Gary Gardner, Director of Cross Country and Track & Field at UMass Lowell, will blog periodically from the London 2012 Olympic Games as he and former River Hawk standout Ruben Sanca ('09, MBA '10) are representing Sanca's native Cape Verde in the 5,000. The two can also be followed via @Sanca617 and @UMLTrackCoach, as well as UMass Lowell's Olympic Page.
Aug. 12: Friendships, Closing Ceremony, Russell Brand
To start, part of me is extremely sad leaving this amazing place. Falling asleep every night to the sounds of crowds cheering at the Basketball arena only 100 meters from our window was very sweet white noise. Trying to decide whether to take my morning run in Victoria park with the best athletes in the world or maybe just run through Olympic Park and check out the crowds. Those are choices not many people get to make on a daily basis even if only for a short period of time. These three weeks went by so fast I am currently on the bus to Heathrow to head home.
The friendships I have made on the Cape Verde team will last a lifetime. They were an extremely welcoming and sharing group and will treasure the memories of the time I shared with them. However, the time away the past few days have taken a toll and I will be extremely pleased to see my family and sleep in my own bed tonight.
Part of me was just wiped out and really didn't want to go to the closing ceremonies. Of course I was going to attend, but wasn't looking forward to it. Boy am I glad I went. It was the perfect way to cap off this amazing adventure.
Unlike the opening ceremony only the flag bearers enter in country order. Everyone else is purposely mixed to show the bonding that takes place during the Games. We walked over with our great volunteers leading the way again and then they split all the countries to surround the entire stadium. We waited for the signal then they had aisles cleared to march through the spectators down to the floor of the Stadium. The crowd was high fiving us all the way down. The one thing that really struck me was that most of the people were
thanking us for attending. That was a very touching gesture and unnecessary because I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else.
Once we got to the stadium floor my first goal was to find Ruben up on the stage with the Cape Verde flag. Ruben had left us a few hours before for the great honor of carrying the flag into the stadium. As it worked out, I walked to the front and Ruben was almost directly in front of me. Seeing Ruben on stage was touching - I was with a Canadian coach and proudly pointed to Ruben.
The show was incredible with huge legends right in front of us. The Who, Annie Lennox, Russell Brand (who I ran into after the show), Spice Girls (Elie's favorite) and so many others and there I was within feet of all the action. Just like the opening ceremony, I tried to take a few minutes to soak it all in. Wow. What an amazing three weeks - the whole experience was even better than I thought it would be. I hope at some point to experience it again, but it may never happen. So few people ever have the privilege to live through something like this and I will forever owe Ruben for allowing me to share this with him.
Even with all that being said, it is time to get back to Caitlin, Kiernan, Cavan, my family and the rest of my River Hawk family. I have missed you all and look forward to seeing you all very soon!
Thanks for the wonderful support it has truly touched me.
Aug. 10: Old Friends, World Records, Being a Tourist
Since the race, we have become more tourists than participants in London. The day Ruben raced we had a great time hanging out with friends and making plans to take some time and get a chance to look around London.
On Thursday, we were able to get Coach Joe into the village for a day which he enjoyed and Ruben was able to meet up with Jamie Gillis (the former UMass Lowell soccer goalie) and some of her teammates from her Finnish team to grab lunch and hang out in the city. Ruben had been looking forward to catching up with her the entire trip so it was great for him to finally have the time and freedom to so something social.
I have been to the stadium to watch the Athletics competition over the last two nights and it has been awesome. Last night I was able to witness my fourth world record of the Olympics (eighth overall) - the women's 4x100 meter relay. Truly the most amazing record I have witnessed ever is the men's 800 meters by Kenya's David Rudhisa,. The three world records I have seen live by Usian Bolt weren't as impressive at this 800 run. I actually never thought that I would ever see a sub 1:41 800 meter run now I truly believe he can run under 1:40. The amazing part of the race is that seven out of the eight men in the race set personal best times. That just doesn't happen at this level. One of the Americans, Nick Symonds, honestly believed he couldn't run as fast as he did. It was the best 800 meter race in history and quite possibly the best track race in history. I think a great amount of the crowd was stunned when the race concluded.
Yesterday we made the trek to downtown London and went up in the London Eye and visited Big Ben, Parliament, the mall and Buckingham Palace basically making a clean sweep of the tourist attractions in the same area. We then made the trek to Piccadilly circus for lunch, which is great section of town. It has a ton of little restaurants and pubs in which to hang out and basically eat any food you would like from around the world. We settled in a great Thai restaurant down this little alley with about 20 stores and restaurants all jammed into this little area. It was definitely an area I would highly recommend if you ever visit London. I actually enjoy those little adventures more than doing the usually tourist attractions. My day in the city finally had to come to an end so I jumped back on the train and took it directly to the stadium to watch the Athletics action. All in all, a day every tourist and Athletics fan would dream about!
For the past few days I have been trying to find a way to express what this entire experience has meant to me. It is truly something in which I never imagined being able to take part. It means much more being here with one of your own athletes, who I have seen grow into one of the people I respect most of this planet. The care he has for his family, friends and UMass Lowell is amazing. It is going to be a great honor to see him hold the flag of Cape Verde in the closing ceremony!
I will write one final blog about our experience in the closing ceremony. Ruben and I are looking forward to getting back home to see everyone on Monday night!
Aug. 9: Ticket Fiasco, Dissecting the 5,000 Meters, The Aftermath
This is definitely the most difficult blog entry thus far with so many emotions all tied up into Ruben's performance yesterday. In the end, frankly, with the injury Ruben just missed too much training and particularly workouts leading into the Olympics that made it really tough for him be stay competitive for a long period of time in the 5,000.
