Out with 2022, in with 2023

Eight short months ago, I was on a mountain top two hours outside of downtown Beijing, China, watching as the woman regarded as one of the world's best alpine skiers, had what can only be described as the worst few days of her competition career.

It was tough watching Mikaela Shiffrin go through what she went through following disappointing non-finishes in the Beijing Winter Olympics and it led to my most read blog post by far and stoked many discussions both in Beijing and back at home in the United States.

What made me think of this was the week that Mikaela just had, which can only be described as possibly one of the best weeks of her competition career, with three wins in a row, which pushes her closer to Lindsey Vonn's record for World Cup wins for a woman and closer to Ingemar Stenmark's record for World Cup wins for anyone and made her only the third person in history to record 80 World Cup wins.

It was truly remarkable to follow the races while I was covering the numerous high school holiday tournaments in Conway, Gilford, Farmington and Laconia. To see how different things can be in less than a year is amazing. Of course, most everyone who follows alpine skiing had to know that Mikaela would be just fine, even after the unusual performances in Beijing. After all, she's insanely talented and a true leader in the sport. People like that don't stay down for long.

Looking back, it has been a long year since those three weeks in China covering the world's elite athletes as they took to the ice and snow. There's been a few championships won along the way (and while I was in China), there's been spring and fall sports seasons and now we're back to the winter again. There's been a summer full of all sorts of sporting events, from the return of the Granite Man and Granite Kid Triathlons in Wolfeboro to Cal Ripken tournaments around the Lakes Region. I got the chance to drive a NASCAR car prior to the series returning to New Hampshire Motor Speedway and I made a ton of donuts, pies and gingerbread men in my side gig at the Yum Yum Shop (which pays for those trips to the Olympics every few years).

As we turn to a new year, I have moved from the apartment I have lived in for more than 20 years to a new place in Wolfeboro, a process that has not been fun and involved moving most of my big furniture in the rain, thanks to the help from my brother, Jared, and the use of the truck from Bob Tuttle. I am still trying to get settled in the new place, but five days in a row of holiday tournament action has left me little time, so for now, I wander between boxes and furniture to get from the bed to the bathroom and back.

And 2022 also brought another Olympic credential application process getting under way, as the road to Paris 2024 is officially under way, with expected announcements of credential approvals coming in the new year. While there are no Olympics in 2023, if I decide I'm going to Paris, the process will all unfold this coming year.

It should be interesting, one way or the other.

Climbing high into the mountains to see the women's slalom at the Beijing Olympics involved riding a few gondolas.

A flashback to a different time

Those Facebook memories struck again.

This time, it was Sunday when I happened to be on the laptop and took a quick break from work and the memory popped up. It was four years ago that day (December 18) that I received the e-mail from the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee that I had been granted credentials for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.

What a ride that turned out to be.

That e-mail came a scant 10 months after I had returned from PyeongChang, South Korea and the 2018 Winter Olympics. On a whim, wanting to see how a Summer Olympics experience would differ from the two Winter Olympics that I had been to, I had applied for credentials for the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo. I was excited to get the chance to see something different, to see the Olympics without having to don a winter coat at any point.

The next year proved to be much the same type of processes that I had gone leading up to the 2014 Sochi Winter Games and the aforementioned PyeongChang Games four years later. There was the necessary paperwork getting filled out, lodging being secured with a deposit put down on a hotel room in Tokyo and general preparedness. Things were looking good as 2019 turned in to 2020 and the year of my first Summer Olympics dawned.

Of course, we all know how 2020 turned out.

Like millions of others, my life came to a grinding halt thanks to the pandemic. At first there was optimism that the Olympics would go on as planned, but as it got to the end of March, organizers realized that there was no way that the pandemic would be cleared up by August and the decision was made to postpone the Olympics by one year, the first time that had ever happened. A few weeks later, I was laid off from the newspaper as the business struggled to get through COVID. With no sports going on, it was a logical decision and one that I completely understood.

While I anticipated that I would get my job back, my concerns about the Olympics were many. I had no idea whether it would be possible to move such a massive event. Would all the money that I had paid for hotels and other related amenities carry over? We were assured by Tokyo 2020 organizers that we would have the lodging that we booked and any money and reservations that we made would be honored.

Of course, I also saw trips to Florida with local baseball teams and New York City and Atlanta for Survivor events go by the wayside, as did a trip to Ireland with the UNH Marching Band to perform on St. Patrick's Day. But the Olympics were the big one.

As it turned out, you are able to move a massive event like the Olympics. Kudos to the Tokyo 2020 people and the International Olympic Committee for doing the seemingly impossible in moving the Summer Olympics ahead one year. However, even that one year wasn't enough to get ahead of the pandemic, as the amount of paperwork and medical testing that had to be done prior to leaving for Tokyo added a lot more fun to the experience.

That being said, I got to experience a pretty unique event, an Olympics with almost no spectators in a pandemic world. I traveled halfway around the world to be part of an historic event. And seven months later, I got on a plane and did it all again, this time in China for the Winter Olympics in Beijing. Covering two Olympics all while dealing with a pandemic was an interesting and unique situation and one that I won't soon forget.

As I sit here now, we are anticipating hearing from the USOPC about our credential requests for Paris 2024 at some point in the next month. I'm excited to hear how that process went, though I am still on the fence as to whether Paris is in the offing.

It's amazing how one small memory on Facebook can take you back in time to a world that really doesn't exist anymore. A time when nobody knew what COVID was and Corona was just a Mexican beer.

Tokyo Big Sight, which was the site of the media center for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the summer of 2021.

The concerns on the road to Paris

The road to Paris has officially begun. However, I am still unsure just exactly how far down that road I am going to go.

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee sent out the e-mail for press to apply for credentials earlier this week. On Tuesday I completed the form and sent in my application for the Paris Olympics, but did so knowing that if I choose to, I can pass on the opportunity and allow them to go to another journalist.

My concerns leading up to Paris have nothing to do with the fact that it's the Summer Olympics or even that it will be less than two years since my most recent Olympic trip. My concerns are almost completely financial.

As some people may know, I work part time at the Yum Yum Shop in Wolfeboro. While I started doing this during the pandemic when I got laid off from my writing job, I've kept doing it as a way to pay for the trips that I enjoy taking, be it to the Olympics or Survivor events around the country.

Sure, it leads to me being tired a lot, but I chalk that up as being part of the experience. If I want the chance to go to great places, there might be a small price to pay for that. However, it's the monetary price of things that is causing me concern as I think about Paris and Milan in the next few years.

The price of everything has been going up and it's no different in my life. My grocery bill continues to skyrocket and with the amount of driving I do to cover games, the price of gas, even if it has gone down a bit the last month or so, is still a lot to take (we do get a mileage stipend, which helps). And to top it all off, earlier this week my landlords let me know that my rent will be going up again. I have lived in the same apartment for 20 years and my rent is pretty manageable, particularly given the sky-high prices I see on other rentals in the area. But, my rent increase is just another bill to add to the pile. It's a pile that seems to keep growing.

