The Olympics... and beyond

As accredited members of the media at the Olympics, our accreditation gets us in to almost all of the venues and events. This year, with COVID a major factor in things, the amount of space at each venue for media has been reduced, so we have to request access to the venue in advance. I have made all my requests for the time I am here and so far I have not had a single request denied, which I must say was kind of surprising. The fact that the stadiums have no fans has probably made things easier for us, since they have seemingly expanded the press tribune area to include more regular seats as needed. However, there are also events that are called "high demand events." This list includes all gymnastics medal events, all evening sessions for track and field, all medal sessions for swimming, tennis quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, men's basketball final, the handball semis and finals and the opening and closing ceremonies. In the Winter Olympics that I've been to, fi...

Today I took a ride out to the shooting venue here at the Tokyo Olympics, Asaka Shooting Range. It was a little less than an hour ride out to the range. I didn't really go there to cover anything in particular, but rather to see the venue, see a unique sport and maybe see some parts of Japan that I hadn't seen yet. So far in the week that I've been here and in the five-plus days that I have been allowed to leave my hotel room, I have seen a number of venues and events. I've checked out the one that probably gets the most play back in the United States on NBC, the Tokyo Aquatics Center, where I saw some swimming on my first night and some diving the next night. Until last night, when I went back to Yokohama Stadium to see baseball (same venue as softball gold medal game), it was the only venue I had been to twice. My first trip out was to Odaiba Marine Park for the triathlon on Monday, I also hit up the historic Nippon Budokan for some judo and Shiokaze Park for beach vo...

Today's post comes from the venue media center at Ariake Urban Sports Park. After a long bus ride back to the hotel from the arena just down the street last night (in which us passengers had to tell the driver how to find the hotel), it was back at it this morning with the hope of seeing a little BMX racing. However, Mother Nature is currently dealing us a bit of a curve ball, as it has been raining for a while and the 10 a.m. scheduled start for the racing semifinals was bumped until at least 10:45 a.m. Obviously, as a creature of habit, this throws off my planned schedule, but I will hang out in the media center and hopefully see some action on the track in a little while. Another reason to get to the track is to catch up with Alton's Dr. Tamara Lovelace, who is here as a doctor with the US Cycling Team, working at the BMX track. This is her first Olympic experience, though she has spent a few years now working for the tour traveling to various locations around the world. She...

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 tha...

The last blog post dealt with the issues of traffic. This one will be a bit related, as it is dealing with buses. In Sochi back in 2014, I remember being incredibly impressed with how the buses managed to navigate the narrow mountain roads that led to the venues and in both Sochi and PyeongChang I was impressed by how the buses maintained a very consistent schedule, leaving on time and usually arriving on time as well. Here in Tokyo, it has been hit and miss with that whole timing thing. The buses leave the venues and the Main Transport Mall right on time. There is no doubt that they strive to be on time. However, the traffic has proven to be a problem in a lot of ways, as the buses almost never arrive on time and in some cases, like this morning, they don’t arrive at all. This morning, after checking the bus schedule, I left the hotel in the rain to go to the bus stop around the corner. The media bus was scheduled to arrive at 7:08 a.m. A group of us waited and waited with no luck. Ho...

After a few hours out of my hotel room, I have determined that these Olympics are going to be the Olympics of traffic. I went from my hotel to the Media Transport Mall, where buses pick up and drop off to all venues, very early this morning. While it wasn’t a perfect ride, it went relatively smoothly. From there, I went to Odaiba Marine Park for the men’s triathlon. And it was also still really early in the morning, so the ride wasn’t that bad. However, leaving the triathlon and heading back to the Media Transport Mall took much longer than our transportation app said it should and while I was able to immediately catch a bus to go to the venue I hoped to go to next, we have been sitting on that bus now for 25 minutes and we are still within sight of the MTM (or at least the entrance to the MTM). We are just sitting in traffic, moving a few hundred feet at a time and getting nowhere. When I was planning, I took into account the times that were anticipated getting from venue to venue, bu...

As the final (hopefully) day of quarantine in Tokyo begins, here's a few observations from the hotel room. I have slept more in the last three days than I have in the previous three months, or so it seems. The issue is that the hotel room is small, so there is nowhere to sit except for the hard desk chair or the bed. And if I get on the bed, I'm likely to fall asleep. I get up fairly early, but there's definitely been long mid-afternoon naps and since there's nothing to do, I don't really fight it too hard. I suppose I might as well get the sleep while I can. Speaking of the hotel room, the bathroom has to be the smallest I've ever seen that is not located in a moving vehicle. There's barely room to turn around. And weirdly, I have to step up to get into the bathroom and then step down when I leave the bathroom. I am sure that the weird step is going to cause some sort of injury to me at some point. And, they also ask that when we use the shower, we keep the...

