The Olympics... and beyond

The holidays are always a busy time of the year and this year is no exception. As this is written on the Friday prior to Christmas, the local holiday high school tournaments are on the horizon, meaning a few days of many, many games. This year's local schedule includes hockey tournaments in Wolfeboro, Conway and Laconia and basketball tournaments in Gilford and Farmington involving 26 different teams in our coverage area. Obviously, there's no way to get to every game or even to get to every tournament and see every team. Making it even more frustrating is that the early holiday deadlines mean that none of the tournament action is going to see the newspapers until well after the turning of the calendar. However, on we go toward the big week of games between Christmas and New Year's. The new year should also bring some more information when it comes to the credential process for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in 2026. I filled out the application for the credentials earli...

It feels like the Paris Olympics just ended. In fact, it hasn't even been two months since I returned from my second Summer Olympics and my fifth Olympics overall. And it's been great talking to the numerous people who come up to me on the sidelines of the various high school contests I've covered in the last month asking about the experience. And while that Paris door has officially closed, the door to the next Olympics is officially open, as the USOPC sent out the e-mail to apply for credentials for the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics just last week. Today, I took a few minutes and filled out my application and sent it on to the USOPC. And today also happens to mark 500 days until the start of the Milan-Cortina Games. Like each time I have submitted a request since those first requests (Sochi in 2014 for Winter and Tokyo in 2020 for Summer), I will not be holding my breath for approval. As always, I am hopeful that my request is approved and after covering three Winter...

Near the end of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, I offered up my rankings for the three Olympic experiences I had under my belt at that point. I updated the rankings after my fourth experience in Beijing and now it's time to put Paris in the mix. Transportation Paris PyeongChang, Sochi, Beijing, Tokyo I am putting Paris first in this category because of the very efficient, clean and manageable public transport system that we used. There were fewer shuttle buses, but they were needed less with the option of using the stellar Metro system. 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 a...

 In a previous post the morning after the Closing Ceremony, I spoke briefly about the ceremony, but I promised another post reflecting a little more on what we saw. As in the last two closing ceremonies that I had been to, I got there pretty early. The idea was to make sure I had a spot in the venue media center inside the Stade de France and a fairly decent seat inside the stadium. As I mentioned in a previous post, I didn't have a tabled seat, which meant that I was sitting in a normal stadium seat, which was just fine. In Tokyo and Beijing I had a tabled seat, which allowed me to keep my laptop and phone charged. This time, I left my laptop in the media center and basically just carried my phone and my camera out to the stadium seat. Like in Tokyo and Beijing, I got the chance to sit and watch the dancers and the musicians rehearse their performance. The scene where the Olympic Rings are raised high above the floor of the stadium, was one that was rehearsed numerous times. On a ...

Over the last couple of days, I made a couple of stops at the transport desk to check on the transportation options for getting the airport. Because my hotel is not directly on a public transport line that runs to the airport, the very nice young woman, who probably dealt with a ton of idiots like me over the course of the weekend, told me that there would be a bus that came through our neighborhood at 2 a.m., 6 a.m., 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. I just had to walk up the street to catch the bus. My original plan was to get up some time after 4 a.m. and catch the 6 a.m. bus, however I must have turned off the alarm when it went off (I went to bed about 2 a.m.) and when I woke up, it was 5:45 a.m., which did not leave me enough time to pack up the rest of my stuff and get to the bus stop. So, I went back to sleep for a bit and figured I'd take the 10 a.m. bus. I made my way up the street to the bus stop, which I should add is not exactly in the best neighborhood. I waited. And waited. And wai...

