Beijing Summer Olympic
Update #1 - July 29, 2008
Just a quick note to let you
know that I've arrived in Beijing.
This is day one of my five weeks in China to work on the Olympics.
I flew from Vancouver to
Beijing via San Francisco. I can
officially report that my Olympic fever started on the lay-over in the San
Francisco airport. The gate lounge
was filled with people going to the Olympics in an official capacity. The US Men's water polo team, a whole
bunch of press, and a school band that will be playing on one of the stages at
the Opening ceremonies. The water polo boys (all tall, blond and gorgeous.....)
were all wearing official Olympic team uniforms, and getting their photo
snapped by tourist paparazzi.
Beijing airport is a sight to behold. Huge, modern, fresh paint, brand new just for the Olympics,
and operating like clock work. The
city has Olympic signage everywhere, the 'look of the games' is very
prominent. The whole place is a
buzz with Olympics already. My hotel is great, 4 star right in the city centre,
not far from the Silk Market. The
headquarter hotel for the adidas program is a sister hotel one block away. The weather is pretty warm here, about
25'C. There is a light layer of
fog/smog, but I'm told today is the clearest they've seen in awhile.
I have the night off
(Tuesday), but tomorrow morning after some training sessions, I’ll be launching
straight into my ticket manager duties for the adidas sponsor VIP hospitality
program.
I'm hoping to send regular
update emails to share a few memorable moments, so stay tuned for more.
Heather
2008 Beijing Summer Olympic
correspondent at large
Did you know?
70,000 - Olympic volunteers
for the Beijing games
500,000 - capacity of
Tian'anmmen Square
91,000 - capacity of the
National Stadium for Opening and Closing Ceremonies
10,000 - athletes competing
in the games
3,000,000 - number of pieces
of apparel that adidas will be contributing to athletes, volunteers, staff, and
technical officials for the games
150,000 - police and
security personnel working the games
290,000 - security
volunteers working the games
100,000 - anti-terror
commandos on stand-by near Beijing
Beijing Summer Olympic
Update #2 - August 3, 2008
I'm about one week into my
Olympic experience, and having an incredible time. I just love the team I'm working with on the adidas
sponsorship hospitality program.
About half the people are first time 'Olympians' and the other half are Olympic
gypsies and have stories about past Olympic games going back 10 or 15
years. Everyone is really fun,
REALLY competent and hard working, and we are constantly laughing and cracking
jokes. I love my team!
Food
Breakfast is included at my
hotel, so every morning I join some of the other team members for the
'breakfast club'. It's a huge
international buffet, hot and cold.
At first I was eating cereal and yoghurt because that's my regular
pattern. I've ditched that now,
opting instead for noodles, rice, stir fry and salad. It seems breakfast is the big meal here, so when in
Rome..... The company
provides a per-dium for our food, so we have to go out and get what we want for
lunch and dinner. Lunch has been
Subway or salad bar or pizza. And
for dinner I've been dipping into my snack stash. I brought a wagonload of Costco snacks with me and they are
really coming in handy. Nuts,
power bars, tuna & cracker packs, etc.
Traffic and pollution
The news media portrays a
much bigger problem with traffic and pollution that I've been witness to so
far. That said, apparently half
the cars are mandated off the road right now, and I think a bunch of factories
have been ordered to close for August.
I usually wake up to beautiful clear blue skies, gorgeous hot sunshine. Average temperature is somewhere
between 25' and 30'C. And
the traffic just hasn't been a big problem so far.
Olympic Green
This is a huge Olympic park
home to about a third of the Olympic venues. It would take hours to walk from one end to the
other. You have to go through
typical airport style security to get onto the 'Green', and no professional
cameras are allowed in. The
National Stadium (aka Bird's Nest) and the Water Cube swimming venue are amoung
the most notable venues on the Green.
The Bird's Nest architecture is really unique with huge steel
'beams' wrapped and twisted around
the entire building. It holds
91,000, open air with covered stadium seating. The pictures don't properly
convey how massive this structure is.
Opening Ceremony
rehearsal
Our entire team got last
minute tickets to see the rehearsal of the Opening Ceremonies at the Bird's
Nest. This experience goes down as
one of the best in my life. It was
the most amazing spectacle I've ever witnessed. I was completely awe struck the entire time. We arrived 30minutes prior to show
time, and the performers were loading in.
Even that part was a work of art.