This is an Olympics unlike any other.  But, in one small way, it is an Olympics just like the others I’ve attended. That small way is the Opening Ceremonies and how I was not in attendance for any of the three Opening Ceremonies at Olympics I have attended. Even though our credentials allow us access to the venues for most events, there are a number of events that are deemed High Demand Events and for those, we need tickets. We have to apply through the national organizing committee through which we got our original credentials, so for me, that would be the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee. In both Russia and Korea in 2014 and 2018, I was not in the host city when the Opening Ceremonies started, so I was unable to get there. Wanting to possibly see them this time around, I made sure to book my flight and hotel for a day before the Opening Ceremonies so there was a chance I could see them in person. However, that was before the pandemic came along and changed up everyone’s plans....

I arrived at my hotel in Tokyo almost 10 hours ago. And still, nobody has been able to tell me how exactly I am supposed to get a COVID-19 test when I am not supposed to leave the hotel for three days. We were told, as media, if we had to quarantine for three days and were the only member of our organization, we could call a number and they would arrange drop-off and pick-up of COVID-19 tests. I tried calling the number when I got in last night to no avail. The person at the front desk also tried calling the number for me, also to no avail. I've tried numerous times this morning, and still nothing. I am not exactly sure what I am supposed to do at this point. I understand the quarantine rule, but if there is a rule in place, make it possible for people to follow the rule so they can do their jobs. There has been no communication whatsoever from anyone with knowledge of how to handle this situation. And that is incredibly frustrating for someone who is trying to plan things so I can...

It is currently 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, July 22, in Tokyo. I exited the plane from Toronto at approximately 4 p.m. and I am still in the airport. As Tom Petty once sang, “the waiting is the hardest part.” After we got off the plane, we were ushered to a row of seats where medical professionals, volunteers and officials would stop and check our paperwork. Every little while, we would all get up and move forward to the next set of seats. Eventually, we ended up at a table set up with people who checked us through the first checkpoint and sent us on to the COVID-19 testing. After waiting in another line, we eventually got to a medical professional who scanned our passport and other information, gave us a vial and sent us to an area to fill it with saliva. We were told not to drink for at least a half-hour prior to taking the test, so I had not had anything to drink since I was on the plane and it took me a bit to produce enough saliva to fill the tube. Once that was done, we were sent to a...

The last few weeks and months have been a blur of paperwork, e-mails, medical tests and just about everything else you could think of in preparation for the Tokyo Olympics. I filled out every single piece of paperwork requested of me and covered every single base that needs to be covered. Well, except one that is. I hopped in the car this morning and headed south towards Logan Airport. There was a little traffic, but mostly just cruised through and got to the airport in the expected time. Driving toward my usual parking garage (economy) I saw a flashing sign that said "economy closed" use central parking. After all the paperwork and research, I never even thought to check with the airport. So I turned into central parking and saw the sign that said 38 dollars a day. My quick math skills came out at almost 800 dollars to park for the time I will be in Tokyo. I just about had a heart attack. So, I headed toward the exit cashier and asked her if there was anywhere else to park. ...

It is Friday, July 16, one week away from the opening ceremonies for the Tokyo Olympics. I am also five days away from my scheduled flight from Boston to Tokyo (with a stop in Toronto). And, to this date, I have yet to receive official confirmation that my activity plan has been accepted by the organizers, meaning it could be difficult for me to get into the country when the plane lands next Thursday. This has not exactly been the easiest of situations for anyone, so I know I am not alone. The accredited press from the United States received an e-mail from the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee earlier this week outlining the processes that we need to go through once we land in Japan. They advised to have copies of all your paperwork, showing when you sent it in, etc., just in case there are issues with the online forms. The USOPC e-mail also noted that the lack of communication from Tokyo has been frustrating for many, but it appears they are just overwhelmed by the lack of paperwork...

The time is drawing near, with just two weeks to go until I leave for Tokyo. And I must say, the shear amount of paperwork has been overwhelming and as of this writing, my submitted activity plan has not been approved and it has me a bit nervous. For those who don't know, all press attending the Olympics must submit an activity plan to the Tokyo Organizing Committee. These activity plans must include all the many destinations that we could possibly visit within our first 14 days in Japan. These destinations would include our accommodations, Olympic venues, the Main Press Center and other Olympic-related destinations. We are not allowed to travel outside of those areas in our first 14 days. My first submission of an activity plan was rejected by the Japanese government, meaning I had to submit it again, which I did, making the corrections that were needed. I am still hopeful that the revised plan will be accepted, which will allow me to download the appropriate health-reporting app ...