Thursday, August 07, 2008

Reflecting on the last two days

SFO-Beijing
The flight over was exhilarating as the plane full of athletes from Team USA. We sat among members of the Men's Baseball Team, and Men's and Women's Wrestling. The Tennis Team was on board as well - though, not surprisingly, they were in 1st class. Kristin briefly met and chatted with Dawn Harper who will run hurdles next week. We sat next to Arizona State University Swim Coach Mike Chasson who has three athletes in the Games, representing Mexico, Kuwait, and Croatia. He had some great conversations about the inner workings of the Games and how the funding of athletes and coaches plays out.

The highlight of the trip was the walk from the plane to Customs as we found ourselves literally walking along with Venus and Serena Williams, James Blake and Lindsey Davenport—and several other tennis team members. It gave us a good glimpse of the constant limelight under which the Williams' sister live 24/7. All the other athletes, including Davenport and Blake, were left alone.

Beijing Airport
Incredibly well planned, modern, and immaculately clean. We've never seen such a pristine parking garage in our lives. The Customs experience, baggage, and getting to our car was smooth and painless, even with thousands of people arriving simultaneously.

The city of Beijing
We've had the chance to see the city a bit by foot and hours by bus (on our way to and from the Great Wall - the traffic lives up to its reputation!). It is evident all over the tremendous growth that has occurred in the past 6-7 years, much of it gearing up to the Games. As you drive along each street you'll see building after building housing businesses and, if you look carefully between the small alleyways, directly behind all this growth are the homes and smaller buildings (apartments?) where many people still live. Our impression is the government literally expanded the city in front of (or on top of) the existing residential infrastructure.

More later, it's 5AM, need to try and go back to sleep for a bit.

No comments: