The sorcerer's apprentice....magic!

WOOWHEEEEE! Hey everybody! (Sorry to leave everyone hanging!) Everything got so crazy after we won our BRONZE MEDAL! But it sounds like most of you got to watch our performance so that's awesome. Thank you NBC!
I know that I will remember that night for the rest of my life. I'm still having dreams about it and I probably will forever.
We were all very excited about our perfomance after the technical program, but we were all very aware that we would have to be really focused and have a very strong swim to secure our place. The Spanish team really bungled their techinical program and still were very close to us in score (synchro politics). So we knew they would be very focused on getting their free program perfect. We headed off to the American College in the moring. There was a palpable tension in the air. We were all trying really hard not to just explode with anticipation. We had our usual morning meeting to discuss our plan for the rest of the day. We had an earlier draw then we had had the day before so we had to do a little bit of adjusting. We had also felt rushed the day before when we got to the pool so we decided to do our hair and very intricate hats before we left for the venue. There was some pretty high emotions that morning in the locker room. We had a little drama and a little scuttle but everyone got to release that tension, vent a little bit, and then we were good as new. We were even able to laugh about the surge of emotions in the locker room and it eased the stress for the rest of practice. We were truly joyous and enjoying each other for the rest of the day. No one got upset with corrections, even though we so badly wanted to be perfect. Anna reminded us that even if we didn't have the most fantastic warm up, in no way did that mean that we couldn't have a great performance. The same thing had happened with their duet and they still had huge success!
So after a good warm up, (our team likes to be overly warmed up for competitions) we headed out for our last meal at the ACG, which was really too bad because the food there was great. We got our hair up and hats on and got a shuttle directly to the venue unlike the maze of buses we had been taking every day prior to that. The second we walked into the pool we all felt like we were on top of the world. Later we were told that the women's water polo coach came in to watch some of our warm up and told our coaches that he had a new respect for our sport. He'd never seen any team work so hard. He could also tell that we were "on" that day and he could tell by the look in our eyes that we would be awesome that night. When we jumped into the pool, I felt that we were like a red white and blue bulldozer. (You kind of have to fight for space in the warm up pool) Even Russia's coach stopped her team to have them watch us warm up. We had a great practice with music as well, we definitely do more than any other country but we like it that way.
Fast forward to "the swim"
I was definitely more confident tonight then I was for the technical the night before. I was much calmer, much more comfortable in my skin where the night before I was ready to jump out of it any second! I felt like all day I had really been able to stay calm and focused and keep the girls in the same mindset.
But something that NEVER happens in world class synchro meets happened that night. Right in the first lap of Russia's routine (the team right before us in order of draw) the music went out and they had to be stopped in the middle of the routine. There was mass chaos behind the scenes while their coach scrambled to find an extra copy of their music and tried to understand what had happened to the cd. The girls came out of the pool completely bewildered, as were we. One of the volunteers came over to us in the ready hall and told us that we were going to go now and Russia would swim after us. So we frantically grabbed our noselclips and began to line up to walk out, working to remain calm. But then the Russian girls changed their minds and wanted to go right away. So after a few music tests, and some rule checking, they started again. We were all a little riled up after that. Sara and I were bouncing around doing some sort of Brazillian rain forest dance, Stephanie was deep breathing enough to blow up a water raft, Anna was stretching on the wall and then Alison, our voice of reason, our foundation, pulled us all into a huddle to try and reign in the troops. The only speech I could think of at the moment was to quote from one of my favorite movies, Grease. "I've got chills, they're multiplying, but we're not losing control, it's the power you're supplying, and it's electrifying!" But seriously, I also reminded the girls that we had spent so many hours together over the past two years preparing for this very moment. Perhaps the moment was a little different then we had visualized, but it was still our moment. It was a moment, the last one, that we all got to share together. We had worked so hard for it and we were sooooo proud of our free program. Let's show everyone what an amazing free program we have. Let's take every part of the routine and show it off, step by step, never getting ahead of ourselves. Just think that every move we make, it's the last one we'll do, so let's make it our best. One deep breath and top secret team cheer later, we were back on track. I set foot on that deck and while I was aware of the crowd, I was completely focused on my teammates and the water I was about to dive into. Chi-Chi, the Olympic referee stopped us on the deck in the middle of our walk on and said to wait until our music was tested. (Once again, something that NEVER happens) I told the girls, "This is awesome! Let's enjoy it!" I gave some quick instructions to adjust our walk on a little bit and when Chi Chi gave me the signal, we started to complete our deck work.