The Paris Olympics are officially over. Last night, I watched as Tom Cruise leaped off the top of the Stade de France, grabbed the Olympic flag, hopped on a motorcycle and headed out of the stadium. Then much like Jeff Probst used to do during the finale in the early days of Survivor, he boarded a plane and eventually ended up in Los Angeles, where he handed off the flag and proceeded to turn the Hollywood sign into Olympic Rings. With the torch officially passed to Los Angeles for the next Summer Games in 2028 (I still don't know how this is going to go), the torch was extinguished on French soil and the 2024 Games came to a close. Someone asked me what I thought the big story was in these Olympics and I have to say it was the fact that the Olympics are back. Tokyo and Beijing did a great job hosting the Games, but without fans in the stands, without the excitement that builds with every competition, it just wasn't the same. With Paris, the Olympics are officially back and tha...

It's about four hours before the closing ceremony for the Paris Olympics takes place. I am sitting in the venue media center of the Stade de France. I've heard the Star Spangled Banner blasting over the speakers and have walked out into the stadium to see the preparations that are under way. This is my third Olympic closing ceremony, the first coming in Tokyo three years ago and the second coming in Beijing in February 2022. They were definitely different, with Tokyo in the heat and Beijing in the cold. I am excited to see what France has to offer for the closing ceremony. There's rumors that Tom Cruise will be involved as part of the handoff to the Los Angeles Games in 2028. In the last two closing ceremonies, I have had a tabled press seat, which includes a desk and plugs to charge my computer and phone. This time around, I have a non-tabled seat, so no desk to work with, so I probably won't be updating much during the closing ceremony since I don't want to kill m...

As my time in Paris draws to a close, just a few observations. This Olympics has definitely been an eye-opening experience for me. I was aware that the Summer Olympics involved more sports, more athletes and more media members, but my only experience with the Summer Games was in Tokyo, where there were no fans in the stands and fewer media than normal. Coming in to Paris, I was expecting a lot of people and I certainly was not disappointed. There are a lot of people. Media, fans, staff and volunteers pack every single arena full for every single game. After each game, I find myself battling throngs of people to get on the train and head back to the hotel.  On a related note, the French people seem pretty stoked about the Olympics. As mentioned, every single venue is full for every single match (at least that I've seen) and they are enthusiastic and excited for everything. I know that not all of the fans are from France, but the reactions that the French athletes get every time they...

Each time the Olympics roll around, the host country traditionally gets to bring in a new sport or two. In Tokyo, surfing made its debut and it was a hit, returning here in Paris (or in Tahiti) and continuing on in Los Angeles in four years. In two years, mountaineering (combination of climbing and skiing) is making its debut in Milan-Cortina. Los Angeles is bringing back baseball and softball in addition to cricket, squash, lacrosse and the addition of flag football. In Paris, the new addition was break dancing, or breaking as it is known in the Olympic circles now. Breaking made its official Olympic debut yesterday (Friday) and last night I trudged out to Place de Concorde to the urban sports park to watch a little of the competition. It was held in the same arena that housed 3v3 basketball earlier in the Olympic run. First and foremost, I have enjoyed many of the "X Games" sports the Olympics have introduced over the past decade, including things like BMX, skateboarding an...

At the start of the Olympics, there are tons of sports going on and you can pretty much go anywhere and find some sports action. There are a lot of choices, but if you miss one team, you can probably catch that team again in a day or two. The end of the Olympics is when things become a bit tougher for those of us who are covering the Games. All of a sudden all the games have a lot of meaning, with medals on the line and time ticking down on chances to see the teams and athletes. Thus is the case today (Friday). As I write this, I am sitting in La Defense Arena, where I saw Katie Ledecky swim in the first few days of the Olympics. Swimming is over for these Olympics, but after the swimming finished, water polo moved from the new aquatics center to this arena for the semifinals and finals, so I am here to see the US men's water polo team play in the semifinals. However, there were a lot of places I could've gone today. The US women's basketball team plays its own semifinal ga...