Words can't properly describe the show, but I'll give it a shot. The
first part was a synchronized LED drumming sequence of over 2500 performers in
a perfect grid. There was a
perfect circle people performing Tai Chi
doing their moves in unison, and a huge globe that came out of the floor
with acrobats walking sideways on it.
There were thousands of performers in LED bodysuits that lit up it a
patterned light show. People
dangling in the air and coming up from the floor. A huge human powered Chinese typewriter with pillar/keys
moving up and down with people inside each key. Every once in a while fireworks would explode from the
stadium lighting up the entire surrounding area, and spilling into the stadium
through the roof. Amazing use of
projection and special effects. It
was very 'Chinese', with select international elements. The thing that struck me was the exact
precision and unison on a scale that I didn't know was possible. My jaw was on the ground the whole
time, and at times I was almost in tears.
I can't believe I'm actually here for the Beijing Olympics and I'm so
grateful that I got to see the Opening Ceremony in person.
Work
My average work day has been
about 14 hours so far. I'm
responsible for 20,000 event tickets for all adidas VIP and celebrity
guests. Most of my days have been
spent counting and sorting and logging tickets. I have three full days before the first wave of VIP guest
arrive and will be picking up their tickets. I'm in pretty good shape, but I'll be glad when I get
through the first wave (five waves in total). My work so far has been grueling (brain fatigue), but the
work coming up will be even more challenging trying to keep track of all the
changes that we anticipate. It's a
huge responsibility, but so far I'm feeling pretty comfortable with it.
Time of my life!!!!
Heather
Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic
correspondent at large
Did you know:
$450/night - cost of my
hotel room
$3.75 Billion - cost to
build terminal 3 at Beijing Airport
1.5 Million - visitors
expected for the games
Beijing Summer Olympic
Update #3 - August 9, 2008
Holy smoke, this is what it
feels like to be at the centre of the universe. It feels like the eyes of the world are here on Beijing, and
I'm right in the middle of it.
adidas
Some of the coverage that
you'll see of some of the athlete interviews is video taped in the adidas
Hopitality Suite where I'm stationed.
adidas has transformed a regular roof-top terrace and adjoining banquet
rooms into an elaborate adidas themed indoor/outdoor lounge with TVs,
refreshments, displays of the 17 Olympic team uniforms that adidas supplied to
athletes. We regularly have athletes
coming in and out of the space for TV interviews. It's so cool!
Opening ceremony
Last night was the opening
ceremony for the games. I'm so
grateful to have seen the rehearsal a few nights ago, it was actually quite fun
to experience it from the outside the second time. My role was as bus parking lot manager responsible for
positioning my team to direct adidas guests to the correct bus (in a sea of
100's of other sponsor buses) after the event. We pulled it off perfectly, (ie. didn't leave any
guests behind). The logistics and
security around the event were amazing. The entire surrounding area of the
stadium (10 block radius?) was completely shut down to local traffic, only
accredited vehicles were allowed access.
The roads to get to the stadium were all clear, no traffic in
sight. The security around the
stadium was staggering. Police
stationed every 20 feet. SWAT
tanks and army troops on patrol, check points at every intersection for the
accredited vehicles. Getting into
the Olympic Green / Bird's Nest Stadium through the 'airport security' was
heightened. Helicopters were
swarming in the sky. The streets
were swarmed with locals watching the stadium from afar taking photos of the
fireworks and the lighting of the cauldron. Speaking of fireworks, HOLY SMOKE! The fireworks show that was part of opening ceremony, and
which carried on for 30 minutes after was amazing, even better than HSBC
Celebration of Light (sorry
HSBC....). There were fireworks on
Olympic Green, in the stadium, throughout Beijing, and even on the Great Wall,
all timed as part of the opening ceremony. It was really cool to see the ceremony performers come out
after the show, and walk the streets to their transportation. Thousands of people walking in the same
costume all together. Everything
at the Olympics is on a massive scale.
And there's no way to describe the energy until you've experienced
it. I'm in complete awe.
Security
Aside from venue security,
I've noticed a heightened security around Beijing in general. There is a security check point getting
into the headquarter hotel, and now I have to show my room card to get to my
guest room. There are more
military and police around the streets, even SWAT tanks patrolling the
highways. This city is in complete
lock down.
