And it begins again...

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 Olympics and two Summer Olympics, I would love to make it a straight half-dozen Games.

The way I have come to understand that the credentialing process works, is that once you are in the system, if you continue to accept your credential requests, you will get approved for the next one. The Winter process and the Summer process are different, so the fact that I've covered the last three Winter Olympic, including one during the COVID pandemic, should work in my advantage.

The first time I applied for credentials prior to the Sochi Olympics, I went through an interview process before getting my approval. However, before the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, I didn't have to go through the process and the same was true for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Prior to the Tokyo Sumer Olympics I had to go through the same interview process I did prior to Sochi, but again, prior to my second Summer Olympics this summer in Paris, I did not have to go through the interview process. I don't anticipate that I will have to go through another interview process, but I will never automatically assume that the application will be accepted.

I consider myself very lucky to have covered five Olympics over the course of the last 10 years. I am grateful to the many people who have helped to make these trips possible, particularly in the early days when I was raising money to pay for these trips. Now I use my job at the Yum Yum Shop to pay for the trips, putting money aside out of each paycheck to help cover the costs of the accommodations, flight and food, but still get a ton of support from so many people, including my bosses at both jobs, who allow me to chase after these crazy experiences.

I have been to Milan, albeit briefly on the same trip that brought me to Paris in 2001-2002, but what I am looking forward to the most is getting a chance to see the Alps and experience an Olympics in a true winter environment.

The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics officially get under way in 500 days and today I submitted my credential application in hopes of covering my sixth Olympics.