After yesterday's heart attack in Marseille, today I didn't venture too far, making a trip to the Champ de Mars, a temporary arena constructed near the Eiffel Tower where the wrestling competition was going on. I spent a few hours there before moving on to the Stade de France for track. I learned a few nights ago that I should probably get there early, but I was probably a little too early today, but Elle St. Pierre was up first on the docket for the evening. So I am sitting in a pretty empty Stade de France as workers prepare the field for the evening's track and field events. It's a little like Tokyo in that there's nobody in the stands yet except for the media folks who are preparing for their evening and the workers doing their stuff. I sauntered downstairs to the media food kiosk and purchased a chicken sandwich, which got me thinking about the food this time around. For the record, the chicken sandwich was more like chicken salad, not quite what I was expectin...

 Today was certainly a day. Over the last couple days I was looking at a time to make it down to Marseille, mainly just to see the venue and the city, but possibly seeing a little sailing in the process. Today was the day that it worked out that I could do it, so I purchased a ticket on the high-speed train out of Paris to Marseille. It was more than three hours each way (without the numerous delays), but I figured why not? I probably should've stayed in Paris. I arrived in Marseille after 1 p.m. and found the transportation help desk in the train station to get a public transport card, which allowed me to use the Marseille public transportation for the day. I had no problem finding the correct train to get halfway to the marina, but the bus was a bit more of a challenge. However, I eventually found the bus and made my way to the marina. The weather was warmer in Marseille than in Paris, but there was a nice breeze that helped to keep things a bit more manageable. I watched a littl...

It is officially less than one week until I leave the city of Paris and head back home to my normal life, including those 2:30 a.m. wake-ups and the busy fall sports season. So, it felt like as good a time as any to write about some of the things I have liked and things that maybe I don't like as much about this time around. What I like: The ability to see multiple sports and venues in one day. While I was apprehensive of using the public transportation in Paris, mainly because I was afraid of getting lost, I have found it pretty easy to navigate and the trains have made it easy to get from one side of Paris to the other and see numerous events. What I don't like: The crowded trains. This doesn't always happen, but after a contest at a larger arena (soccer, track), the train is usually so packed you can't turn around. I don't particularly care for huge crowds, but it is usually not a long ride. What I like: The Paris organizers have done a great job of keeping traff...

Back when I first traveled to the Olympics in 2014, it was very much a community experience. I billed it as a once in a lifetime thing and people were wonderful in donating money and holding fundraisers and my company matched everything that I raised. It ended up being enough money to pay for the second "once in a lifetime" trip four years later. Since then, I've cut back on that side of things, since it's no longer a once in a lifetime thing, it's an every two years thing and if I want to go, I will find a way to raise the money. Thus the many hours of making donuts and bread all year long. It's a self-funded labor of love. One thing that hasn't changed in my five Olympic experiences is getting the chance to talk on the radio about my travels. Back in 2014, I was contacted by Greg Kretchmar from Greg and the Morning Buzz on 100.3 WHEB, 101.1 WGIR and many other stations around New England. He had seen a Facebook post about my trip and wondered about the p...

I have made a habit over my time covering the Olympics to try and get to lots of different events and venues. Most of the time that involves going from venue to venue in a single day. Yesterday I was at rowing, then on to soccer and then finished up at track. Rarely does it happen that I spend one day in one venue. Today, however, was that day. I woke up wanting to head to the Stade de France for some track action. I wanted to see Gabby Douglas compete in the first round of the 200 meters. My hope was to get a quote or two from Gabby after the competition to send to my former colleague, Jeff Lajoie, who works for a paper in her hometown area of Massachusetts. I made my way down to the press mixed zone, where athletes come through after their events to talk to the media. However, Gabby walked right through the mixed zone without talking to anyone (she did do a TV interview in the broadcast mixed zone), so I left without a quote, which was kind of a bummer. My original plan was to possib...

Saturday morning in Paris brought a trip out to one of the further venues from the city center, the nautical stadium, where Brewster Academy graduate Chris Carlson was rowing with his teammates in the men's eight. I had the chance to talk to Chris immediately after he and his teammates won their opening race earlier in the week, a win that put them directly into Saturday's finals. He spoke highly of Brewster Academy and coach Nick Docter, who had convinced him to join the crew team after he came to the school in his sophomore year. His introduction to rowing came as a sophomore in high school and he parlayed that into  I was aware heading into the event that the US had not won a medal in the men's eight since 2008, but given the team's success in the opening race and the fact that because of that win, the rowers didn't have to compete in another race after that opener leading into the final, I felt like they had a chance to bring home a medal. But, that's why th...