Of course once the details come out about the Paris experience for journalists, I will get the chance to see how expensive the media lodging is and then there is the price of the flight to take into account. I am sure most of the costs associated with Paris 2024 will likely be more expensive than previous Olympics (not counting the expensive flight to Beijing) for the same reasons that my bills keep going up, as the cost of everything is increasing.

There's a lot to think about over the course of the next few months when they start to send out approval e-mails and I am sure it will all be in my head. The concerns are there on my part and I will need to alleviate those concerns before I make the official decision for Paris.

The goal is to be there in the summer of 2024. Let's see if things work out the way they need to.

Paris will take center stage for the 2024 Summer Olympics. (photo from Olympics.com)

Looking back, one year ago

Facebook memories are always reminding you where you were in previous years. Most of my summer memories are from baseball fields and race courses around New Hampshire.

But, the one-year-ago memories this week have started coming from the other side of the world, as at this time last year I was in Tokyo, preparing for my first summer Olympics experience, a year later than planned and a few days later than planned thanks to a three-day required quarantine.

As I write this on Saturday, July 23, it was exactly one year since the Opening Ceremonies, which I watched from my hotel room, as my quarantine had yet to be completed. I had originally hoped to make the Tokyo Opening Ceremonies my first-ever Olympic ceremony, but that had to wait a few weeks until the Tokyo Closing Ceremony.

Over the past six or seven years, I have really enjoyed when Facebook provides me with memories from my Olympic experiences. Most of those have come in the middle of February when the Sochi and PyeongChang Olympics took place. However, Tokyo is the first time those memories are popping up in the summer and it's fun to see it in another time of the year.

Tokyo was a unique experience, particularly at the time. It was the first Olympics ever postponed and the first held during the COVID-19 pandemic. The lead-up to Tokyo was a lot of paperwork and a lot of meetings determining just what the process would be for us as we prepared to make a trip around the world in the middle of a pandemic. It was frustrating at times and not the easiest of situations, but what it did was prepare me better for what we had to go through to go to Beijing earlier this year for the Winter Olympics.

When I look back, Tokyo was quite the unique experience in so many ways, mainly because of the pandemic. The venues around the city were completely empty, save for media, staff and volunteers. It was an eerie situation in so many ways. It was incredibly hot (perfect timing as the heat wave hits the northeast this week) and there was a lot of sweating going on. But it was my first time seeing the Summer Olympics and I came away with a new appreciation for the Summer Games. The Winter Olympics have always been my favorite, but I really enjoyed the athletic accomplishments I saw in Tokyo and am seriously considering another trip to the Summer Games. I got to see the great Katie Ledecky compete in person and I got to see the final Olympic performances for Allyson Felix, one of the greatest track athletes of all time. I saw a UNH alum and a former competitor on the courses at Kennett, Kingswood and Plymouth run for Team USA. I missed out on Simone Biles, but got to see a gold medal performance from Jade Carey. I saw the US win gold medals in women's and men's basketball, women's beach volleyball and women's water polo in the final days of my time in Tokyo.

And of course, I got to be part of my first Olympic ceremony when I attended the Closing Ceremonies and got to see the pomp and circumstance for the first time. Since then, I have seen the Opening Ceremonies and Closing Ceremonies in Beijing, but that ceremony in Tokyo will always be the first one for me.

I know that I can look back at any time (thanks to the iPhone photo gallery), but it is still cool to see just what I was doing one year ago on the other side of the world.

The Rainbow Bridge in Tokyo was a great setting for what ended up being my first event at the Summer Olympics last year.

Full throttle … or maybe not quite full throttle

This piece previously appeared in Salmon Press Newspapers.

I’m putting my foot to the floor, riding inches from the ground as I get up to speed and enter the race track, my heart pounding and a voice in my ear telling me to move up and get between the lines. The number eight Budweiser Monte Carlo, long a fixture of Dale Earnhardt, Jr., is now carrying a guy who barely fit through the window and is super happy he took his blood pressure medication earlier in the day.

That being said, as the car circled the track, with my foot hammering down coming out of turns two and four looking to pick up speed on the straightaways, the thrill was real. It felt like I was flying. In reality, I was probably going about the speed I do on Interstate 93 when I’m heading to Littleton to cover a basketball game.

A little backstory.

A few years ago, I was in the media center at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when someone came in and asked if anyone wanted to take a ride in the pace car. It seemed like a great opportunity and I took advantage. I did it again the next year as well and it was a blast, riding inches from the wall at speeds over 100 miles per hour. As a fan of NASCAR, it was great to see just how the cars hit the track and how hard it is to drive at those speeds, never mind with three-dozen-plus others banging alongside you trying to get ahead. It was one of the coolest moments of my journalism career.

This year, I decided to take it to another level and spend my time behind the wheel of a NASCAR car as the NHMS Media Challenge made its annual stop at the speedway ahead of next month’s NASCAR weekend. The Rusty Wallace Racing Challenge brings stock cars to the track and lets people get behind the wheel and see how they fare. The media relations department at NHMS invites the media to come out and give it a try and this was my first attempt at getting behind the wheel (and hopefully not my last).

My goal going in was to not wreck the car and not be the slowest person out there. Much to my surprise, I succeeded in both goals, though when the official results were announced, I was a bit disappointed in my overall effort.

The group of media members gathered in them media center as we were given lessons in what to do (stay between the lines on the track) and what not to do (don’t downshift). The guy giving the presentation made it sound pretty simple, but deep inside, I was thinking to myself that was not going to be the case. He went over all the necessary safety information, told us what to do if we felt the car getting away from us (don’t try to correct it, just turn left) and when and where to hit the gas and let off the throttle.

They then led us to the garage area, where we had to don our firesuits. As a short guy with a larger stomach, the XXL worked in the stomach area but was a bit long in the legs, but it would have to do the trick. We got to choose helmets and they led us to Victory Lane, where we had our pictures taken and got driver introductions.

Then we got to do a ride-along, with the professional drivers showing us what we needed to do. My driver punched the gas right out of pit road and we were off. It was like the pace car ride a few years earlier, but even faster. We did a few quick laps and then it was time to get in my own car.

I brought along photographer RC Greenwood, who does a great job helping us cover sports in the Lakes Region. The photos accompanying this story are his, as he followed me around and got some great shots. As we walked toward the row of cars lined up, I said to him I was kind of hoping for one of the Dale Jr. cars (there was an 88 and the old Budweiser 8 car). 

As luck would have it, I got the 8 car. Once the staffer helped me squeeze through the window and got me all buckled in, they did a test of the ear piece (we had a spotter watching us the entire way). He then fired up the engine and told me to move down pit road and wait for the go-ahead from the spotter.

