It’s 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday in Tokyo. Lightning is flashing around the area, yet I am sitting on a metal press stand waiting for the start of the inaugural 3X3 basketball medal games. This unique basketball is new to the Olympics this year and the US women are playing in the finals. It should be an exciting evening, even if it has been a long day.
Speaking of long days, I’ve been covering events for three days now, I’ve been to nine different events in eight different venues. And over that time, there has been a few people (or things) that I think deserve a little bit of a shout out and credit for what they’ve been doing.
First and foremost, the many volunteers/employees who make the Olympics go. There are countless traffic control folks, security guards, arena staff, bus drivers, venue staff, military members running screening areas, Main Press Center workers and more. Many of those people have to work outside all day and in the case of some of them, they are in full dress uniform that must be absolutely brutally hot. So, kudos to all of them for what they’re doing.
Kudos also to all the photographers out there. These men and women are lugging around piles and piles of equipment. This equipment is not light and they are lugging it up and down stairs, on and off of buses and all around venues to the various photo stands. And they are doing this in the blazing sun and stifling humidity. I am soaked in sweat after walking up a couple flights of stairs carrying just my backpack, I can’t imagine lugging everything that they have to and not having a heart attack. Many of the folks doing that are in the same shape that I am, meaning not great.
Shoutout also to the photographer who helped me navigate one of the most confusing venues I’ve experienced in my Olympic trips. While he also had no idea where he was going, he was fluent in Japanese and English, so was able to communicate with all the security and volunteers and with me as we found our way through the Tokyo International Forum to watch some weightlifting. The venue was really strange and not easy to get around.
Shoutout to Brett Johnson, the communication director for US Rowing. He has been helping me set up interviews with Hilary Gehman of Wolfeboro and Gevvie Stone, who is a longtime camper/counselor at Camp Onaway on Newfound Lake. Weather changed the schedule on our originally scheduled days, but he kept me up to date and got me everything I needed. Press officers are a huge help to all press working events like the Olympics.
Shoutout to whoever makes the delicious rice that they serve at my hotel for breakfast. The breakfast choices are not spectacular, but they aren’t bad either. There’s always a couple of different types of rice and bread, along with fruit and some meats and eggs, though the eggs haven’t looked great and I haven’t braved them yet. However, the one rice that they make appears to be something like fried rice, though made in a rice cooker. It has a good taste and if I am in my hotel for breakfast, I always get a solid portion.
Shoutout to the general store in the Main Press Center. It is not big, but I went in today for the first time and they have just about everything you could imagine, including meals you can heat up, a number of different kinds of fried chicken, salads, fruit and more. I had a couple of salads today along with some pineapple and some chicken/cheese bites. It was a quick, easy meal and probably not as bad for me as visiting the creatively named “Tokyo 2020 Pizza and Burger Restaurant.”
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