There's a lot about the Olympic experience that is different than what I do in my regular life. But there's also a lot of things that are the same. Today, brought one of those wonderful experiences as I realized it was time to do my laundry. I should mention that I hate doing laundry at home, never mind when I'm away from home. In Sochi, my first Olympics, there was a laundry service in the media center and I simply brought my laundry in and they did it there. A slight problem arose when it didn't come back on time and I was scheduled to leave, but it all worked out. In PyeongChang, we had washers and dryers in the basement of our building in the media village. In Tokyo, my hotel had washers and dryers in the lobby area and in Beijing, the hotel had a laundry service. This time around, there was no other option than to go out and find a laundromat. I did a quick search on my phone and found a laundromat not too far from the hotel, so I put all my dirty laundry in my sma...

Three years ago in Tokyo, the women's gymnastics finals were deemed high demand events, which meant that as media members, we had to request tickets to attend the events. This is a common practice and to be honest, I have been kind of surprised that this year's events have not been deemed high-demand. In Tokyo, I did request a ticket for the floor exercise and did so before Simone Biles had to withdraw from competition. My expectation was that I would get to see her in action, but obviously that changed. She did what she had to do for her own personal health and that should never be questioned. I was bummed to miss out on the chance to see the best gymnast of all time, but that's nothing to worry about. This time around, I decided I wanted to try to see Simone in action for a first time and looking at the schedule, determined that the time to do so was tonight, Aug. 1, in the women's all-around competition. Since gymnastics were not considered a high demand event by the...

One of the coolest things about coming to the Olympics is getting the chance to experience sports that I don't always get the chance to see. I wrote about this early on in this Olympic trip when I took a trip to the handball venue. That's a sport I had never seen before (except a little on Olympic television) and it was an absolute blast. On this trip, I've also seen the whitewater kayaking, which is a bit more intense than the Smith River race that I cover every year and rugby, which I've seen a little before, but doesn't really show up on the high school level. And since I don't live in California, there's also no high school water polo in the area, so that's always fun to see. Badminton is something I've played numerous times in my backyard as a kid, but never something I've got to see up close at such a high level. Same with table tennis. Locally we have a few swimmers and gymnasts that compete at the high school level, so those are sports I ...

In the grand scheme of things, today was a pretty relaxed day, as far as heading to different events. I got up on time and made my way to the triathlon course for the 8 a.m. start, only to find once I got there that the event had just been cancelled due to the water quality in the Seine. So, I packed up my stuff and went back to the media center for a few hours, wrote a couple of stories and got a great sandwich from the cafe in the basement of the Palais de Congres before making my way to the urban sports park, where I planned to see a little BMX park competition and some 3v3 basketball. By the time I got to La Concorde, the site of the urban skate park, my iPhone had already recorded more than 10,000 steps at 11 a.m. That's what today's blog post is about. During the pandemic, when I was unemployed for a month and then only had one job for a few more months, I walked all the time, just to get out of my apartment. There were days when I logged more than 10 miles, mostly on por...

It's been almost a full week that I've been in Paris and I have a few observations. Driving in Paris is crazier than driving in Boston. The bus drivers here are aggressive and are not afraid to stick their buses in the smallest hole in traffic. They move right along no matter where they're going and it's rather impressive how they get through some of the heavier traffic. The Japan bus drivers three years ago weren't quite as aggressive in that rush hour traffic and it is definitely a plus. And that's not even counting what they do in that circle around the Arc de Triomphe. That's absolutely insane. People in Paris smoke. A lot. And it's not just in separate smoking areas. It's in restaurants and other public areas. Now, I grew up with a father who smoked, so it is not something that I am not used to, though my father passed away more than 25 years ago. I also have friends who smoke and I am not really bothered by it. However, I just didn't realiz...