Corporate/Branding
One of the things that
strikes me is how corporate the Olympic games is. There is so much money spent on sponsorship, branding, and
showcasing. Each sponsor has a
pavilion on the Olympic Green, and each one is more elaborate than the one
before. There are other consumer
showcases set-up all over town. Coke has one close to the hotel, where they've
turned a regular retail space into a Coke themed experience, complete with an
ice tunnel, LCD screen completely covering the ceiling, and free Coke products
for all.
Look of games
The whole city is covered
with Olympic signage in the themed design and colours. There is no mistaking it anywhere you
go, the Olympics is in town.
Buildings are wrapped for the games, there are Olympic street signs,
flower garden displays, signage on pedestrian walkway overpasses, flag pole
signs, entire city blocks wrapped, etc.
Work schedule
I didn't know it was
possible to work 20 hours, have 1 hr sleep, then work another 20 hours. But, I did it. It's amazing what lack of sleep does to
the brain. Errors happen, things
take 3 times as long, everything is an overwhelming task, logic becomes skewed,
the simplest solution eludes you.
Add to that, I haven't been eating properly. When I get in the zone on a task, I don't take the time to eat. Thank goodness for my stash of
snacks. I anticipate that my
workload will lighten for the rest of the games. In my position as ticket manager, the largest sorting and
organizing happens on the front end, and that's done now. I think my schedule will be much more
manageable from now on.
First sporting event
I went to my first event
this morning. Women's volleyball,
Italy vs. Russia. Those girls are
TALL!!! At this level the athletes
are playing such a tight, strategic, well planned game. They had a sequins
dance troop that came on the court during the breaks between games, so
hilarious. Even the court sweepers
were choreographed, with their little hop over the mop, and synchronized
patterns. Airport security to get
into the venue, no food or drink allowed.
Only small little portable cameras, no umbrellas or musical instruments.
Chinese names
This is one of the biggest
challenges on the program. Chinese
people have several different names, and they use them at different times. This
makes for a lot of confusion on so many levels. Organizing an event that relies on accurate guest count
information is very difficult when you don't know if you've got duplicate
registrations for one person who registered information with two different
names. This is one of the biggest
challenges so far.
Celebrities and VIPs
The city is swarming with
celebrities, and some have been in my general vicinity. adidas held a "Gold Metal"
gala party here at the hotel two days ago, with all sorts of 'A' list guests. The production itself was amazing. Millions of dollars to convert the
hotel's tennis court facility into an extravagant night club for just one
night. The whole back wall of the
stage was LCD screens, the stage was illuminated with the adidas logo. The entire room is wrapped in gold,
including gold carpet, drapes, furniture.
The guest included: Donovan Bailey (sprinter), Maurice Green (sprinter),
Nadia Comaneci (Gymnastics), Ian Thorpe (swimmer), Tyson Gay (sprinter), Jeremy
Wariner (runner), Jet Li (martial arts).
Last night I helped one of our guests out of a cell phone snafoo at
opening ceremony, turns out he is the President and CEO of Reebok Global. He was so grateful for my help, so now
he and I are good buds.
Smog and heat
The clear skies that I
mentioned before turned out to be a blip on the meteorological radar. Most days since have been 'foggy' most
of the day, 35' temperatures, and 80% humidity. It's HOT here!
This is good. VERY good!
Heather
Beijing 2008 Olympic
correspondent at large
heatherfulcher@gmail.com
Beijing Summer Olympic
Update #4 - August 15, 2008
It's day 8 (of 17) of the
Olympics, and into wave 3 (of 5). I'm continuing to have an amazing
Olympic experience with lots of great highlights to share.
Olympic events
The adidas client encourages
us to get out to events, and there are lots of tickets available on a regular
basis. I've been able to make time in my schedule to attend two more
events since my last message. I went to gymnastics the other day, men's
team gymnastics. It was held in the National Indoor Stadium, right
beside the Bird's Nest and Water Cube on Olympic Green. Part of the
experience is just being on "The Green" with so many other
international Olympic visitors, amazing Olympic sculptures, great photo
ops, and tonnes of extra-curricular things to do. The Olympic Green is in
fact very green. Lots of grass, fragrant flower gardens, park area, mini
lakes, bridges, etc. There are Bellagio style fountains, over-sized golf
cars for optional transportation, lots of concessions
and public 'honey pots'. The gymnastics event was really
cool. There were eight teams (China, Japan, USA, Germany, France,
Russia, Korea, Romania), and they took turns at each of the six apparatus
(floor, rings, pommel horse, vault, parallel bars, high
bar). It's amazing to me what those athletes can do with
their bodies. The awards ceremony happened immediately after the
competition, and is obviously a really moving and exciting part of the event,
especially because China won gold. The part I enjoyed the most is the
energy of the live crowd, flag waving, chanting, 'the wave', the crowd
eruptions for amazing performances, and cheers for the Chinese
team "Jia Yo" = "Let's go / Keep going". I also
really love that they serve beer in the stands, even for morning events (not
that I partook...). I also attended swimming at the National Aquatics
Centre / aka "Water Cube" this morning. What an amazing and unique venue. The structural design is based on the natural formation of soap bubbles
which give a random, organic appearance.
