Center. We have had two staff members on the ground here in Beijing, working out all the details of the Reunion Center or working in the US on it, for the last 6 months. John and Rob have both been here for weeks, and tomorrow they will supervise the build out for our Opening Gala on Thursday night. The VP of the WOA, George Andreadis, and his wife Anna arrived late in the afternoon. George is also VP of the Sailing Federation, and is in Beijing for Opening Ceremonies. They will then will fly to ChengDu where the sailing venue is located, about 1.5 hour plane flight away. Robin and Anna met in Dubai last November when we were there for the Athletes Forum, so they instantly hugged and began chatting, and decided we should all have dinner together there at PJP. We had dinner in the restaurant which was traditional Chinese and extremely delicious. The menus were glossy pictures of the different dishes to point at, without which we would have been in big trouble. No one there speaks English, some of the things were a surprise even so. They weren’t sure what kind of drinks we wanted to they brought all the options out, so we could point to what we wanted! So nice!! We made it back to the hotel in a taxi, which took about 20 minutes, through the beautiful lighted streets of Beijing. There are many sculptures and manicured plantings, and not a scrap of paper visible. Impressive. This is something people really appreciate, and Albuquerque has it as well. The public places are well maintained and clean with very interesting sculpture in the flavor of the area. The civic pride is obvious in both cities! Tuesday, August 5,
7 AM, Beijing We said good bye to Willie Banks Monday afternoon after our long flight to Tokyo; He was spending a couple of days in Tokyo and will join us in Beijing on Wednesday. I managed a quick email check in the lounge and then we boarded another NorthWest Airlines 747, again lugging our stuff up the little stairs to the top of the plane, which was well worth the effort. I tend to travel with a lot of extra stuff, paperwork, etc., but Robin made me pare it down to one small backpack, so I don’t stress out my back. (Manmade rock formations to simulate the mountains) The top of the 747 is a nice, comfortable space, and at the front is the cockpit. The flight was only 3 hours, and we got to use the special Olympic lanes through customs and passport control. We heard horror stories about people being turned back due to visa issues; you need to have a visa issued for China to even get on the plane. When we arrived in Beijing International, we picked up our bags, I changed money into Chinese RMB, the currency here, and we were able to use the special Olympic lanes through passport control and exited the security area through the green ‘nothing to declare’ doors without a hitch. We were met at the airport by Simon Hu, who is involved in helping the creation of the Reunion Center. Simon is the producer of a show called China Top Ten, which is a sports awards ceremony on the scale of the Academy Awards; it airs once a year and is watched by millions of people. He has helped us beyond measure in setting up the Reunion Center; he is a small, energetic, constantly smiling man with an army of assistants and nephews and can accomplish anything from making business cards to getting lighted signs installed for the entrance to the Reunion Center. “Dick, what do you need, I can do!” Simon’s assistant brought Robin a gorgeous bouquet of lilies and gladioli, all white. That is such a typical example of Chinese hospitality, they cannot do enough to make you feel welcome and comfortable. Simon drove us to the hotel about a zillion (140) kilometers an hour, on the special Olympic lane on the left side of the freeway, so we made it to the hotel fairly fast. The city is vast and a mix of old Chinese buildings, very modern sky scrapers, apartments, all tidy and clean, and beautifully lit at night. Our hotel is very Western and modern, and our room is comfortable. (The small salon is off the conference room, in the residence building) Aug 3, over the Pacific Ocean; Robin reporting At some point we crossed the International Date Line and it is now August 4th. We are in the top of a brand new 747, we climbed up little stairs to get up here. It’s a long 11 hour flight, but very comfortable. There’s some strategy to minimizing jet lag, as we definitely need to be ready to hit the ground running. Beijing is 15 hours ahead of us in Idaho and Albuquerque. Willie Banks is across the aisle from us. His wife is Japanese, and he travels to Japan often, so I’ve been watching how the pro does it. He is staying awake and so I tried to stay away too, watching movies. I did sleep about 2 or 3 hours towards the end of the flight. (Hunan television set up a whole studio on one side of the grounds in a small building. Here they are feverishly working. Simon works with them. They are planning on doing a live show from the palace every night with Olympians.) Sunday, August 3rd, 8:45 MDT, somewhere over Burley, Idaho Well, we are actually on the plane and on our way!!
