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Doug Lennox' Beijing Blog #2: Training With The Rest Of The World (Later Update)
August 06, 2008 | Men's Swimming and Diving
In the second part of Doug Lennox' Beijing blog, the Princeton
All-America butterfly swimmer talks about the excitement and challenges
of training with swimmers from every part of the world. He also talks
about the food, his teammates and his thoughts on Michael Phelps and
Joey Cheek '12. A later update now leads off the page, while the rest follows.
August 6
I sent off my previous blog entry before my walk home, but I had to share with you the last thing that happened before the night expired. I was on my walk home from the "super residential center". This is where the internet cafe, the TV room, the video arcade room, and an information desk are located. On my way through the hall I looked into the video arcade room and there was a throng of people watching the basketball shooter game, and to my delight Kobe Bryant and LeBron James were giving people lessons and poses. I didn't have my camera (DARN IT!) and was pretty upset, because this would have been awesome to document (I swear it happened, boy scouts honor!) but it was cool to see nonetheless. I stayed and watched the charismatic hoopsters laugh away their misses and bite their lip as they tried to outduel each other, but all in good fun. They took pictures, smiled, and did jump shot poses with a few other lucky Olympians and went on their way towards the U.S. part of "town," even though they're staying in hotels. Later in the night, I found out from my Venezuelan and Irish training mates that they went to the dining hall and had about 30 Sprites laid out on their table and were posing for photos for the media, obviously a ploy for "Bron Bron" and his deal with Sprite.
On a side note, one volunteer assigned for the Puerto Rican delegation is an older Chinese man who I call "the Professor" because he is a retired lecturer around local universities here, and is wise beyond his years. He was the guy who received me and helped me get my accreditation stuff. Everytime I see him, he gets this big grin on his face and says hello to me, asks when i swim (everytime) tells me he will cheer for me and hopes to see me on TV. Additionally, he finds the time in his busy schedule to compliment me and has also given me valuable fashion advice. I noticed recently that he was sporting a white goatee that looked to be 1-3 days old, but based on my own Asian friends (Easton, Eckel, (phat) Charley, Q, Saki-bomb, Ming, etc.), I think it takes a while for that stuff to grow.
In addition to him the other volunteers are really nice and I always mind my p's and q's. The other day at the 50m pool in the village I almost accidentally walked into the womens locker room and a female volunteer snatched me just in time, so I thanked her, smiled and went into the men's room. When I came back out I walked by and said hello, but went back to the pool to collect my things. On my third time back, I passed this girl and pretended to make a mad-dash for the women's locker room (like a serious effort at it, actually) but I stopped just short. I looked over at her and said "Just kidding! Making sure you're awake!" and she nervously laughed, looked at me and then the ground, took a big breath of relief and wiped the sweat off her brow. I think i really scared her. Oops!
I am off to my 2nd practice of the day now. This morning's was business as usual so no need to get into that. Hopefully some more cool things happen, but until next time, GO TIGERS (at the US Open)!!!
A lot has seemed to happen overnight. I found myself tossing and turning last night, unable to sleep. I am not sure if it is because of nerves or because of the three-hour nap I took yesterday afternoon, but today has been a long and very hot day. After my routine morning training session, lunch, and my first deep tissue massage since I got to China (which was awesome! Olympians get pampered, it's true), I got dressed up for a small "welcoming ceremony" hosted by the mayor of the Olympic Village. It was pretty neat; we were welcomed along with Barbados, the Republic of Central Africa, Estonia and Trinidad and Tobago. They played the national anthem for all our countries, we exchanged commemorative gifts, and our flags were raised. Though there are many more of these ceremonies scheduled, there is already a beautiful garden containing all the flags of nations already inaugurated into the Village. There will be 205 flags by the end of the Games in this garden.