The exterior of the building is a continuously inflated double layered
plastic membrane. The competition
itself was really exciting because it was finals. The medal ceremony happens immediately after the swimmers
get out of the pool, then the next competition begins. In one case, Michael Phelps (USA) was
awarded gold for men’s individual 200m medley (backstoke, breaststroke,
freestyle and butterfly), then got right back into the pool for the butterfly
event.
Toilets
The most common style of
public toilet is a squat style, with a central supply of toilet paper on entry
in the main room. The public 'honey pots' on Olympic Green are squat
style that are on permanent flush, and with a steady supply of foaming bubbles
in the repository. This definitely takes some getting used to, with some
logistical adjustments required regarding clothing etc. This is one thing
on a long list of cultural differences that makes travel so interesting to me.
Massage
I've taken to having
massages on a semi regular basis. Some of the other team members scoped
out a good place right across the street from the hotel, they take drop-ins,
and are open until 12 or 1am which fits with my schedule. My back and
feet are really sore, and although massage helps, my lower back is almost too
sore to massage. The other night, five of us went together and dropped in
all at once. They put us all in a room together with reclining chairs,
and in came a massage troupe with foot baths, warm neck and back packs, and all
sorts of lotions and potions. I brought a pizza in with us, then we
ordered some hors d'oeuvres and beer from the spa waiter. How's that for
gluttony?
Tourist killed in
Tian'anmmen Square
I'm not sure if
international news reported the recent killing in Tian'anmmen square. The
story we're told is that it was a lone attacker, who injured one and killed
another, then jumped off a building and killed himself. It wasn't
targeted or considered terrorism, it was random and isolated. The victims
are American, family members of a basketball coach here with the US
team. Very shocking and sad.
Celebrities
Apparently I am one. Whenever I’m out, I’m stopped all the
time by locals wanting to have their picture taken with me. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m
foreign, blond, look remarkably like someone famous, or that I’m wearing a
uniform that makes me look like I’m official. Speaking of celebrities, apparently David Schwimmer (Friend’s
TV show) attended the opening ceremony and was trying to get into the adidas
hospitality suite afterwards. The local hostess staff that were working the
door turned him away because they didn't recognize him, and because he didn’t
have an adidas namebadge. By the
time our senior staff knew what happened, it was too late to drag him back,
however one of our team snapped a picture of him in the crowd walking
away. And rumour has it that David
Beckham will be visiting the adidas suite soon. I just learned that today, and I’m so excited about the prospect
catching an up close glimpse of that fine specimen.
Local staff
SportsMark has hired
approximately 350 local Beijing college students to work on the various sponsor
programs (adidas, Visa, Coke, Manulife, Chevron, Qualcomm, Hilton, etc). These local staff speak reasonable
English, and have been a great help in translating for our mainly Asian
guests. Most of the kids are late
teens, early twenties, and as sweet as pie. They all work really hard, conscientious, eager to do a
great job, and love practicing English.
The locals choose they own English name, and most have a story about the
name they picked for themselves.
One of our staff is named “Coffee” because she likes the drink. Another is named “Vanilla”, and one is
named “Seven”. I just love
our local team members.
Athletes
As I’m writing this, sitting
at the hospitality desk in the adidas suite, there is a UK track and field
athlete standing talking to some guests right beside me, and Maurice Greene
just walked by (Gold medal Olympic sprinter, ‘fastest man alive’). Members of the Antigua/Barbuda Olympic
team just walked in and are now camped out in the adidas lounge watching
Olympic event coverage on the TVs.
Techno-trouble
I had a bit of a set-back
technology wise. I had been saving
all my files to an external USB hard-drive instead of on my computer (per the
company’s instructions). All of a
sudden it crashed and I lost all of the work for the past two weeks. Luckily I had emailed two of the most
critical documents two days prior, so had to re-do two days of work from my
scratch pad of notes. As if
I didn’t have enough work to do!