One of our major projects is to provide a hospitality venue called the World Olympians Reunion Center, for Olympians at each Olympics. In Athens, this was at the Athens Tennis Club, close to Syntagma Square, and it was a wonderful place for Olympians and their guests to gather and meet each other. There was an internet café, air conditioning, live television feeds with all the coverage in several languages, and good food and beverages. It is closed to the public, and there are sponsored parties and galas on many evenings throughout the games. This time, the BOCOG (Beijing Organizing Committee Olympic Games) has given us a 400 year old palace called Prince Jun Palace (PJP) for our Reunion Center. I was with a delegation of Olympians in 2001 when this was dedicated and we are finally about to have our opening Gala on August 7th, the night before Opening Ceremonies. I’ve been working day and night with my team, to get all the details ironed out. If I need to contact people in Europe, early morning is best; while evening is when I make calls to Asia. (Hunan televisions satellites you can see the waving brick wall behind them which surrounds the palace compound. The prince would invite his guests to view entertainment across this like, sitting in the opposite pavilions. ) My wife Robin has been gathering memorabilia from our friends to contribute to the cases we will have on display, and she is hand carrying many precious items: she has my gold medal from Mexico City, Pat McCormick’s gold medal in diving from Helsinki, 1952, a number of items from Tommie Smith including a Olympic Initiative for Human Rights button from 1968, and a certificate of first place for Edwin Moses’ first place in the 400 hurdles, in the 1984 Los Angeles Games. She has promised to hand-deliver the cases to the center and is careful to let nothing out of her sight. The other exhibit at the Reunion Center- is Art of the Olympians, which was started by our friend Al Oerter who passed away this past fall. His art will be featured along with other Olympians and we look forward to seeing his wife Cathy, who is a good friend. She has carried on Al’s work and we are anxious to see what she’s bringing to exhibit. We try to travel light, but it’s impossible and we packed, repacked, and still have 4 huge, heavy suitcases. After my back surgery I’m not allowed to lift anything very heavy, so lucky for me Robin is pretty strong! (A scene from the restaurant at PJP) We left the house at 6:30 this morning, after finishing up the final packing. We are flying from Sun Valley, Idaho, where we live, to Salt Lake City, and then a quick layover to Los Angeles. Then we go on to Tokyo, an 11 hour flight. From Tokyo to Beijing it’s another 5 hours. Our friend, and President of the US Olympians Association, Willie Banks, will be on our plane to Tokyo, and seated across from us, so that will be really fun to visit with him during that flight. More to come soon…. Dick and Robin
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Luckily, I managed to get my credential up and show it to the guys at the gate as I started to get really jammed against the fence, so I grabbed Mike’s arm and got him and Willie through the gate with me. Then we stood in the line for around 45 minutes before we finally got inside. We met up with Daley Thompson in the crowd outside the gate. Here’s a picture of him with Mike and Willie, and you can see it’s still daytime at that point. It’s turned into night in the picture of Willie and Mike in front of the stadium. Daley is a British athlete, who competed in 3 Olympics, in 76, then won gold in 80 (Moscow) and also 84 (LA) in the Decathalon.
We had great seats from USOC, about row 12, and got to watch men’s shotput. Here’s a picture of some pretty unhappy Hungarian fans because their guy didn’t win. Then I called Dick as the men’s high jump qualifying round was starting to make sure he got motivated to actually come out and have some fun with us. We made a plan for him to call when he got outside the stadium. I went up to the Olympic family seating area and found some excellent seats over the pit, where Dick and Jan joined me about halfway through the evening. Jan is an Olympian, a fencer, from Netherlands Antilles, Curacao, in the Caribbean, and was volunteering at the reunion center. He had credentials through his NOC, so he was able to come to most events and sit with us up in Olympic Family seating.
Just as the event was finishing up, we went down to the
stands to where Tommie and Delois Smith were sitting with the Puma people. Tommie has a contract with Puma and we call them “Mr. and Mrs. Puma” as they always look great in the Puma gear they wear. Delois always looks terrific. We caught them just as they were standing up to leave, and when the people in the stands started to recognize Tommie and Dick together, it turned into a party! They all wanted pictures and autographs, so we had fun hanging around as the stadium emptied. Here’s some pictures of Delois and me, and Tommie and Dick with a representative from Puma.
good laugh every time we get together. We had spent a week with them in Cortona at the beginning of July, which was a really good time. Since Tommie and Dick are both great Olympic champions from 1968, along with Bob Beamon, we are invited to many events together and we get to see them all over the world. Here’s a picture of Tommie trying to get exactly the right drink for Delois, I think it was pretty close…. The evening ended around 3 AM, but no matter, when you’re on another continent at the Olympics, sleeping isn’t one of the major activities, so you just can’t worry about what time it is. Your body is all screwed up on jetlag anyway, so it’s best to just go with the flow, sleep in the day if you must, and enjoy staying up late if you’re having fun visiting with old friends!
Ling and Simon called first thing, and we decided to meet in front of the cube at the T3 transport sign. The swimming event started at 10, and by the time I finally found Ling it was 10:15, there were hundreds and hundreds of Chinese people just out strolling, taking pictures with the stadium in the background, people looking for tickets, people leaping in and out of cabs, busses, people selling and trading pins. The day was not too hot and actually sunny! The air quality has cleared up hugely in the last week.
