The Olympics... and beyond

 I really thought that the postponed Tokyo Olympics, moved from 2020 to 2021, would be the most confusing thing I have to deal with in my job. But as the saying goes, Beijing 2022 grabbed the microphone and said, "hold my beer." The entire process of getting prepared to go to China has been an absolute cluster on my end. There was the entire process of trying to get them to take my money, which was exacerbated by their need to get the funds in Chinese currency instead of US (like the other three Olympic hosts have done), then the addition of purpose codes that were never relayed to us and the like. But, as my last blog post said, that was taken care of, finally and my hotel is there and waiting for me when I arrive in Beijing. Or, that is, if I arrive in Beijing. Getting there, as referenced in a previous blog post is proving more and more difficult. The representative from Cathay Pacific was in regular communication for a few weeks as we tried to work out a schedule that wor...

As I prepare to head to my third Winter Olympics in just a few months, another piece of the puzzle finally fell in to place last week and another piece that emerged a few weeks back, got closer to being put in place. The thing that has been the biggest problem for me when it comes to Beijing 2022 has been getting my accommodation funds to the right people. When I got the first invoice, I went to my bank to make a wire transfer, only to find out that my bank did not do transfers in Chinese currency, which was a requirement of the Beijing Organizing Committee. So, I had to set up an account at another bank and quickly made the wire transfer. Of course, it wasn't that easy, as the first transfer didn't go through because of an error somewhere in the paperwork. On the second try, we got it through, but the "purpose code" required for China was not correct and that correction had to be made. Thanks to the wonderful work of Melissa at the Wolfeboro branch of Citizen's B...

The countdowns seem to be pretty prevalent the last few years. There was the original one-year countdown to Tokyo 2020 that turned into a second one-year countdown when the Olympics were postponed. There were celebrations for six months out for Tokyo (twice) and another for the upcoming Beijing Games.  Today, the countdown clock toward Beijing turns to 100 days. That doesn't seem like a short period of time, but in the overall perspective, it is not a long period of time. The process for Beijing began well over a year ago and amped up before Tokyo even happened this summer, as I was sending money to China before I left for Japan. So 100 days is a relatively short period of time. Yesterday also saw the release of the first edition of the playbooks, which are the documents that detail the processes that the press (and other Olympic family members) have to go through before leaving for China, once they are there and as they prepare to leave. These playbooks were implemented for the To...

 In my last blog post, I speculated that the COVID-19 protocols put into place for the Beijing Olympics in February were going to be a pain. After a summer of protocols in Tokyo, this comes as no surprise to me and I am prepared for what comes down the pike. Much to my surprise, the first step in those protocols was released shortly after the last blog post, as the Beijing 2022 Organizing Committee presented its key COVID-19 countermeasures to the International Olympic Committee Executive Board Meeting. While these were not the detailed measures that we need to follow, they were an overall look at what we should be seeing when we as media arrive in China for the Olympics this coming winter. While vaccines are not mandatory, anyone who has not received one of the COVID vaccines will have to serve a 21-day quarantine upon their arrival in Beijing. This goes for athletes and other games participants. Those who are vaccinated will enter what Beijing is calling a "closed-loop managemen...

I've been to three Olympics and they've all had their things that went well and things that didn't go as well. That is to be expected. But, one thing they all had in common was that they kept me busy. There was always something going on, always some place to go to cover an event or interview an athlete. However, in most cases, the work that I had to do over in Sochi, PyeongChang and Tokyo was not really much more than I am used to doing back here in the United States. Tokyo was a bit of a different story than my first two Olympic experiences. The simple fact of the matter is that summer is a slower time for me. I have fewer events to cover and fewer places to go than during the school year. So, in many ways, those few weeks this summer were my busiest summer weeks in a few years. But now that I am gearing up for a trip to Beijing, I am in the middle of one of the two busiest seasons of my year. The fall and spring sports seasons have been absolutely impossible the last year...

It seems like Tokyo 2020 just ended, even though it was a month ago now. But, while I was in Tokyo, I got an e-mail from the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee asking me to confirm all my details for the Beijing Olympics. I wasn't quite ready to deal with that while dealing with all the Tokyo stuff, so I waited until I got home and had a little time to take care of business. I did take care of that paperwork a week or so ago, but it just seems like it is so quick on the heels of Tokyo that I am not quite ready for it to be here. Obviously, the postponement of the 2020 Olympics for a year contributed to the short time between the two Olympics for me. However, this is also a new experience for me in that even if the Olympics had gone off as planned in 2020, there was still a shorter time than between my previous Olympic experiences. After Sochi in 2014, which was my first Olympic experience, there was four years before I was back in the Olympics in PyeongChang. While the ...

I promised a look back at Tokyo and after a few days at home, two early mornings of baking, three late nights of rehearsals for Laughing Stock (opening tonight) and a great in-studio interview with the Morning Buzz, it is time to look back and reflect on what was certainly a unique experience. I am going to take the whole return trip out of the discussion here. That was a miserable experience (my suitcase arrived on Thursday) that had nothing to do with the Olympics. As highlighted in my previous post, that is all on Air Canada and can't reflect on the Tokyo experience. All in all, this was definitely a unique situation. It started with a three-day quarantine in a tiny hotel room and ended with my first ever Olympic ceremony. In between, there were countless long bus rides, plenty of great Olympic action and plenty of heat and humidity. In my previous Olympics, I had the chance to cover athletes that I covered while they were in high school or athletes that had other local connecti...