At the first two Olympics that I attended, Sochi and PyeongChang, the media buses took us everywhere. They were all over the place, zooming up and down the roads to the mountains of Russia and South Korea, going places I was shocked to see buses go. When we got the information regarding the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, it stated that it would likely be easier for us to use public transportation, as traffic is tough in Tokyo and the buses would likely be stuck in traffic, even with dedicated Olympic lanes. Connecting the many different venues to hubs was easier with public transportation. Of course, COVID put a bit of a screw into that master plan. We weren't allowed to use the public transportation until we had been in Japan for 14 days, which for most people, brought them pretty near the end of their Olympic experience. So we were basically forced to ride the buses. However, they didn't really adjust the schedule to accommodate for that, as we had to leave one venue and go all the way...

The idea was impressive. The thinking was outside of the box. The work that was put in was impressive. And the final result surely looked amazing on television. But the execution? That left a lot to be desired, at least on the part of members of the media that were there to cover the unique Opening Ceremony that the Paris organizers planned. As most people probably know, the Paris 2024 organizers decided to bring the Opening Ceremony out of the stadium and have the athletes float along the River Seine through the center of Paris, with various performances happening along the banks and a final ceremony at the Trocadero near the Eiffel Tower. The plan was fantastic. First and foremost, the organizers did not have any transportation planned for the media who were not at the Trocadero. Those who were there had buses leaving from the Main Press Center and International Broadcasting Center to deliver them to that location amidst all of the security closures. The rest of the press was asked t...

Well, after more than an hour of walking, I reached the location where my ticket said I could be for the Opening Ceremony.  Yes, I walked an hour. There was the option of taking the subway, but I thought I might see more if I took the walking tour of Paris. From the media center, the walk brought me down past the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs Elysees and eventually to the Louvre, where my entrance is supposed to be. I saw all those places when I was here in 2002, but it had been a long time. I am pretty sure there was no Five Guys on the Champs Elysees when I was here back then. However, once I got to the gate location, there was no gate. My guess is it will be opening up shortly, but right now there is just a lot of barricades and guys with guns. For now, I am sitting along the Seine waiting for the chance to get in... And of course it is starting to rain. More updates to come.  The Opening Ceremony is coming.

Yesterday's blog post from the rugby venue in Paris started with the expectation that I had not received a ticket for the opening ceremonies, which are coming up on Friday. However, not long after I got back to the Main Press Center from the Stade de France, there was an e-mail from Bill Hancock at the USOPC stating he had sent out the digital tickets for the opening ceremony and sure enough, when I checked my online account, there was a ticket there for the ceremonies. I am incredibly grateful to Bill and Team USA for getting me this ticket, as I know there are limited tickets available to the press and in the grand scheme of things, I am a small-time journalist and the ticket could've gone to someone else. Maybe my continued coverage of the Olympics over the course of COVID helped, as could my stopping by in person and thanking Bill for the tickets in China and Tokyo. Whatever the case may be, assuming I navigate the public transport correctly tomorrow, I will be along the Se...

While the Opening Ceremonies (don't think I got a ticket, but that's another story) haven't happened yet, the first official games of Paris 2024 took place today (Wednesday), with soccer taking place at stadiums around the country (including the US in Marseilles) and rugby at the Stade de France. With the US playing host France in the first match in both sports, I decided against the two-hour high-speed train ride to Marseille and made my first bus trip of the Games, heading to the Stade de France for a bunch of matches across the afternoon. I spent the morning getting a little more familiar with the Main Press Center, which is located across numerous floors of the Palais de Congres, a multi-storied convention center. The ground floor and the floor below ground are both filled with different stores and restaurants, along with a movie theater. The first floor has many of the Olympic help desks and a few food stands (that don't have much of anything terribly good), the se...