Now, going in, I thought we would be on the track by ourselves, but this was not the case. As I got on the speedway, there were a couple of other media members driving and also the professionals still giving the ride-alongs. As I pulled out onto the track coming out of turn two, my spotter said “ride-along car coming on your right, stay in your lane,” and sure enough, the car went flying by seconds later.

I put in my laps, getting a little more comfortable each time around the track before the spotter told me the checkered flag was out and it was time to bring it in. While I was well aware I was not the fastest person out there, I felt like I was moving right along and had done pretty well.

I was definitely mistaken. While I had achieved my goals of not crashing and not being the slowest, I was way down the list. My best lap time was 57.671 seconds, which translates to an average speed of just over 66 mph. I was certainly going faster on the straightaways, but need to punch the gas a little more next time. Kudos to the great Justin McIsaac for his top-10 finish and Jon Decker from the Laconia Daily Sun for beating my times.

While I was a little disappointed, this was an amazing experience and I’m hopeful to do it again in the coming years.

If you want to see the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series in action in person (they will be driving faster than I did), visit NHMS.com for ticket information for the NASCAR weekend, coming July 15-17. And check out some of the cool exclusive food offerings (the cheeseburger poutine and frozen hot chocolate shake were delicious) NHMS is offering for the NASCAR weekend.

And remember, race weekend is bound to be more exciting than me putting around the track for a few laps.

A few photos from my driving experience at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, thanks to photographer RC Greenwood.

Time for an update

It's been more than two months since my last blog post. Obviously, this blog focuses on the Olympics and my experiences covering the Games as a local sports reporter. During the time between the Olympics, most of my life is devoted to covering high school sports across the Lakes Region of New Hampshire and north through Franconia Notch.

That job keeps me more than busy, with games just about every day and tons of stories to be written. The past few months have been filled with trips to baseball, softball, lacrosse, tennis and track competitions all around the state. While there has been nothing that is comparable to the Olympics, in many ways, my normal life is much busier than the two or three weeks that I spend in foreign countries every couple of years.

However, this week there were a couple of noteworthy Olympic announcements and I found them both to be interesting in a few ways.

The first announcement was the 800-day mark to the Paris Olympics in the summer of 2024. I have yet to make a decision as to whether I want to apply for credentials for the next Summer Olympics. If I had never been to Paris, I think it would have been a no-brainer for me to take this chance to go to these Olympics just to see the city. However, back in 2001-2002, I spent a few days in the city and saw many of the famous sights. That being said, the city has changed a lot and I am sure it would still be pretty cool to see it again.

Adding to that was the announcement made last year that the Paris opening ceremonies were going to take place on the river in the middle of the city, making it the most unique opening ceremonies in Olympic history. How can you not see that if you have the chance? I have to say I am intrigued and all the hype put out there by Paris 2024 has me leaning toward applying for those credentials when that opportunity comes around next year.

The other announcement was an article I read on the Olympic web site about the usage of former Olympic venues. I have always been interested in what happens to many of the venues that are used in the Olympics. Perhaps the most famous photos of former facilities is that of the sliding center in Sarajevo, which was badly damaged in the Bosnian war in the years following those 1984 Olympics. 

The report, commissioned by the IOC, found that 85 percent of all permanent venues used in the Olympics since 1896 and 92 percent of the permanent venues used for the Olympics in the 21st century still remain in use. A couple key points from the report state that, the percentage of new permanent venues (those built for the Games) and existing permanent venues (those which already existed when the host city/territory was selected to host the Games) that are still in use is similar (87 and 83 percent respectively), 87 percent of the complex venues, such as stadiums, Olympic Villages, swimming pools, velodromes, ski jumping hills, sliding centers and ice hockey stadiums, are still in use and the proportion of temporary venues has evolved over time. These account for 16 (early 20th century), nine (mid-20th century), seven (late 20th century), and 14 percent (21st century) of venues respectively. Of the 15 percent of permanent venues not in use, the majority were unbuilt or demolished for a variety of reasons: some reached their end of life, some were destroyed during a period of war or in accidents, while others gave way to new urban development projects. Only 35 venues – or four percent of all 817 permanent venues – are closed, inactive or abandoned.

That is pretty impressive and the number is much higher than I expected. Obviously, many of the venues that are used for the Olympics are temporary venues, constructed for the Olympics with the anticipation of being returned to their former use. The most prominent one for me was the Jeongseon Alpine Center in Korea, which was carved out of the mountains outside PyeongChang, but was dismantled and returned to its forested state when the Olympics ended.

The story is available here: https://olympics.com/ioc/news/new-report-shows-85-per-cent-of-all-permanent-olympic-venues-still-in-use?fbclid=IwAR1MnIssMoR73qvqxLKE6ANi9TuV3Hrv-UFAQVltMq1VdRsLNN9mPESeuok

So, there's an update on things, both Olympic-wise and otherwise. Soon enough it will be time to start thinking about those Paris Olympics.

The Olympic web site has an interesting report about the post-Olympic usage of Olympic venues. (IOC photo)

Olympic rankings ... Part two

Near the end of the Tokyo Olympics last summer, I offered up my rankings for the three Olympic experiences I had under my belt at that point. With Beijing officially in the rearview, I have added Beijing into the rankings, which are below.

Transportation

PyeongChang, Sochi, Beijing, Tokyo

Tokyo was last on this list because of the one hub to get anywhere. Beijing also had the one hub within the city, but there was another hub located near the alpine venue and there were buses operating between venues in certain places, which was convenient. Beijing touted the high speed train as a plus, and to get to the Zhangjiakou (biathlon, freestyle skiing, XC skiing, ski jumping), it was great, but to get to Yanqing (alpine, sliding) it wasn't as efficient. The long distances between the venue clusters was also not conducive to people trying to see many things. PyeongChang wins this category for its very efficient system.

 

Food

Beijing, PyeongChang, Tokyo, Sochi

Tokyo did a good job in incorporating food that just about everyone could eat and the same could be said for Beijing. The Main Media Center dining hall featured a lot of choices (including the now infamous robot-delivered entrees) with something for everyone. In the mountain media center, there was a restaurant with a great buffet and a Pizza Hut. And the venue media centers featured a couple of decent options. Obviously, we couldn't venture outside the Olympic zone to try other places, there was plenty of chances to find food that was palatable, even to me. Sochi’s one saving grace was the McDonald’s in the media center, while PyeongChang pulled in second for its incredible media dining hall that featured just about anything you could want.

 

Lodging

Tokyo, Beijing, Sochi, PyeongChang

Tokyo got the slight edge here. The advantage of staying in existing hotels is that we get the amenities of those hotels. My hotel was not a five-star resort by any stretch of the imagination, but they served a solid breakfast, I had a dedicated internet connection for just my room, they gave us a cleaning schedule so we knew when housekeeping would be in our rooms and the bed was comfortable. Beijing was much the same. My hotel was an upgrade in many regards, with a bigger room, more breakfast options and room service and restaurant options. The downfall was the internet, as my room's internet didn't allow access to social media and many other sites and almost nobody spoke English. Sochi is third here because I had my own room and that is a plus for me. In PyeongChang, I shared an apartment (I went with the cheapest option available) and while my roommates were nice, I like having some place to myself.