Sleep &
extra-curricular
For the most part, I’ve been
getting enough sleep and feel rested and refreshed most days. And last night, the whole senior team
got a night off!!! Shock and
dismay! We all went out for dinner
together at a really beautiful traditional Chinese garden restaurant. Afterwards a few of us went to Holland
Heineken House, which is a huge Dutch party that serves only Heineken. Heineken converted a huge traditional
Chinese art gallery type building, into an Olympic party venue complete with
live Dutch band, dance mosh-pit and huge outdoor beer garden. The place was filled with Dutch people and international guests alike, many
wearing orange. If you’re willing
to get soaked in beer (from people throwing their full plastic beer cups
up in the air), then the centre of
the dance floor is the place to be.
I stuck to the periphery and still felt the odd beer shower. My head hit the pillow at 3am, and got
up at 7am with a little headache.
I have Olympic fever!!!
Heather
Beijing 2008 Olympic
correspondent at large
Did you know?
· Sponsor guests waste +50% of the Olympic event
tickets given to them
· China has the highest incidents of traffic accidents
(per capita) in the world
· The probability of a natural disaster occurring
during the Beijing Olympics is high
· The order of countries in the parade of athletes at
opening ceremony was in order of the number of brush strokes in the Chinese characters
of the country names
· 110,000 tonnes of steel to make the Bird’s Nest
Stadium – all made in China
Beijing Summer Olympic
Update #5 - August 20, 2008
This experience continues to
be one of the most memorable of my life.
I’m in disbelief every day about how privileged I am to be a part of the
Olympics.
The Olympic dream
I’m having tiery moments all
the time, and the theme of a recent emotional moment was regarding
international harmony. The
Olympics is one of the only events in the world that brings people from every
nation together in the spirit of goodwill and harmony. The moment struck me as I was sitting
in the stands listening to a dozen different languages spoken by people from
every corner of the world. I also
get tiery eyed at every medal ceremony that I see, either in person or by
broadcast. It never gets
boring. Each and every medal
represents a lifelong goal for these athletes, so much sacrifice, dedication
and hardwork. It reminds me to
dream big and stay focused in my own life, because the impossible IS
POSSIBLE!!!
Olympic events – Athletics x 2, WaterPolo, Diving, Beach Volleyball
My work has lightened up
significantly during the last half of the games. Since my last message, I’ve been able to attend an event
almost every day, and sometimes twice a day.
Athletics (aka Track and Field)
This event is held in
National Stadium / “Bird’s Nest”, which is the same venue for opening and
closing ceremonies, and where the Olympic cauldron is burning. It is such a breathtaking building, and
so incredibly massive (91,000 seats).
I attended two athletics events, with seats as close as they get to the
field each time. I could feel the
breeze of the sprinters running by 20 feet in front of me. And the medals ceremony podiums were
also directly in front of my section.
I watched the finals of the Men’s 100M sprint. This is one of the most hyped events in athletics. The
finish was amazing, with Usain Bolt from Jamaica miles in front of the others,
and strutting across the finish line posturing and gloating in his win. He broke all sorts of records (Olympic
and world), for the newest rank of ‘the fastest man alive’. After the race he went crazy running
all over the stadium floor in his victory circle around the track. Also watched the javelin throw, men’s
long jump, women’s heptathlon, hurdles, pole vault, discus throw, steeplechase
and women’s shot put finals. The
3000M steeple chase is an ancient event, which includes 4 hurdles on the track,
one of which has a puddle that runners have to run through. The part I loved
best about that event was the last place steeple chase runner. He fell at the beginning, and ended up
MILES behind the pack, but kept going regardless. The whole stadium started to cheer for him, getting up out
of their seats as he approached their section. The place went nuts when he finally crossed the finish line
minutes after the pack. I love
those examples of perseverance and determination, and how a potentially
embarrassing performance can turn crowd inspiring. The winner of the shot put was a New Zealander who also went
crazy when she won. She was
running across the track to her family, while a running race while in
progress. Another highlight was
the women’s pole vault final, with adidas sponsored Elena Isinbaeva from Russia
blowing all other competitors out of the water, and breaking all sorts of
records with a bar height of 5.05M.
Men’s Waterpolo
WaterPolo was a blast. We watched two matches, both
preliminary (not final) games.
