It's time (or almost anyway)

I am sitting in the press work room at Beijing's National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. Just outside my window, rehearsals are going on for the Opening Ceremonies, which now start in less than five hours. 

Obviously, I got here more than five hours before the start of the ceremonies, so I must have been excited about something. First and foremost, we were advised to get here a little early to avoid overcrowding on later buses, but also, what does it hurt? I wasn't on the first bus out of the media center, but there was also no way I was going to be on the last bus. 

This has been a long time coming for me. I know I have told this story before, but I'm telling it again. In my Olympic newness back in 2014, I didn't even think about booking flights for earlier than the start of the Olympics and I was in the Moscow airport awaiting my flight to Sochi while watching the opening ceremonies on television. Four years later, I thought to myself, I would schedule an earlier flight and get there that day and have no worries. Of course, I didn't factor into that decision the long train ride from the airport in Seoul to PyeongChang and I watched the opening ceremonies as I was checking in to my media housing. At least that time, I was in the same city.

This summer, being my third Olympic experience, I told myself that I was going to make it to the opening ceremonies and booked my flight to land the day before they were scheduled. Then, COVID happened and I was forced to stay in my hotel room for three days upon arrival, meaning I had the Olympics on television again, this time in my hotel room in Tokyo.

So, as Pomp and Circumstance blares in the stadium outside my window and I harken back to my days playing that song over and over and over in high school and college, there is a little excitement because it's going to be something to see. Yes, it may be a subdued ceremony compared to the incredible pageantry Beijing organizers pulled off in 2008. And yes, it will probably be a little cold (I packed a hat and gloves), but it will be worth it for me. 

Yesterday I went in to the USOPC office in Beijing and visited with Bill Hancock, who got me my ticket to the opening ceremonies (and also met a guy who has a house in Conway and knew about the Kanc Ski Jump owned by Kennett High School), and then went to the media help desk and picked up another credential we needed. Last night before I went to my hotel room, I got my COVID test taken and just for safe keeping, did another one this morning when I got up. If we are negative, we don't get e-mails, so I have to assume all is good. And, my credentials let me in to the stadium and we were told if our tests were positive, we could not get in.

I'm psyched, in case you couldn't tell. The me who was on with Greg and the Morning Buzz yesterday was a little out of it and tired (like Roadkill said, I was talking into my shoe), but I woke up today feeling refreshed and it's been a solid day of getting around and getting acclimated. Now it's time for the opening ceremonies and I'm ready to go. Even if I still have a four and a half hour wait.

More than five hours before it starts, I was on site and ready for the opening ceremonies.