 

Media Center

Sochi, Tokyo, Beijing, PyeongChang

In this category, any of the four could have been first or could have been last. It’s really a toss-up. I put Sochi first because it was just a gorgeous building, built brand new and had just about everything we could need, including a gym, a post office, lots of food options and more. Tokyo, Beijing and PyeongChang all put their media centers in existing facilities and they are nice and also contained everything we needed to do our jobs. I am pretty sure there are people that come to the Olympics and never leave the media center and it is possible to do your job here without leaving. Beijing's facility was quite nice on four different floors, the downside being that the general store and Beijing 2022 stores were routinely out of products.

 

Press kits

PyeongChang, Beijing, Tokyo, Sochi

The press kits are free “kits” handed out to media members on arrival. If you want to appeal to the media, the word “free” is just about the pinnacle of what you can do. These press kits are a backpack with stuff we can use. All four have contained the media handbook, and each one has included small tokens of the host country. PyeongChang takes the cake on the backpack alone. NorthFace was a sponsor of the Olympics that year and the media backpacks were NorthFace. In Tokyo, our backpacks were Asics, so also solid quality.The advantage to PyeongChang is because their backpacks contain a lot of small pockets and space to store small things and the Tokyo one has just one pocket inside to store things, which isn’t ideal. Beijing edged out Tokyo for that reason, as it also has the necessary pockets and areas to store things.

 

Wi-Fi

Tokyo, PyeongChang, Beijing, Sochi

In 2014, I had a hard time connecting to the Internet while my laptop was plugged into an ethernet cord in the Sochi media center. In 2018, wireless access was prevalent just about everywhere and the experience was much better for me. In 2021, I didn't find many places where internet was not available. All the buses we rode had free wi-fi, the media wi-fi network seemed to cover the entire venue area when you’re out and about and the hotel room had dedicated wi-fi for my room. Beijing was probably pretty even with PyeongChang, with access available in all of the venues, the media centers and the buses. The reason Beijing falls just below PyeongChang is because the hotel internet was so restrictive (as noted above). Beijing 2022 did provide a spot in the lobby where we could use the same internet we had in the media center.

So, there you have it. My rankings, completely and utterly unscientific and not at all based in anything but opinion.

The Main Media Center in Beijing.

Reflecting on Beijing, a week later

It's been a week since my third Winter Olympic experience came to a close and I began the trip home from Beijing. 

Since I've been back, I've had a lot of people asking what the experience was like and I think the word I've used to describe it has been 'different.' For the most part, while this was my third Winter Olympics, it's more comparable to my first Summer Olympics, which took place last summer in Tokyo. The main reason is obviously the COVID precautions that enveloped both of these Olympic experiences. 

Like in Tokyo, Beijing was restricted on where we could go as media. We were allowed to go to our hotels, the media centers in both Beijing and Zhangjiakou and the numerous venues where the events took place. This means that we were unable to venture out into the city that we were visiting and see the many sights that are to be seen. I saw a lot of the city and the outlying area through the windows of the many buses I traveled on and the high speed train that traveled between the Olympic zones, but the incredibly beauty that lies throughout the city of Beijing and around was not really available to us, which was disappointed. 

However, the biggest difference between the two different experiences in regards to the COVID restrictions was that we did not need to have the three-day quarantine in Beijing as we did in Tokyo upon arrival. As soon as my airport COVID test came back negative, I was free to move about the closed loop system and leave the hotel.

This time around, there was also a lot more security involved. Just to leave the hotel, we passed through a security gate inside the hotel and the bus had to go through two different gates just to get into the hotel parking lot and out again. The bus took us directly to the Main Media Center, where the bus passed through another security screening. This process took place every time we left the Media Center area to go to venues, we'd pass through security and then pass through again at the venue.

When it comes to comparing Beijing to the other Winter Olympics I've experienced, there was one definite obvious comparison and that was the lack of snow. For the most part, the events that took place on snow were surrounded by areas not covered in snow. We did get a nice snowstorm in the first week that helped to coat the area in white, from Beijing all the way up to the mountains, giving the area the feel of the Winter Olympics. But, for the most part, there were plenty of places where there was no snow.

All being told, I am most certainly glad I went and had this experience. It's a bummer that the flight to Beijing was so expensive, making this the most expensive Olympic experience I've had, but overall, I can't complain. I got the chance to see a country that I likely never will get to see again. I got to see some athletes with local connections compete on the largest stage in the world. And I got to experience my first opening ceremonies after three Olympics where I missed my chance to do that.

This past summer I ranked my Olympic experiences in a number of different areas and now that I've wrapped up Beijing and am back to the real world, I'll probably take some time and add Beijing to those rankings.

Beijing was different. It was an unusual Olympic experience in many ways. But, overall, it was an experience I am glad I got the chance to have. Two COVID Olympics in the course of eight months is nothing to shake a head at.

The Beijing Winter Olympics officially wrapped up for me a week ago. Without a doubt it was a different experience, but one I am glad I had.

Just another fun airport experience

I really thought the hardest part about the trip home from China would be the airport in Beijing. I had no problems coming through Paris on the way over, but I guess they were waiting for me to be on the way home to throw all the roadblocks up.

Before I left China, I booked an appointment for a COVID test at the testing facility in the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. I made the appointment for 7 a.m. figuring I had plenty of time to make everything work before my 1 p.m. flight, even if things went wrong. I was concerned about finding the testing facility, but a quick look at the map pointed me in the right direction and I got there before 6 a.m. That was the good part.

Once the doors opened, they were looking for a QR code that I didn't seem to have. Thanks to a lot of help from Tamara Lovelace (fluent in French) before I left China, I had been able to input all of my information into the system and figured that was all I needed to do. However, the guy at the security line to get into the testing facility wanted the QR code and no matter how hard I tried to register for it on my phone, it kept rejecting it. And the guy was no help at all. He kept telling me everyone else was here first and they were allowed to go (they weren't there first) and he wouldn't tell me what I was doing wrong. 

Finally I must have complained enough that he let me in and told me to wait at a desk. Thankfully, the guy inside was much more friendly and helpful. Once I explained my situation, he looked me up on the computer and found that I did indeed have an appointment and helped me get the information I needed to move forward. I was able to pay and wait in line to get the test and within 15 minutes, the results were done and that part of the journey was over.

From there, I went to go through security only to have the guy in the line tell me that my carry-on, which had gone from China to France with me the previous day, was all of a sudden too heavy. I understand there's weight limits, but how could the bag be fine one day and not the next when there was nothing new in it at all. So, after that wonderful discussion that nobody could provide me an answer to, I had to go check my carry-on. That line was a nightmare, with only one person available to help a very long line of customers. I let a family of four and another woman go in front of me because they had flights in an hour and I had a few hours to wait. Finally, I was able to check my carry-on, which is not ideal, but I didn't really have a choice. Apparently the suitcase gained weight overnight.

