So last night, I got to touch my first Olympic Gold Medal!

Some friends and I went to a local nightclub teeming with athletes from all over the world. I met Dutch rowers, Canadian baseball players, German rowers (lots of rowers, actually), and some American athletes!

As I walked towards Michael Phelps’ corner, which was packed with people wielding cameras, I accidentally kicked over a guy’s drink. I turned to him to apologize, but he  just laughed it off and introduced me to his friend Henry Cejudo, the first US wrestler to win an Olympic Gold medal at the Beijing games! He was still wearing the medal, which was hilarious. One side is pure gold with a picture of a woman and the name of the sport in relief. The other side has a small circle of jade. It wasn’t cold to the touch like I though it’d be, but it was a bit heavy.

At the end of the night, I met the US Men’s gymnastics team! I felt like a stalker since I know everything about them for work, but they seemed to enjoy the attention. When I asked Justin Spring to dance, his eyes popped open. “Me?” he asked.

Yes, Bronze-medallist Justin Spring. You.

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So this is my new favorite picture ever.

On the way to work yesterday, my friend Alex gave a pin to a guy pushing a baby in a stroller. The guy caught up with us, asking for a picture.

Pretty standard here, except the guy then bent down to unbuckle the baby’s stroller. He wanted us to hold her!

I was happy to. She was adorable, although she didn’t want to look at the camera. She was far more interested in putting my Canada Day Olympic pin in her mouth.
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So I think I accidentally lied to you.

I wrote that they don’t have hot dogs at the venue. Turns out, they do, but they’re so different than US hot dogs that I didn’t even recognize them!

A Beijing hot dog is really what we’d call a “pig in a blanket” back in the States – meat wrapped completely in bread. Only here, the meat is cold, the bread is sweet, and the whole thing is covered in ketchup.

In the package, it looks like a honey bun when the icing smushes everywhere, although with the red of the ketchup, the poor think just looked like it was bleeding to death.

I ordered one from a concession stand last night for dinner and ate it while I watched Jonathon Horton earn Silver in High Bar. (Way to go, John!) I asked my Chinese friend Fiona to translate the ingredients for me: Bread, sauce (she meant sausage), potato sauce (she means tomato sauce), sugar, and “some chemistry I can’t translate.” Comforting…

It was pretty good though! The ketchup gets all over your hands, but I really liked the taste, just a bit sweeter than a US hot dog. I tried to explain to Fiona that, in the US, we put the sauce in the hot dog, not on it!
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Congratulations to hometown girl Nastia Luikin, who will come home with a Gold, three Silvers and a Bronze!

But should that have been two Golds and two Silvers? On Monday, Nastia lost the Uneven Bars Gold to China’s He Kexin, despite having the same score of 16.725. Here’s how the sports information specialist at the National Indoor Stadium explained it to me.

(Here’s what you probably already know:) A gymnasts’ score is divided into seven parts, one ‘A’ score - which measures the routine’s difficulty - and 6 ‘B’ scores - ratings from six judges who deduct points for errors. For all gymnasts, the highest and lowest ‘B’ score are dropped before calculating the total.

When Nastia’s and He’s scores tied, the judges went back into their remaining 4 ‘B’ scores and dropped the lowest set of deductions. They took the average of what was left, and He won by .033 points. It may seem a bit random to break ties this way, but essentially, He won because her scores had a lower range than Nastia’s.

As my friend John put it, “it’s whoever gets the highest average first.”

Click (more) to read my Russian journalist friends' reaction to Nastia’s tie-breaker.
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So a lot of people have been asking, why do I need tickets to get into Olympic events? Don’t I have a press pass? Can’t I get in anywhere?

The answer is no. I don’t have the sideways-8 Infinity sign all the press wear to get into any venue. As a volunteer, I’m accredited to get into the Mixed Zone (where press and athletes mix), but only in the National Indoor Stadium. I’m not accredited to get into any other venues. Sometimes, I’m not even accredited to get into the NIS press tribune, where the press watch the gymnastics meets! My bosses don’t care if I see the sport, just that I can ask good questions of the athletes.

That’s why scoring tickets to Athletics and Beach Volleyball was so huge for me. And only by sheer luck did I get to see the inside of the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube.

That’s also why it kills me to see so many empty seats. According to the Times Online, even parents of competitors are having trouble getting seats! Anyone out there going to the Games and had trouble finding tickets?
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Well, I’ve shown you the Bird’s Nest and the National Indoor Stadium. All that’s left on the Olympic Green is…

The Water Cube!

Check out my three vlogs from the Water cube:

• The Water Cube at night
• The inside of the Water Cube
• Is the side of the Water Cube really squishy?

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Just back from sitting right under the Olympic Flame at the Bird’s Nest National Stadium, where I watched the world’s fastest man Usain Bolt beat the Olympic record in Men’s 100 meter!

The 100M was the last event of a long day, but Bolt’s victory and victory dance woke me right up. His left shoe was untied when he crossed the finish line (not that it mattered, he was so far ahead.) He held up the shoe to the crowds and cameras, beaming. He ran a victory lap with the Jamaican flag, stopping every few yards to dance to reggae music and wave to screaming fans.

I and my Mizzou friends danced with him, though we were high up in the stands, surrounded by Chinese spectators more interested in our raucous cheering than in the athletes. They took pictures of us as we yelled “U-S-A” to American athletes (including former Lake Highlands resident Darvis "Doc" Patton!)

The Bird’s Nest was like a bigger, cleaner version of any other stadium I’ve been to. The music switched off between Coldplay and accordion solos. The concession stands sold sausages (not hot dogs) and a soft, buttery bread (no pretzels).

Biggest difference? I could only find squat toilets in the Bird’s Nest bathrooms. Why isn’t the premier stadium in the world right now equipped with modern bathrooms?

Click the links for my videos from the Bird’s Nest:

• A tour of the Bird’s Nest
• Checkin' out the field of play
• My view of a heat for men’s hurdles

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Congratulations Nastia! Don’t you just love seeing a hometown girl do well?

I watched the medal ceremony for Women's Artistic Gymnastics Individual All-Around from the press area of the National Indoor Stadium, where I stood next to a crying and ecstatic Meredith Vieira. She just gazed at our two medalists, clutching her heart and smiling.

The other four members of the US Women’s Gymnastics Team were across the aisle, yelling for Natsia and Shawn and taking picture after picture of them on the podium. Once the Star Spangled Banner played, each of them had red eyes and quivering chins.

For great coverage of Nastia’s performances, check out the Dallas Morning News’ Olympics Blog here.


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So you know how each gymnast has to wear a bib number to identify her? Here’s what my uncle Larkin noticed today…

Nastia Liukin, who won Gold today, wore bib #412. 4+1+2 adds to 7.
Shawn Johnson, Silver medalist, wore #411. 4+1+1=6.
Yang Yilin from China won Bronze in bib #325. 3+2+5=10.

So who had 8, China’s lucky number?

Jiang Yuyuan, the contending Chinese athlete who fell on her bum on vault and ended up in 6th place. She wore bib #323.

So much for Auspicious No. 8!
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As of today, I have two weeks left in Beijing! Weird.

I just got back from the laundry center across campus where I dropped off a couple of loads, enough to last me till I go home.

It ain’t the media village, but they’ll wash your clothes for 5 RMB ($.70) per load, dry it for 6 RMB ($.90) per load, and fold it for free! All together, I paid 11 RMB ($1.60). Way cheap!

Just another interesting aspect of Chinese campus life.
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