My training session today was at the Olympic Village pool. I woke up and walked over to the pool with my Puerto Rican teammates, Dan Velez, Vanessa Garcia and my sister, Kristina. The coach, Zanoni Lopez, and the swimming representative, Nestor Garcia (Vanessa's father), also accompanied us. Basically when we arrive we all do our own routine of stretching (I do PUCSDT's routine plus some of my own favorite stretches) and hop in the pool when we're ready. When we are in the pool we have to weave in and out of other foreign swimmers. It is really cool to hear all the different languages being spoken, and it's simple to see there are differing etiquettes among nations: some swim clockwise, others counter-clockwise. Some swim without regard to those around them, some are very polite. Some use a lot of equipment, some do not use any. It can be frustrating, but in the end it's all part of the experience.
Since we all have trained under different coaches leading up to the Games, we have freedom to do what those coaches want and/or what we think we need. The training varies from a short warm-up (Dan) to what seems like a normal, non-taper practice (Kristina). What works for each of us is different, so this is not unusual at all. When we need pace times or starts, or any kind of technical help at all, we all look to Vanessa's coach and the Puerto Rican national representative, Zanoni. He is a really funny guy from Cuba who has trained Vanessa to glory. He loves to joke with Dan, Kristina and I about being semi-American, especially Dan, who doesn't speak Spanish particularly well, but in the end he lets us all know how special we are and how excited he is for us. This is also not abnormal in Puerto Rico -- to be surrounded by some really outrageous tricksters playing jokes and pranks on people, but in the end who have a softer and more genuine side to them. The final part of my training session is some abdominal work, which I have reduced to about 6 minutes at this point. Gotta keep the core strong!
After training we head over to the main dining hall to eat with all the other athletes and representatives. The food has been more than tolerable, it has often times been delicious. It's a chore to not pile up our trays with all the free food, but we manage to do just fine. A good rule of thumb for me is to only take one tray of food, with a maximum of one plate of food, one salad, and one small dessert: a cookie, pudding or fruit. Water and Powerade flow like wine at weddings, but it's all bottled so we stay hydrated as best we can, too (the wine will come later, I am sure!). For instance, today for lunch I had an amazing tuna sandwich, some Asian noodle salad, beef and shrimp skewers and a pecan brownie of sorts. I had one water and one Powerade to drink. It was perfect for a smaller lunch.
On my way into the second training session, this time at the National Aquatic Center about a 1.5 km bus ride from the Village, I got off the bus when Michael Phelps and other U.S. Olympic swimmers were getting on. Michael was sporting his Fu-man-choo, smiling, and being closely followed by a handful of reporters trying to sneak a picture of him. He seemed to ignore it pretty well but those around him were obviously annoyed that they had to dodge these crafty reporters. Phelps is a pro at handling the pressure of the media; when he arrived in Beijing with the U.S. team, he was given safe passage through a side door to the team bus while everyone else had to collect their bags and deal with media looking for Michael. Not surprisingly he was already on the bus sitting in a window seat, ignoring the flashes coming at him from below. For many years Michael has known that he is the posterboy of not only America, but also the whole Olympic Games. I'd say he does a pretty good job taking the scrutiny of certain media members and being polite and graceful with the other admiring fans.
The first upsetting event while I have been in China has occurred today, though. When I got to my computer to check my fantasy baseball team stats (which is doing horribly thanks to several terrible trades to "steady as she goes") I saw a Yahoo! headline that my friend and P'12 classmate Joey Cheek had his visa removed. The article is here. I am very disappointed that this happened. I was excited that Joey was on his way to China, and he had told me he would be able to meet up with me and my family for dinner this week, even if just at the Princeton in Asia/Princeton in Beijing reception. He is a great symbol of the Olympic Ideals and represents the Olympic Spirit better than anyone I know. He cares about making a difference, and to have his visa removed last minute is a slap in the face to not only him but everything he stands for. From my understanding, the Chinese people are very welcoming, nice, hospitable, and generous...but the government remains an entity that is very difficult to understand. I hope that Joey continues his crusade to make a difference, even if it's from New Jersey or Washington D.C.
The Olympics will go on, and so will this blog...until later, Doug.