Then, just to make matters fun, when I got through security, my backpack was sent to the screener for some reason and with my luck, I got stuck behind somebody who had apparently bought out the entire duty-free store somewhere and had to have every single item checked. 

What is it about return trips from the Olympics that makes everything go haywire? I really thought that China would be the problem, but instead, it's Paris causing all the trouble, just as it was Canada last summer. Now it's just a few more hours until my flight. We'll see how that goes.

The Paris airport experience has been a joyful one this time around... Really, it has.

The long way home

It sure felt like more than eight hours. Probably because it was. But on the clock, it was a mere eight hours since I left Beijing.

However, in reality, I had spent more than 15 hours on a plane. 

My Air France flight took off from Beijing at 10 a.m. and for some strange reason, had to go to Seoul, South Korea first. So we flew more than an hour in the wrong direction, stopped at the Incheon Airport for more than an hour where we couldn't get off the plane. Then took off again and flew back over Beijing and then all the way to France. We arrived in Paris just before 6 p.m.

The airport process in Beijing was quite simple, which was a surprise. We were greeted at the airport by volunteers/staff, once again all dressed in the hazmat suits. They directed us to the proper lines we needed to be in to check our baggage and then we passed through security. Because these areas were reserved for just Olympic traffic, the process was pretty quick, then it was just sitting around waiting for a few hours for the plane.

The flight was uneventful, just really long. On the plus side, I got a lot of podcasts listened to and slept a little, but by the time I got to Paris, I was ready to crash again. Sleeping on an airplane with a mask on is not exactly the most comfortable sleep you can get.

While my flight doesn't take off until 1 p.m. tomorrow, I have a 7 a.m. COVID test scheduled at the airport. I am hopeful I can find the testing facility, since the US requires a test 24 hours before your flight and all the tests I took in Beijing will not be valid by tomorrow afternoon.

Until then, I think it's time for a little food and then some sleep... in a bed.

The sun was setting when we landed in Paris after the long flight from Beijing (through Seoul).

Picked up pieces

Some picked up pieces as I sit in the media center the day after the Olympics ended, finishing up sending all the stuff for this week's papers before flying out early tomorrow morning.

The closing ceremonies were great. The good news was it wasn't as cold as it was during the opening ceremonies, or at least it felt that way. Things were wrapped up in a couple of hours, it was great to see the video preview of Milan-Cortina for the 2026 Winter Olympics and there was plenty of pomp and circumstance as the Olympic flame was extinguished and the Olympic flag was passed along from Beijing to Milan-Cortina. Those Italian Olympics are something I am really looking forward to in four years.

Without a doubt, the people that make the Olympics go are the volunteers and/or workers. They are everywhere, from running the bus depot in front of the Main Media Center to staffing the help desks inside, from cleaning seemingly everywhere, all the time to moving foot traffic in the right direction at all of the venues. They were all incredibly friendly and seemed to always be smiling (at least it seemed so, under their masks) and did their best to understand and work with the foreigners who have invaded their country. 

I noticed the other day that there were small pieces of tape of some kind on all of the fixtures in the bathroom in the Main Media Center. I noticed it again in the Olympic Stadium bathrooms as well and thought it was kind of weird. Then it hit me. The tape was placed over the logo for the company that built the fixtures since they weren't a sponsor of the Olympics. I learned that the same thing applied to the KFC in the Mountain Media Center. Evidently, there are KFC restaurants in the Olympic Villages that serve the athletes and officials, but the one in the media center was closed. That had to do with the sponsors, since KFC pours Pepsi products and Coke is a major Olympic sponsor. The restaurants in the villages sell Coke in bottles instead of the Pepsi products that normal KFCs sell.

It was weird to pull into the Main Media Center on the bus this morning and see the bus depot mostly empty. The place is usually packed with buses and people on a normal morning. With no contests going on, the buses to the venues aren't running and it's just the hotel buses. And with fewer people left working, even those buses are not running as frequently. In the same vein, the media center and the dining room are operating on limited hours. It's a sign that it's time to leave.

The hotel where I am staying definitely has some positives and negatives. First and foremost, the room is bigger than my room in the hotel in Tokyo and is quite comfortable. There is plenty of room to do work if needed. The hotel restaurant where we have our breakfast in the morning seems to have plenty of choices, both for sit-down and for room service. And as mentioned earlier, there are plenty of options for breakfast. The laundry service has also been good, with clothes returned pretty quickly. However, it seems that nobody at the desk speaks English, which makes things difficult when trying to communicate about anything. However, there are more positives than negatives in regards to the hotel.

The time is coming to an end here in Beijing. It has been an adventure, but the time is right to head home. Look for a little more analysis coming soon.

The KFC in the mountain media center has been closed the entire Olympics.

And now, the end is near

I am sitting in the press tribute of the Bird's Nest Stadium, site of the Closing Ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics. It's about four hours before they start and there is rehearsals and general milling around on the stadium floor in front of me.

It's been an interesting, intriguing and incredible two-plus weeks on the other side of the world, but that time is slowly drawing to a close. 

Like for the Opening Ceremonies back on Feb. 3, I took an early bus to the stadium and arrived well ahead of when I needed to, partly to avoid the crowds and partly because I just wanted to get out of the media center. Unlike with the opening ceremonies, I didn't even bother sitting down in the venue media center, instead opting to head down and find a seat in the press tribune to watch the proceedings going on in the lead-up to the ceremonies.

It is decidedly warmer than it was the night of the opening ceremonies when I stayed inside to keep from freezing. So far, I haven't dug out the winter hat or mittens from my bag, but they are there when the time comes. Again, Beijing 2022 provided us with cushions for the seats, which have been a nice addition as they were in the opening ceremonies.

This past summer, I sat in a very similar place as the Tokyo Olympics drew to a close and was at the same time preparing for these Beijing Games, as the paperwork and the processing had already begun at that point. As I sit here ready to close out the Beijing experience, the process for the next Olympics has not started yet. However, they are showing clips of Milan-Cortina's promo video that will be shown to close out the ceremonies and I have to admit, I am already seriously excited about that possibility.

Now, those who know me know that I prefer the Winter Olympics to the Summer Olympics, if only because of the sports offered. While baseball is my favorite sport, I love watching alpine and freestyle skiing and snowboarding and ice hockey, so those sports really draw me into the Winter Olympics. And, we tend to have more local connections in the Winter Games. I have been to Italy before, but I have never been up into the Alps, where the snow sports will take place in 2026 and the possibility of covering an Olympics in a traditional winter setting is intriguing. Sochi, PyeongChang and Beijing have not been your traditional winter destinations, so if the opportunity is there in four years to make that trek, you can bet I will be there.