Serbia vs. Italy, then Hungary vs. Canada. I’ve never even seen that game played before, so it was
really cool to see it at the Olympic level. Very fast, exciting game, and very animated spectators. The crowd was almost entirely Hungarian
fans, chanting, waving flags and going crazy for every goal, and then went
completely bananas when Hungary beat Canada 12 vs. 3. The inflatable mascots came out at half time and did a
little dancing for the crowd at poolside, that was hilarious. The part I like the best was the
back-sides. Those waterpolo boys
have very nice physiques. Most of
my photos from this event are of waterpolo bums.
Mens’ Diving
I attended with one of my
team mates, who was a Illonois state diving champion back in her day. It was interesting to learn the
subtleties of the sport while watching the best in the world compete. I enjoyed the scenery here as
well. Diving bums are just a nice
as waterpolo bums.
Men’s Beach Volleyball
I attended the
semi-final games for Men’s Beach Volleyball. USA (Rogers/Dalhousser) vs. Georgia (Terceiro/ Gomes), then
the second game was Brazil (Ricardo/Emanuel – defending Olympic champions) vs.
Brazil (Araujo/Luiz). This is my
favourite event so far. It’s
basically a big beach party complete with DJ, dancing bikini clad beach
hotties, an announcer that gets the crowd going with the wave, sing-a-longs and
all sorts of other crowd revving.
USA pummeled Georgia to secure a place in the final game. The two Brazilian teams had really
close matches, but the under-dog Brazilian team beat the defending Olympic
champions for a spot in the final game against USA. The gold medal game is tomorrow, and I’ve signed up to GO!!!
Pin trading
I’m having a blast trading
pins with people from all over the world.
I have a whole bunch attached to my lanyard, and when I’m out and about
at events, I get accosted by people wanting to trade. Many cannot speak English, so we communicate by doing pin
trading charades. At one event, I
was sitting in the stands beside some members of the Saudi Arabia Olympic
Committee, and traded pins with them.
Their pin has swords and a palm tree with the Olympic rings. I also traded pins with a guy from
Latvia and one from Russia, who gave me a pin of their respective national
Olympic Committees.
People I know
I’ve run into three people
that I know from Vancouver. One
friend of my cousin’s who works for Vancouver 2010 Olympics. I knew he was coming, but didn’t know
he was staying at my hotel, and certainly didn’t expect to run into him
coincidently. I also ran into the
President and the Director of Sport Marketing of PRIME Strategies, one of the
event planning companies that I work with. They were sitting four rows in front of my at an Athletics
event in the Bird’s Nest Stadium.
I knew they were coming to Beijing, but it’s a big city, and HUGE
stadium, what a coincidence that I would bump into them.
More brushes with
celebrities
- I got an email the other
day from a fellow ticket manager, looking to fill a ticket request from Misty
May-Treanor (Olympic gold medalist in Beach Volleyball).
- adidas got a call the
other day from Ian Thorpe (US Olympic swimmer – adidas sponsored athlete),
asking for assistance in escorting him to the Water Cube to watch a swimming
competition. It seems that
whenever he goes out in public, he gets mauled by fans. So adidas organized one of the staff
members to escort him in one of our VIP cars, and get him into the swimming
venue bi-passing the mob of fans.
- The adidas hospitality
suite continues to host all sorts of Olympians, including the gold and silver
medalist in the women’s heptathlon.
Just looking at those ladies walk by inspires me to hit the gym more often.
There are only four days left
in the Olympics, with closing ceremony capping it off on August 24th. I fly to Hong Kong on Aug 28th
for a visit with some family, then home on September 1st. My next and final update will be
from Hong Kong just before my return.
Jai Yo!!!
Heather
Beijing 2008 Olympic
correspondent at large
Did you know?
-
302 gold medals will be
awarded in the Beijing games, 214 have been awarded to date
-
China is leading the gold
medal count with 45, but USA is leading the total medal count at 82.
-
92 athletes have won multiple
medals, with Michael Phelps (US swimmer) leading with a record breaking 8 gold
medals
-
The summer Olympics (10,000
athletes) is three times as large as the winter Olympics (3,000 athletes)
-
Over 900 adidas guests and 14
days of games so far - there have been no medical incidents or security threats
with the adidas guests/program to date
-
The Great Wall of China has
turned into a contrived amusement park with a gondola, chair lift and bob sled
slide
-
adidas founder Adolf Dassler
(nickname Adi Dass) started the
company with his brother, then had a falling out and the brother founded the
Puma brand.
