Opening Ceremonies Day and Night

Whew, Friday the 13th, a little scary. Oh yeah, and the day of Opening Ceremonies. hee hee
We had another early morning. But breakfast was more exciting with an influx of new athletes that had arrived for Opening Ceremonies. We got to see our good friends, the Olympic duet from the Netherlands and our other friends from the Czech Olympic team both being coached by former synchro gold medalists from the 1996 US Olympic team. The Netherland athletes get to ride these cool orange bikes around the village so we asked the girls if we can ride around on one of theirs sometime. But our coach said not until after we compete. bummer!
The other exciting person at breakfast was Yao Ming, the giant Chinese basketball player that also plays in the NBA. We all very subtly smacked each other, pointed, and yelled out, "Look! It's Yao!" I'm sure he's pretty sick of that! (At the Opening, I got some great footage of Yao towering over everyone when he came to shake hands with the NBA players, I come up to his waist!)
We had a great practice in the morning, all of us were sort of running on empty but riding high with the anticipation of Opening Ceremonies. We had a short press conference after practice with our fabulous hometown newspapers from Riverside and San Jose. And then it was back to the village to get ready for the ceremonies! I ate enough food for lunch and dinner in one meal at the caf because I knew we wouldn't be able to eat much later on. Then we had a quick land session before getting ready for the opening. There was a lot of debate on how to wear our hair with our ceremony hats, and how to lace the shoes, etc. But it was all worked out and we were ready and headed to the buses looking a little like girl scouts in our official ceremony uniform. The buses were loaded by 5:30 and we were off. We got to be on the bus with some of the NBA players (including Tim Duncan, who thinks I'm funny! I agree of course!)) Every country was corralled into the gymnastics stadium to waited for their country to be called. Our "dinner snack" consisted of two green bananas, a banana powerbar and water. I think I've had my banana quota for the week. While waiting we mingled with some runners from Zambia, the one female athlete from Iraq, the flag bearer for Germany and lots of other International athletes. I was also informed that as a team captain, I could walk at the front of the delegation, behind the flag bearer and then more likely be on TV. But I really wanted to walk with my teammates, my sisters. The scoreboard flashed 30 min and 10 min warnings for each country.
And then the real fun began......
I don't think it hit me where I was until our delegation stated heading down the ramp into the stadium. Slowly I began catching glimpses of the mass of people in the stands, and the lights from the rafters flashing and the music blaring and the roar of the crowd. All of the American athletes were feeling the excitement at the same time and we began chanting "U-S-A! U-S-A!" and the basketball players adding "What?! What?!" And then in a burst, we hit the track. What a rush, almost indescribable! I've heard so many stories about being a part of the Opening Ceremonies but there's nothing like experiencing it. I was clutching my teammates hands and just saying, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. We would look into the stands and see people waving American flags at us frantically and I was moved to tears each time I saw them. My arm was so tired from waving, there were so many wonderful cheering people I wanted to wave to! I kept looking back at my coach Chris as well. This was her third Opening Ceremonies and she was still having the time of her life, along with our assistant coach Linda, crying her eyes out. And our fabulous team manager, Nancy "The Nancenator" Hines was practically skipping, bad knee and all! The joy and the emotion and the spirit in the air was almost palpable. There were no boos or jeers, just elation and excitement and support. Everyone screaming, "Good Luck!" and "We're so proud of you!". Everyone of the athletes were hugging each other, and some crying and others slapping high fives. Everyone was holding up their video cameras trying to capture it all, but nothing will ever be like being there. My parents were in the audience somewhere, I could swear I heard my dad, but I'm not sure. They had their binoculars and were able to spot me as we walked in. Probably the most exciting thing was that we all felt like one giant American team. Before that evening, all of the sports did their own thing. They stay in their own apartments, they eat together with their own team, they train together. But the Opening Ceremonies gave us a chance to all be together. It was amazing that everyone was jazzed about being there. You could be the most famous athlete there, used to attention, or an unrecognized athlete, no one was safe from the thrill of walking on that track representing your country. Once we were in the middle of the stadium, I had fun joking around with the other teams around us, and standing next to Lisa Leslie from the WNBA, and asking Dawn Staley, the flag bearer about her experience. I also spent time with Rulon Gardner, the wrestler who shared some of his amazing stories with me. I got to see my friends Kimiko Soldati and all of the divers. We were all together, and so proud to be a part of the United States Olympic Team.
They had filled the floor of the stadium with water bearers which we were all grateful to see since it was a bit warm! While waiting for the rest of the countries we all found some ground space in order to rest our feet. We were right below the tree that came up from the ground where the head of this Olympics gave her speech. We could hear her voice and then hear the delay of the echo. We were right next to the line where the man with the torch ran through to go light the Olympic flame. And we were all thrilled by the lighting of the torch that was so stunning from the middle of the stadium.
After the highs of the ceremonies, there was the very unceremonius exit. We came to the ceremonies on designated buses but it was a free for all to get on a bus back to the village. I was one of the last because there was no way I was going to wrestle a 6 foot plus volleyball player from Bulgaria for a seat on the bus. We all ran straight for the caf and dove into pizza and chinese takeout type boxes. And cookies of course...... I hit my room about 2 am, exhausted and happy. We were all full of smiles and tears, and very quietly acknowledging what a thrill we had just had. I will never forget my Opening Ceremonies experience. And the last thing I have to say is.........It's good to be an American!