A whole new Olympic experience?

This blog has generally come alive around the Winter Olympics. Or at least when the credential applications and approvals for the Winter Olympics come into play.

However, as we sit in December of 2018, the next Winter Olympics, in Beijing, China in 2022, are a long way away. And the credential process is still more than a year and a half away. However, here we sit with a new post on the Olympics.

That’s because for the first time, I applied for credentials for the Summer Olympics, which will be held in the summer of 2020 in Tokyo, Japan. Having talked to many journalists who’ve covered multiple Olympics, the summer games not only feature more athletes and more events, but more journalists as well. Going into the process, I was not terribly high on my chances to receive credentials, but I figured just putting my name out there wouldn’t be a bad thing and if I didn’t get them, that was fine too.

A little more than a month ago I got a call on my office phone from Matt Pepin, the Boston Globe Sports Editor. I had the pleasure of meeting Matt in PyeongChang over the course of the Winter Olympics. He was truly one of the nicest guys you could possibly meet and he helped me make a few connections with local athletes that I wasn’t even aware of.

Anyway, Matt was calling to conduct my interview for the credential process. Prior to Sochi, my first Olympic experience in 2014, I was interviewed by a journalist from a newspaper in Buffalo. The idea is that experienced journalists do the interviews and pass along recommendations to the US Olympic Committee, which in turn assigns the credentials to members of the media. I spent some time talking to Matt and explained to him my situation and my plans. I was happy that Matt was my interviewer, since he had seen the work and hours I put in while in Korea and surely could convey that to the powers that be.

At the same time, I also made sure to tell him that I completely understood if I didn’t get credentials, since weekly newspapers are low on the list of priority for the credentials. He told me I’d hear by the end of the year.

Sure enough, just last week I received an e-mail from Peggy Manter of the US Olympic Committee, letting me know that the USOC had approved one credential for Salmon Press, meaning if I want it, I can be in Tokyo for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

I am excited for the opportunity, something that’s a little bit different. Instead of cold and windy, I have been told to expect hot and humid in Tokyo in July and August. But at the same time, there are a number of differences to deal with, something I learned when I downloaded the media manuals.

The first two Olympics I attended were in relatively “small” cities but this one will be in a huge metropolis. There will be no media village in which we all live, instead media will be housed in regular hotels around Tokyo. There will be the normal media transportation buses, but we will also get transit cards to use on the subway and trains, which from all accounts, are quite nice.

There is a little trepidation on my part, simply because I know the expense of attending the Olympics can be a bit much. However, I am also eager to see something totally different and to check out the Summer Olympics for once.

And I promise, if all goes as planned and I make the trip to Tokyo in 2020, I will take everyone along with me through stories, columns, blogs and photos.