I don't even really remember the swim, it felt like a dream, like I had no control of my limbs and some other force was pushing them into the right places. I remember hearing the crowd going nuts during our first lift where we float Stephanie down the pool and I remember thinking, you ain't seen nothing yet! I also remember thinking, on the last strokes, wait! it can't be over, we just started! Am I already at the end of the routine? And then I choked on water and had no air for the last hybrid so the moment quiclly transitioned from glorious to near-death. But I stayed calm, and then that was it. My Olympic swim was over! We all came up and waved to the crowd and all of us were smiling so big it was hurting my cheeks! I didn't even care what our scores would be (ok, well, maybe a little) but swimming in that pool surrounded by my sisters was one of the most amazing feelings. We got our scores, there were a couple of yucky scores in technical merit but two 9.9 in artistic! I'll take that!
We walked off the deck and attacked our coaches we were so excited. Little Kendra became a sobbing mess, it was adorable. I was barely hanging on to the tears but Anna and I had to give the interview for NBC. As soon as we were out of the mixed media zone, we sprinted to the TV to see Spain's scores. When they flashed up on the score board, Erin turned around and said, "We did it! " Next ensued a lot of crying, hugging, dancing, shrieking and other "Oh my gosh we did it!" kind of actions. I was immediately greeted by a drug tester and informed that I was the one person from our team chosen for drug testing. I didn't really care, I even hugged the drug tester! By the time I got out of drug testing it was about 11:00 pm and I rushed off to try and find my family. Leave it to Americans to meet up at McDonalds! But there were Big Macs and fries for everyone. It was so great meeting my family there. I felt so special and so loved. Every time one of the athletes walked in, there was a group of very drunk Hungarian water polo fans that would do this goofy Hungarian dance for us. It was cute the first ten times but then it started to get old and we were all getting tired so we decided to call it a night. But the looks on my parents faces were something I will always remember. We just sort of looked at each other and thought yeah, we did it too! My daddy had a big goofy grin and tears welling in his eyes the whole time and my mom just kept hugging and kissing me profusely. They have been with me through it all. They were there when I was 12 and I quit for ten minutes because the water was too cold and I didn't want to swim anymore. They were there when I won my first Gold medal in figures when I was 14. They were there when I had the most horrible meet of my life in Moscow when I was 17. My dad spent a fortune on faxes and phone calls then. They were there whenI missed the Olympic team in 2000. They were there when I made the 2004 Olympic team. And they were there to watch my final swim, and the most thrilling of them all. I am so grateful to God that I got to have my parents there with me. And Eric and Leah and Malcolm and Carol and Marilyn and my best friend Lisa. And EVERYONE back home that watched me and has sent me e-mails and phone messages and telepathic good thoughts. I'm so glad that everyone got to share the Olympics with me, it made the whole thing so much more special.
The Olympics is a strange beast for sure. But the sense of peace, goodwill, agony, ecstasy, joy, sorrow and everything the Olympics stands for was so apparent every step of the way. The Olympic creed states that the glory is in the struggle, and that is so true. Every morning I didn't want to wake up, every muscle ache, every tear of frustration was worth it. I loved every step of it and I will take that with me in my next adventure. Life after synchro, is there such a thing? I guess I'll find out!.............