Let the games begin!
GUEST BLOG
Opening ceremonies
I didn’t have any work to do for the opening ceremonies, but my coworkers and I were allowed access to the Olympic Common Domain and the National Indoor Stadium on August 8. I could see almost every other nation’s athletes waiting for the ceremonies to start. Some athletes started the wave. [It] caught on and went around the stadium two or three times. My co-volunteer commented at how awesome it is that the wave is internationally known. I was awed at how people from so many different countries around the world with nothing to tie them all together but sports could cooperate in one gesture. The atmosphere was so much fun. In one case, I took a picture with a man from the Ivory Coast, and we traded pins.
As the ceremonies progressed, people who had performed in various parts of the ceremonies would wander around the area. Occasionally, these costumed performers would approach us and ask to take a picture with us. It did make me realize we’re all equally in awe of the ceremonies.
Day 1 at work
The first day of work with a paying crowd, I did not do my job entirely satisfactorily. My job is to get two or three good quotes from two or three athletes and run them back to the office for publication. I have slipped into a mindset of grabbing as many quotes as I can from as many athletes as I can, which isn’t good. I just have to remind myself that even though I think long conversations with athletes are fascinating, I am here not to write whole stories but to collect a few quotes. I admit it’s a little harder in French because it goes by a bit faster and I don’t understand all the words. I have discovered a trick: I write in English and French, which goes faster than trying to write in only one language. I have no idea why it’s easier for me to think in the two languages than to think in one or the other when I’m interviewing in French. Tomorrow, though, I will improve on my job as I interview the French women’s gymnastics team.
Day 2 at work
Today was more successful. I managed to get fewer quotes but with more meaning — and faster than last night. The athletes I interviewed were also extremely nice and patient with me as I took quotes. I am apparently not a very fast quote-taker. Today felt good in other ways: I talked to the PR woman for the U.S. gymnastics team, and she is very nice and traded a pin with me. I also will be doing a little bit of translation, from French to English. Don’t worry, Dad; I haven’t taken on the translation of someone’s speech or anything big like that!
-Beth Androuais
Red carpet glamour
My friend Lauren blogs for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and they invited her to watch the opening ceremony at Club Bud (Budweiser). She invited a few of us to tag along with her.
After taking the subway, we were excited to see big spotlights in the distance. We followed the lights but ended up in front of the Heineken watch party. The Heineken people were a little upset when we asked them where Club Bud was, but we certainly were not disappointed when we arrived on their red carpet!
It was so amazing inside: tons of media and journalists, free Budweiser, crab cakes, steamed vegetables, kebabs and tons of plasma TV screens to watch the Opening Ceremony on! The best parts were the outdoor cabanas and TV projector screens. We felt like celebrities. It was a great night and an amazing opening ceremony.
-Paige Hansen
Hello, boys
It feels like the first day of school all over again. You go in knowing what you have to do (in this case, find an athlete and get quotes), but it never quite ends up exactly as expected. I’ve talked to athletes in training. I even fought reporters for quotes (here and elsewhere). And of course I’ve watched gymnastics before, many times. But to put everything together is a whole other ballgame. You know how hard it is to watch six different events simultaneously, keep track of who did what and why (fall, shaky, whatnot) and still focus on the few particular men who you’re going to interview?
Today I went in early. The first subdivision was still progressing (I was to work the second of three). While watching it in our little office, my manager came in and said one of the individual athletes had finished and was already in the Mixed Zone - and I needed to quote him. At first I’m like “OK, who the heck is it!?” since I hadn’t done much studying of the other subdivisions. But with a two-second rundown, I was out. I acted like I knew everything about him and was published as the first official flash quotes of the gymnastics competition! Woo-hoo! He was really nice, too.
I technically worked all three subdivisions, voluntarily staying late to help with the last one too. I don’t think my feet or back can take that kind of schedule again tomorrow, but I was happy to help where needed. It’s a real rush to be in the thick of things - journalists from five-plus countries all crammed in trying to get the best quotes possible from their chosen spokesmen. I did screw up once, but I think my overall work made up for it.
-Laura Dotson
Burning the midnight oil
The past two days of have been hectic and sleep is … well I forget what sleep is because I get so little of it. Yesterday I spent my entire day at the gymnastics venue watching the women’s qualifications. My shift wasn’t until the afternoon, but with permission I went early to watch because the first group included China and Romania, the second had the U.S. team, and the third included Russia. My group included Brazil and France, both of which made the finals but were not talked about as much. After getting only five hours of sleep last night, I woke up this morning to watch beach volleyball; BOCOG had given us free tickets to the event. I take what I can when I can and can handle sacrificing sleep for Olympics.
[Later we] headed on over to The Today Show. It was a great experience; my signs got on TV, and I got autographs from the entire Today Show crew of reporters and TV personalities. The best part was getting insight from Ann Curry when she talked with our MU group during a commercial break. Her words of wisdom were noted by our group and will not soon be forgotten. My shining moment is that in the last few minutes of the show one of my signs, “Hello Perry MO,” is shown in the middle of the screen. I had to give a shout out to everyone back home.
-Julia Shuck
Leave a comment
Note: Comments are moderated. If published, comments may be edited for length, style and clarity.