As for the next Olympics, that's still a question mark in my mind. Heading into Tokyo's final days, I was convinced that Paris 2024 was not going to be high on my list of things to do. The closing ceremony presentation that Paris presented really piqued my interest and as of right now, I still haven't made that decision. I will have to start thinking about it soon, however, as the process for credentialing will be starting sooner rather than later.

But for now, time to enjoy the closing ceremonies. And almost time to put on the winter hat.

National Stadium is quiet as preparations are under way for the closing ceremonies.

Good things happening back home

It's the final day of the Beijing Winter Olympics and I am sitting in the Main Media Center getting a bunch of writing done and preparing to go to the Closing Ceremonies in a few hours. I still have one more story to get done before then.

While it's been a busy week here in China, it has also been a busy week at home and there are a lot of things to celebrate for the teams I cover.

The alpine skiing championship week is one of my favorite weeks of the year since I usually just spend the week out covering meets here and there. While that has gotten tougher over the last few years with the addition of so many schools to my plate and the meets mostly being held on the same day, it's still a lot of fun and unfortunately, when I go to the Olympics, it always falls during the time I'm away.

This year, I missed plenty of success, as the Plymouth girls won the Division III alpine championship and the Bobcat boys came in second place. The Kennett girls won the Division II championship and the Kennett ski jumpers finished as the state (and national) runners-up. The Profile boys and girls both won the Division IV championships. To close out the week, the Plymouth wrestling team won the Division III title and the Winnisquam wrestlers came in second, their first team trophy for the wrestling program ever. There were also plenty of individual championships won at those meets as well.

Thankfully, I have a lot of great coaches and parents who have provided me with the necessary information along with photos to help cover the events in our local newspapers. North Conway photographer Joe Viger shared some photos of the Division II championships at Cranmore, Plymouth coach Dan Leblanc shared some photos of his team's success, both his own and some from his parents, Belmont coach Kevin Charleston shared a photo of his top racer in action, Profile athletic director Jack Bartlett shared photos of his alpine teams celebrating their championships and Winnisquam AD John Larsen and coach Tom Osmer shared photos of the wrestling team's exciting performance. 

And so many coaches shared their results as the weeks went along while I was away, helping me to stay up to date and also keep readers up to date.

Covering the Olympics is great, but I also miss a lot of good stuff back home. Soon enough it will be back to the regular grind. But for now, I'll enjoy my time here while it lasts.

Beijing's Olympic Tower will be the background for another day or so, then it's time to head home.

Getting past the frustration

Today was one of those frustrating days at the Olympics. It wasn't a bad day, just things didn't go the way I had planned or was hoping for them to go and that's always frustrating.

I caught the 7 a.m. bus from the Main Media Center toward Yanqing with hopes of catching the alpine team event, as Mikaela Shiffrin would be skiing one more time and I thought it would be nice to see her race again and also see a bunch of the other skiers I hadn't had the chance to ski.

Last night the announcement had gone out on the myInfo web site that journalists have access to for results and announcements, that the start of the race, originally slated for 11 a.m., was going to be moved up an hour to 10 a.m. Leaving at 7 a.m. left me plenty of time to take the two buses needed plus the three tram rides to the technical finish area.

The buses were on time and I hopped on the first tram that brings us from the base area to the speed finish area. However, once we got there, we couldn't get on the second tram, as it was not running. So, I had to cram onto a bus and make the trek up the mountain further. The driver didn't seem to have a great idea where he was supposed to go, but eventually, after lots of yelling from a passenger who spoke Chinese, we got to the technical finish area. By that time, the race had already been postponed by an hour back to the original start time.

I set up in the press workroom and listened as the wind howled around us outside. I got some stories written on the Division IV girls' alpine championships back in New Hampshire while the announcement came over the speaker that the race would be delayed again, until at least noon. Before noon there was another announcement, telling everyone that the event was postponed, with a makeup to be determined. 

By this time, the middle tram of the three we needed to get up and down, was running, so I took the three trams down to the base area and had a nice talk with a couple of people who work on the technology side of the Olympics, including setting up the myInfo site that we use. From the base, I took another bus down to the parking lot where I waited for yet another bus to get me back to the media center. A total of more than four hours on buses and nothing to show for it.

By the time I got back to the media center, it was announced that the team alpine race was rescheduled until Sunday morning at 9 a.m. My immediate thought was I was going to head up. However, after looking at the bus schedule, it became apparent that it was not happening.

So, I am sitting at the bronze medal women's curling match, a match I have no real interest in, but I wanted to do something, so here I am. It looks like tomorrow will be a trip to the men's hockey gold medal game and the closing ceremonies. Monday is looking like a lot of finishing writing and preparing for the trip home, which comes early on Tuesday.

Frustrating days happen sometimes. You just have to move on.

The best part of the day was getting to ride the tram again at the alpine venue.

A local hero?

A lot has been made of Eileen Gu and her decisions leading up to the Olympics here in Beijing. Nobody can question the young woman's abilities and talent, as she is one of the best freestyle skiers out there and proved it by winning two gold medals and one silver medal, the first freestyle skier to ever win three medals in one Olympics.

And wherever she competes here in Beijing, she draws a crowd. As I boarded the bus this morning at the Main Media Center bound for the train station, there wasn't room for one more person. I was confused as the mass exodus to the train station until I heard a couple of British guys next to me mention that Eileen Gu was skiing. Many of the people on the bus were workers who likely had the day off and were going to the event to see her ski.

Like the bus, the train also had the most people I've ever seen on it and when I got to the venue, in addition to the many people inside the closed loop with us, there were a large number of fans in the stands. 

This marks the second time I have seen Eileen compete, the first being in the Big Air at Shougang last week and there was a hearty crowd there too. Her face is all over the promotional billboards and other signage promoting the Olympics and she is obviously the face of these Games. And it's easy to understand why. 

What has garnered a lot of attention, at least to a few people who I talk with back in the United States, is her decision to compete for China instead of the United States. Eileen's mother is Chinese, but her father is American, she was born in America, grew up there and learned to ski there. She is enrolled to go to Stanford in the fall. Everything about her is American, except for her mother's nationality.

Now, I understand that the rules allow you to compete for a different country and I respect her right to make the choice of which country to represent. She has Chinese heritage, she's proud of it and that's just fine.

But I must admit, it surprises me just how much traction she gets here in Beijing, especially given that she is not technically from China. But the people here seem to love her and give her huge ovations when she competes (and medals).

She has said on many occasions that she looked at these Olympics as a chance to showcase winter sports to the Chinese people, opening up a lane to snow sports that she said might not have already been there. Her goal was to inspire young Chinese girls to follow in her footsteps and choose skis and snowboards. That is an admirable goal.

And it's understandable, that in the United States there are already plenty of role models in the winter sports to look up to. People like Jamie Anderson, Brita Sigourney and the like have made a name for women in the winter freestyle sports and maybe Eileen's choice was to try to be like them, but for the Chinese people.