-
One of my team mates found a
market in Beijing selling knock-off Tiffany jewelry. Yippee!!!!!
Beijing Summer Olympic
Update #6 – August 31, 2008
What an amazing, exciting,
exhausting, thrilling, memorable five weeks this has been.
More sporting events
During the last week of
the games, my vault of tickets was pretty empty, so I shifted gears from
ticket management to helping escort the adidas guests to the various
sporting events. This is like herding a bunch of cats. It's almost
impossible to keep track of everybody, but somehow we manage to get everyone
back on the bus.
Men's Beach Volleyball
final
This was probably my
favourite event of the whole games. Sitting in the sunshine, 25'C
cloudless skies, 75% humidity, with cooling mist machines blowing on the
audience, watching the best in the world compete in a game that I love.
This event is basically a big beach party with people dancing to the music,
singing along, doing the arm gestures to the music, bouncing the beach balls
around in the crowd, etc. The Brazilian and US fans were in fine form
decked out in patriotic colours with face paint & crazy wigs, draped in
their country's flags and using all sorts of noisemaking devices to cheer for
their team. Brazil won the bronze medal match against Georgia, winning by
a landslide, and the US (Rogers/Dalhausser) won the gold medal against the
other Brazilian team (Araujo/Luiz), in a tight match, down to the third
game. There was a 75 minute wait in between the bronze and gold
medal matches, which was filled with entertainment. There were dancing
bikini clad beach babes, audience member volleyball game (10 people each side),
as well as audience members taking turns serving the ball over the net, trying
to hit the inflatable mascots and knock them over. So hilarious.
Handball
I've never seen this game
played before in my life. For those of you in the same boat, I would
describe the game as a cross between basketball and hockey. You have to
bounce the ball when you move with it across the basketball type court, but
instead of shooting up in a basket, you throw it into a hockey net. It's
a very fast, very rough and physical game. I watched the Men's semi-final
game of Croatia vs. France, with France winning to advance to the gold medal
game.
Table Tennis
The Chinese totally
dominate this sport. I saw two semi-final matches: Sweden vs. China and
China vs. China. The #1 and #2 ranked players (both Chinese) emerged from
these games to face off against each other in the gold medal match. What
an amazing sport to watch in a country that reveres the sport. The game
starts with the players and referees being escorted into the gymnasium like royalty.
I loved how the players serve the ball. It seems like they have a little
pep-talk with the ball and the paddle, then a few little tiny bounces of the
ball while crouching close to the table, and finally a tiny little soft serve
across the net. A few rallies back and forth, then they start to spike the ball
and the play moves several feet away from the table, with jumping and lunging
all over the place. The crowd was VERY animated, shouting cheers and
encouragement to the players in the local language. Very exciting game to
watch.
My birthday
I celebrated the 9th
anniversary of my 29th birthday while in Beijing. I received
all sorts of lovely birthday wishes by email, and the whole adidas team
surprised me with birthday cake. They lured me to the surprise claiming a
David Beckham sighting in the hospitality suite.
Pin trading rehab
I've admitted myself into
rehab for my pin trading habit. It was getting to be a bit of a problem
logistically, so I quit cold turkey. I was finding that people would come
up to me and start man-handling the pins on my lanyard (ie. chest area), which
was starting to invade my personal space. Also, I was finding it hard to
go anywhere in a hurry. I was always being stopped by people insisting
that I trade with them, and I didn't want to be rude and tell them I didn't
have time.
Closing ceremonies
I helped to
escort the adidas guests onto Olympic Green for Closing Ceremonies,
but didn't have a ticket to get into the stadium. While the ceremony was
taking place, our whole adidas team hung out in the adidas section of the
"OHC - Olympic Hospitality Centre" located on Olympic Green.
This is a zone where all the major sponsors are provided a pavilion, which they
completely customize with branding, furniture, TVs, food and beverage
facilities, etc, and in which they can host their guests. We lounged on
the couches, shoes off, feet on coffee table, in air conditioned comfort,
having drinks and food, watching the live broadcast of the ceremony on the big
screens, and having the benefit of seeing the fireworks explode from the
outside of the stadium and throughout the Olympic Green. Before the end
of the ceremony, our team (20-30 people) dispersed throughout Olympic Green
with handheld adidas 'lollipop' signs directing guests to the adidas
buses. My job was in the parking lot (as with opening ceremony),
directing adidas guests onto the buses (in a sea of other sponsor buses),
counting heads and sending buses when full. The ceremony itself was
pretty amazing if you ask me. I loved the bouncing jumping guys, and the
ribbon covered tower that came up from the floor. The London 2012 portion
wasn't my favourite, I thought it was pretty predicable and uninspired.