The common green is surrounded by a tall military-type wire fence and has many checkpoints to get through, some for credentialed people, some for VIP vehicles, but only one for spectators with tickets. It took us another half an hour to get through the long line at security, and find our way up to the cube entrance. I found myself hurrying as it was after 11 by then.
Our timing was amazing, just as we walked in, the race started and we saw them hitting the water from the blocks for the 200 medley final.
Phelps was out first after his start, and only gained distance on the field from there. His turns were spectacular, he was dominant, huge, powerful, and set a new world record. POLSKA!!
We watched Rebecca Soni get gold and set a world record in 200 freestyle, and bronze for Natalie Coughlin in the 100 freestyle, a tall and beautiful German girl taking gold. A very nice lady from Melbourne, Australia was sitting behind me, and we started chatting. They were so happy to cheer for their silver medalist, and very pleased that I helped them; the girl on the stand was so cute, she was crying uncontrollably and it made everybody cheer for her all the more.
Then the first heat for the men’s 200 butterfly, Phelps only had to qualify, take it easy, conserve. So, coming about halfway down the stretch in the final 30 or so, somebody was actually ahead of him, and he went into overdrive, it was incredible, like Han Solo’s jump to hyperspace, he lifted up out of the water, and in three enormous strokes he caught, held even, and then passed the poor guy to win. He has the true heart of a champion, he MUST win.
Then Phelps’ medal ceremony, again the Star Spangled Banner, and we went out into the sunny hot day.
Ling, Jenny, and I had fun taking tons of pictures, alternating cameras and people in almost every possible background: the cube, the bird’s nest, the torch. The common area is surrounded by a military type wire fence and has the bird’s nest at the center, the cube and gymnastic venue, the fencing hall, and a row of very nice sponsors’ exhibits. At the Adidas exhibit they had a ‘walk of fame’ inside and we took pics in front of Dick’s display. Then we were able to join the volleyball team. POLSKA!! There were very long lines of people waiting to get into the CocaCola House and some of the others, so we didn’t wait to go into any of the other exhibits.
There is another complex to the south with Team Handball, Water Polo, and an equestrian park for Modern Pentathalon, but I’m not sure if it’s inside this compound or not, the scale is so enormous, you would need a tram to get there.
(Some soldiers marching across the parking lot of the Bird's Nest. Very military inside the security compound.)
the USA House for a USOC reception. I went to the reception with Tony Ledgard and I had a great time. I met Ivar Sisniega of México, who is organizing the Pan American Games in Guadalajara in 2011. I also met Octavian Morariu, President of the Romanian Olympic committee, who is interested in developing an Olympians Association with my assistance. This is our mission, so it was a nice meeting. 
taxis over to USA House for a reception hosted by Chicago 2016 delegation. Willie Banks, US Olympians President, went with us; luckily he’d been there before and could direct the taxi. USA House is deliberately not marked for security reasons; it’s kind of a secret where it’s located, so it’s always challenging to find. We had a similar experience in Athens. 
The traffic had been stopped except for official Olympic vehicles all along the bus route, and crowds of people lined the route, waving flags and cheering, and waving to us on the buses. The city had definitely 100% focused on this historic event.
to where he touched the channel going up to the torch. The stadium was enormous, the torch and the guy were REALLY far up there, and we all agreed nobody among us would have done that! It was quite a moment!
Attendees included representatives of UN programs such as UNICEF and UNESCO, the Executive President of BOCOG (Beijing Organizing Committee), and Johann Koss, President of Right to Play. It was very interesting as they are working with the UN on resolutions to governments to collaborate with various federations in promoting and funding sports, building infrastructure and programs, with the goal of peace and development.
center every evening, they were putting up the security pavilion, wheeling in the cases with the food, installing our 6 new TV’s to watch the events both in and outside, setting up tables and bars, putting up easels and hanging the Art of the Olympians, the conference room looked like command central for a major war. The girls were helping Robin out, putting out the memorabilia for a ‘Walk of Fame’ starting with 1928 medals in swimming, Jesse Owens things from 1936, up through the years to Athens '04. Rob was able to assemble some impressive collections and it looked fabulous in the cases.
Then HSH Prince Albert of Monaco joined us on the stage and officially opened the Center. Everybody cheered, and the party started. Robin finally got back from the hotel, a 30 minute taxi drive at that hour. Almost everybody was present, NOC presidents, Prince Albert of Monaco, many Olympians, and most of the USOC top level people were present. Also there were some members of the Chicago 2016 delegation. The decision for the next summer Olympics after London will be made in November '09, the cities still in the running are Tokyo, Madrid, Río and Chicago. 
e of those, but I’m sure Robin will get that info eventually. 
‘vacation’ is that once the Reunion Center is open, I hope for him to be able to relax more. He still hasn’t recovered from the chemo and radiation, but he is getting stronger daily. This is a huge project for somebody healthy and strong..JPG)