Obviously, only she knows what she is thinking and why she made the decisions she did, but there's one thing that is undeniable. She is talented. The skiing I witnessed was incredible and no matter who she is representing, she is going to represent well.

There were tons of people at the halfpipe this morning to see Eileen Gu (and others) compete.

An emotional afternoon

For the second day in a row, a stinging defeat. 

The gold medal for women's hockey was awarded today in Beijing and as has been the case each time said medal has been distributed but once (Torino), the gold medal game featured the United States against Canada. The United States won the original gold medal in Nagano in 1998 and won the most recent in 2018 in PyeongChang, but in between, Canada had taken every one of the gold medals.

When the puck dropped on today's game at Wukesong Sports Center, I was sitting above the US goalie in the press tribune hoping for an upset. The Canadians had beaten the Americans in the only previous matchup between the two teams in these Beijing Olympics and I was hoping for a repeat of PyeongChang, with New Hampton School graduate Cayla Barnes and her teammates coming out with the win.

As most everyone knows by now, that did not happen. The Canadians got out to a 3-0 lead and then withstood an American rally that saw them score two goals in the final period but they couldn't get the tying goal and Canada took the 3-2 win to reclaim the gold medal.

When the Americans won the gold medal in PyeongChang, I was standing in the mixed zone at the alpine venue waiting for an interview (with either Mikaela Shiffrin or Lindsey Vonn I am sure). I was following the game on my phone with just about everyone else in that US media corral when the US won in a shootout to clinch the gold. It was an exciting moment, even for us miles away in a remote alpine ski area.

So this time, being much closer to it, it was also set to be an exciting moment. But, it wasn't quite the excitement that we as Americans were looking for. Instead of the tears of happiness as gold medals were draped around their necks, it was tears of wondering what could've been had one bounce gone the other way. 

You had to feel for them as the cameras focused on the Canadians celebrating at the other end of the ice. The processes that all the athletes have had to go through just to get to these Olympics, be it due to COVID or any other factor, is immense and when it all comes to a sudden end like it did today for the Americans, there's just a release of pressure, a release of emotions and it results in emotions coming to the surface.

To their credit, the women came out to the mixed zone after the game and spoke to the press, most of them still fighting back emotions. They didn't make excuses and didn't back down from the questions. 

The team was full of women who are class acts. It was a great run and while they didn't win the gold, they are still winners in a lot of books. And here's betting these women, like the team has done many times through the years, have inspired more and more young women to get out on the ice and play hockey.

The victory ceremony for women's hockey featured Canada taking the gold, US taking the silver and Finland winning the bronze.

The sting

After watching the American men's hockey team play in their first two games in person and then the third on the television in the media center, I had a pretty good feeling about the team's chances in the tournament when it began today.

I should know better than to trust my feelings. They are rarely right.

I had an interview this afternoon and then had to catch a bus to the train station to make it up to the mountain zone, so I wasn't at the game, but I was in the Main Media Center watching from the second period on. It really looked like the Americans were going to pull out a close win over Slovakia and move on to the semifinals.

But, as we all know by now, that didn't happen. A bad bounce that was tipped past the US goaltender in the final minute of the game sent the two teams to overtime and then to penalty shots before the Slovakian team was able to get one by in the fifth round of the shootout, ending the American team's Olympics a bit too early.

This is a similar result to what the team had in 2018 in PyeongChang, but this one seemed to hurt a little more because it seems, after going undefeated in pool play including an impressive win over Canada, the US team was on a roll, playing well and ready to take the tournament by storm. The win over Canada was particularly impressive, given that it had been so long since a US team had done that.

But, like with the alpine skiing that I wrote about earlier in these Olympics, all it takes is one bad bounce and things can go the wrong way. No goalie is perfect, just as no skier is perfect. No matter how good a goalie is playing, the puck can find its way by at any time and if you don't have enough offense to put a few more on the board than the other team, you could find yourself on the wrong end of the scoreboard.

So, the Americans go home without a medal. Again. I really felt like this team had that "Miracle on Ice" feel to it, a group of young underdogs (for the most part anyway) going into a tournament with nothing to lose. The difference might be that those underdogs back in Lake Placid in 1980 had been playing together for a while. They had scrimmaged, they had practiced and they were a cohesive unit by the time the Olympics rolled around. This year's group only had a short period of time to get together and figure each other out once the NHL decided it wasn't letting its players compete in the Olympics.

Nonetheless, the sting is real. It's disappointing. But that's life and that's sports. Anything can happen on any given day.

And I should remember to not trust my feelings.

The US-Canada men's hockey game was a big win for the Americans, but they stumbled in the quarterfinals.

Getting around

Before I left for Beijing, I put together a schedule that I hoped I would be able to follow while I was here. I knew that things would probably have to change here and there, but the schedule I put together had me seeing a lot of different sports and different venues.

Today, the plan was to head up to the alpine venue in Yanqing to see the women's downhill, but I was planning on leaving before the race ended so I could make my way back down the mountain and catch the long bus to Zhangjiakou to see Sean Doherty race in his final biathlon of these Olympics. And, the plan was to possibly get to aerials to see Eric Loughran compete in qualifying.

After catching a 7 a.m. bus, I eventually made it up the mountain to the alpine speed finish area and was checking the daily schedule and noticed that the biathlon had been changed to a 2:30 p.m. start. By the time I saw the change from the scheduled 5 p.m. start, it was too late to make the trip out of the mountains and back to the other mountain venue before the biathlon started.

So, I stayed at the alpine venue until the end of the race and had the chance to get in on an interview with Mikaela Shiffrin and then made my way down the mountain to the service area that serves as a transportation hub. From there, my plan was to take the cross-zone bus to the Genting Snow Park to see the aerials competition.

The bus arrived on time as planned at 3:30 p.m., only for us to discover that the back window had blown out of the bus, so they had to get a different bus, which put us more than 10 minutes behind the original schedule. And then we got the slowest driver in the world. We were on the highway the entire time and I find it hard to believe that we topped more than 45 miles an hour. At one point, I think an 89-year-old lady on her Jazzy scooter passed us on the right. It was the longest bus ride I have taken in my four Olympic experiences and not only was it long and slow, it was cold too, as there didn't seem to be any heat. 

We finally arrived at Genting Snow Park and got another slow driver that drove us up into the venue and I did get the chance to see Eric Loughran compete. The Loon Mountain skier then did me a huge favor and qualified for the finals on his first attempt, meaning I didn't have to stay for the second round of qualifying in the freezing cold and was able to get on the train at 8:50 p.m. instead of after 10 p.m.

When the transportation plans were first revealed for Beijing, we were told that transportation between zones was going to be pretty easy. I will say, from Beijing to Zhangjiakou is pretty easy, Beijing to Yanqing is a bit more difficult, but there are a couple of options. However, getting from Yanqing to Zhangjiakou is not easy and not fun. Thankfully, I don't think I have to do it again.

It was a chilly night at Genting Snow Park for aerials on Tuesday night.