One of the parts I love best about the Olympics is feeling like I'm at the
centre of the universe, and that feeling is amplified during the opening and
closing ceremony events.
More celebrities
Bill Gates – was staying
at our hotel for a few days during the Olympics.
Vince Vaughan – was
everywhere. He walked past me on the street, he was part of an NBC group
being escorted out of the mens' gold medal basketball game. Two of my
teammates bumped into him in various venues around town. Another of
my teammates saw him at the NBC party the other night.
David Beckham – was in
town, and visited Beijing's flagship adidas store (largest adidas store in the
world). A copy of his itinerary and media interview questions was laying
around the adidas suite, accidently left by one of his handlers, so I grabbed
it for safe keeping. David Beckham is an adidas sponsored athlete, and
was the token British athlete that was London's feature star in the closing
ceremonies. London 2012 is the next summer Olympics.
Parties
There were plenty of
parties around town during the Olympics, but once the games ended, the wrap-up
parties for the event operations teams kicked into high gear. The adidas
team party was held at the headquarter hotel, in the adidas hospitality suite
outdoor terrace. 100 team members all kicking back, drinking, eating,
playing Nintendo Wii on the outdoor big screen, and singing karaoke. One
of the team members put together a DVD with photos of the team set to music, so
that was revealed at the party as well. It is so
hilarious, filled with photos of all our crazy antics and inside
jokes from the games. The SportsMark "Xie Xie" Party (=thank
you) was held at a really cool Chinese club/restaurant with some tented outdoor
seating pods, lots of dancing and drinking. About 500 in
attendance, included all of the SportsMark teams as well as clients and
suppliers. And on my last night in Beijing, the core adidas team hooked
up in Tian'anmman Square to watch the daily flag ceremony, then went for
traditional Peking Duck at a restaurant close to the square. After dinner
10 of us went for a massage, 6 in one room, 4 in the other. 90 minute
treatment, includes shoulder, back, feet and legs, with snacks included for
~$20. We were all fast asleep in no time, it was quite a picture to see,
and the perfect ending to an amazing time together.
Shopping
I've done some serious
damage at two of the major markets in Beijing. Handbags, scarves, shoes,
jewelry and gifts. Add to that all the Olympic souvenirs and adidas swag
that the team received from the client. I've had to buy an
additional suitcase to bring all this stuff home.
Beijing to Hong Kong
Beijing airport is like no
other I've ever seen. When you first walk through the doors, you must
pass through a security check-point. Then you must find your check-in desk,
which is coded A-Z depending on your airline (Air China was in the 'F'
section). Once checked-in, you pass through a temperature (SARS)
detection screening, then two check points for Chinese immigration, then the
security mag and bag, with a full body man-handle and wand inspection.
Then onto a train for 4 minutes for transportation to the international
departures gates. I would guess the walk from that point to my gate was
over 1km. Once at the gate, you board a bus to take you for a 10minute
ride on the back area of the tarmack to the plane. For some reason the
airport doesn't use their air bridges to connect the airplanes to the terminal,
instead they park the planes far away, only accessible by the bus
service. The whole process from check-in to boarding the plane
took about 1.5hrs, most of it walking within the massive terminal.
I'm in Hong Kong for four days, visiting with my sister-in-law/brother-in-law
once removed (ie. my sister's sister-in-law/brother-in-law), and their 9mth old
daughter, which I've declared as my niece. They have a lovely home
in Discovery Bay on Lantau Island, close to the airport. 5+ bedroom home,
with seaviews, a private garden terrace, and children playing in the
street. We're sticking pretty close to home for this visit, just walking
around town, reading books, having naps, going out for dinner, visiting and
playing with my little niece.
Things I'm looking
forward to when I get home....
- body mainternance -
pedicure/manicure/facial/hair removal/haircut
- home cooked food
- exercise
- sleeping in my own bed
- reconnecting
with friends and family
- HOME!
Goodbye from China!
Heather
Beijing 2008 Olympic
correspondent at large
Did you know?
- Olympic sponsors customize
the buses that they use for transporting their guests during
the games. The buses are completely 'wrapped' on the outside in
custom branding, and customized on the inside with branded headrest covers,
etc.