Technology fun

In my two previous Winter Olympic experiences, I have spent a lot of time writing on buses. The buses between the ice venues and the mountain venues was somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour so I was able to get a little work done.

That didn't really apply to Tokyo, since most of the buses we were on were not the normal coach buses, but rather they are city buses, so it was a bit tougher to get work done on them. That is the same here in Beijing, as we move around the city on the buses like you would find on city streets. The exception is in the Yanqing district, where there are coach buses that bring us from the train station out to the service area and then up to the mountains are coach buses.

Today, in my quest to get to the mountains a bit earlier than the earlier train would allow, I got on the 7 a.m. cross zone bus, which leaves the media center and makes stops at the aforementioned service area and then goes on to Zhangjiakou further along. Since it was a longer bus ride than I have had this winter, I broke out the computer and worked on formatting some stories submitted for this week's papers. When I finished that I clicked on my web browser to check my personal e-mail and the like and I got no response. 

It appeared that Safari just kept quitting on me and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. I still had access to my work e-mail, which was the most important thing, since I had deadlines to meet, but it was incredibly frustrating trying to figure out the problem.

Our company tech guy had sent me a link to download Chrome as an updated browser, but without web access I couldn't do the download. I made an attempt to update my operating system and let it download while I was at the monobob competition. Once it all downloaded, it wouldn't allow me to open it on the hard drive because there wasn't enough room.

After another bus ride back to the media center and more frustration, including a talk with the tech people in the media center who were so baffled that they said I should contact Apple, I was able to delete a few things off the hard drive, enough that I was able to finally get the new operating system to upload. It was pushing it for time, however, as the update kept going and going and it was almost time to leave for the women's hockey game, which was taking place at Wukesong Sports Center, about half an hour from the media center.

I was able to get the 8:40 p.m. bus and got to the arena about five minutes after the game had already started. However, the good news was, that since you are reading this blog, the operating system update allowed me to once again use my web browser and get access to the blog and more. I am pretty sure it would've been a long week-plus without web access on my computer.

Computer problems made me a little late for the US-Finland women's hockey semifinal game.

The local ties

The first time I applied for Olympic credentials was for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. I did so under the impression that I probably wouldn't get them, but I thought it was be good to at least try. The whole idea, in my mind anyway, was to be able to cover local athletes that made it to the top of their sport and were competing in the Olympics.

Much to my surprise I was granted the credentials for what I thought was a once in a lifetime experience. The first athlete to be named to an Olympic team that I had covered was Kennett graduate Leanne Smith, who was on the Olympic alpine team in 2010 for Vancouver and again in 2014 for Sochi. I covered Leanne when she raced for Kennett as well as on the softball diamond and the soccer field, where she was a dominant athlete in addition to her skills on a ski slope.

The other local athlete that I ended up covering in Sochi was also a Kennett graduate. In fact, at the time, he had only been a graduate for less than a year. Sean Doherty made his Olympic debut on the US biathlon team at just 18, the youngest US Olympic biathlete to this point, competing on the relay teams in the mountains outside Sochi. Sean was a dominant Nordic skier for the Kennett program, which was a force to be reckoned with in those days.

Four years later, the chance to cover the Olympics came up again and I was in South Korea. This time, Leanne had retired from her ski racing career, but Sean was still there, competing in his second Olympics in the mountains outside of PyeongChang. I distinctly remember my first night in PyeongChang and the biting cold whipping through that biathlon stadium. I had forgotten my hat and had to go to the souvenir store at the venue and buy some earmuffs.

Now, four years later, here I am in Beijing, China, and Sean is back at it for his third Winter Olympics as well. Now he is one of the veteran members of the US biathlon squad, which features a couple of younger athletes making their Olympic debuts. I have now seen Sean race on four different occasions the last week-plus, starting with the relay, then in the individual and most recently on back-to-back days in the sprint and the pursuit. And through it all he has stopped and answered questions with thoughtful and insightful points, despite the blowing wind, cold and in the case of tonight, snow.

It has been a lot of fun getting to follow Sean's career from his days racing for Kennett to his Olympic races and getting to see local athletes make good on their athletic careers is always a real treat. 

Sean Doherty answers questions in the mixed zone following his first race of the Beijing Olympics.

Let's talk about food

After a couple days of the more serious side of the Olympics, today's post is going to look at something a little less serious... food.

I am a notoriously picky eater, so I like the fact that when I come to the Olympics, there is almost always an attempt at making foods that people from the western part of the world will be familiar with. It may not taste the same as it does at home, but usually it's something I can handle.

In my first two Olympic experiences, McDonald's was still an Olympic sponsor. There was a McDonald's in the Media Center in Sochi and one in the Olympic square in PyeongChang. That wasn't an option in Tokyo until after I had been there 14 days and was able to leave the bubble and explore Tokyo a little bit.

Now, there are plenty of McDonald's here in Beijing, I see them all the time from my bus window, but they are not available to us, since we are inside the closed loop and none of them are.

However, I have not struggled to find things to eat, which I have to admit, is a bit of a surprise.

As part of our accommodation package, our hotel provides breakfast for us and the choices are pretty impressive, as I stated in one of my earlier blogs. If I don't have to leave the hotel before 6 a.m., I always make sure to grab a large breakfast to help get me through the first part of the day.

The Main Media Center in Beijing features a media dining hall that has a lot of different choices. The first few days I didn't stray much from the French fries, chicken nuggets and clay pot rice that were cooked by robots. However, over the last few days, I've gone to a different station to try some fried rice and vegetables that lower from the ceiling. The whole thing is impressive, as the food comes from the kitchen on small robots running on tracks above the dining room. Your food is programmed to go to your table and then it puts the plate on a disc that lowers down to you so you can take your food. They also offer some other options there, but each time I've gone, they've been sold out of those options. There is also an area to get more traditional Chinese cuisine and an area to get what they call western cuisine, which is usually potatoes, vegetables and spaghetti of some sort.

The Zhangjiakou Press Center, located in the mountains near the Genting Snow Park, has a few different restaurants, including a Pizza Hut and a Kentucky Fried Chicken. The KFC has been closed but I have partaken in the pizza a couple of times. The menu is limited to just pepperoni and supreme pizzas, so I had to order my "pepperoni pizza without pepperoni" to get a cheese pizza. It was serviceable pizza, far from perfect, but not bad considering I was in a remote resort in China.

I hadn't gotten much food at the venue media centers in the first week, but tonight at the biathlon media center I tried some fried rice and it was pretty good. I was a bit shocked, since it's cooked in a temporary kitchen in a temporary building. 

And it should be mentioned that each media center, be it the main center or the venue ones, have a media lounge where there is usually some sort of free snacks, be it fruit, cookies or crackers and water.

So, there's no need to worry, I am not starving to death. Though I could afford to lose a few pounds.

This was my pepperoni pizza without pepperoni at the Pizza Hut in the Zhangjiakou Press Center.