The night before the race was pretty relaxing for Ruben. We had company for the night as Benita came over and another one of their training partners, James Carney, came into the village to hang out for the afternoon. I think that was a huge help to Ruben to keep his mind busy and relaxed. As for me, I had a bit of a nightmare experience for most of the afternoon. Ruben is entitled to buy two tickets for his events at the Olympics, which we reserved and bought the second day we arrived in the village. We also were supposed to have some other tickets that never came through, but that's a different story. So I went to get the tickets for James and Coach Joe Scascitelli and we realized the tickets were for Aug. 3, which was the first day of athletics competition. So I was supposed to meet Joe outside the village at 5:30 - it was 5:20 when I realized I had the wrong tickets. No problem, I thought, the box office is on my way to the gate. So I went to the box office where I picked up the tickets and they said they couldn't help me. They literally sent me to a box office two miles away and I had no idea how to get there. So I had to call one of our aides for the first time and she led to me the correct spot after a few wrong turns. After we got there, they wouldn't exchange the tickets, so I had to purchase the two we had reserved in the first place. Luckily, I shielded Ruben from most of this three-hour odyssey and was finally able to get James and Joe the tickets about 7:30 p.m. - not exactly the way I wanted to spend the night before the race.
On race morning Ruben and I got out of bed at 6:30 a.m. for a little shakeout run. Ruben went about 15 minutes just to get the system awake and moving. Before big races Ruben tends to get very quiet. That's when I know he is in the zone and I say as little as possible to him - only what's needed at the time. Some athletes need a "talking-to" to keep calm. Ruben isn't like that at all - I just let him do his thing with minimal guidance within 24 hours of his race. After the short run, Ruben went and grabbed breakfast and I continued to get in the rest of my five-mile morning workout. When I arrived back to the room, we had a few minutes to hang out. I told Ruben to stay in the pack as long as possible and see what happens. The second huge piece of advice I gave was, after the race, take a minute to soak in being on the Olympic Stadium Track as an Olympian - its a huge honor.
At 8:30 we started our very short walk to the shuttle to the warm-up track at Olympic Stadium. Also, waiting for the shuttle was Cameron Levins, Bernard Lagat and several of the other athletes Ruben would be facing of within two hours. When we arrived at the warm-up track, we found a tent to settle down in for a few minutes. Surrounding the track they have tents set up for athletes and coaches under which to set up camp so everything doesn't get wet in the frequent London rain. We shared a tent with Liberia and Saudi Arabia, which worked out great because the Liberian coach is a former Division II coach from Colorado that's now the assistant coach at Wake Forest. It's always good to have familiar faces around. We had about 45 minutes to sit and relax and really I just left Ruben alone at this point. I knew he was as ready as we could get him, so there really wasn't a heck of a lot more for me to do.
Ruben started his drills and stretching about 35 minutes before his 10:16 a.m. first call room check-in and 11:06 race time. He did some mobility drills to help his tight hip and some other drills to loosen up the knee a bit before heading out for a 15-minute jog on the infield grass. Also jogging around was Mo Farah, Galen Rupp, Lagat and the defending Olympic Champion, Kenenisa Bekele. I think that was the first time I really was intimidated by the entire event. Luckily Ruben couldn't see what was going on in my head - that's the last thing he would need to be thinking about. As he finished his warm-up run, he did a few more drills and then the call came across the practice track for the second section of the men's 5,000 meter trials to check-in. Once he goes into the call room 50 minutes before the race, the coaches have zero contact with their athletes. Honestly, its a pretty helpless feeling knowing they also wont be able to hear you on the track in a stadium of 80,000 people.
At that point I made the quarter-mile hike from the practice track to the stadium to settle in. I was able to move down to the third row with a great view of the race. About 20 minutes before the race, team Cape Verde showed up in full effect. There were 20 people in the stands with flags and ready to yell and scream - it was really awesome support. The first section of the men's 5,000 started and it went out like many 5,000 trials pretty slow which was not good news for Ruben. Typically, when that happens the second section goes out fast so the time qualifiers come from that section. The advancement works that the top five in each section, then the next five fastest times from the two sections combined move to the finals. So, someone usually takes the lead to push the pace if the first section is slow - so then you only have to finish in the top 10 instead of the top 5 to move on to the finals. We knew that Ruben would have likely been better off in the first section when we sections were released, but you need to play the hand your dealt. As I was watching the first section go slow, I was just hoping the second section would also go slow to start. The first section finished and Ruben told me later everyone in the second section made sure they knew the sixth place time in order to only have to finish in the top 10.
As the race started my biggest fears were realized. Craig Mottram from Australia took the lead and pushed the pace right from the gun with a 30-second first 200 and a 61-second first lap. Craig missed the Olympic Finals in 2008 by time so he seemed determined not to have that occur again. Ruben put himself in the pack as planned and tried to settle in but truthfully, with the missed training, it was just too fast. The group continued to speed along through a just over eight-minute 3,000 split and by that point Ruben was off the back. As my heart sank, my only concern was that I didn't want this to be a negative experience for Ruben no matter what happened. I wanted him to concentrate on the positives. I wouldn't find this out until we meet up after, so I just sat and fretted over what was going on in Ruben's mind. When the race concluded, its was actually the fastest 5,000 meter trials race in history (sometimes as a coach you want to be wrong).
I rushed a bit out of the stands to go down to the mixed zone to meet Ruben to make sure everything was OK. I waited for what seemed like a long time, but was only a minute as he made his way past all the media and finally got to the coaches zone. He smiled and said, "That was fast. I did the best I could." I finally knew everything was going to be fine. Ruben headed to the changing room and came to meet me again in a few minutes and we went to find Benita, Joe and Carney to relax and finally turn this into a more relaxing trip.
We had a great time last night. We went to the Puma Zone in downtown to make an appearance for Ruben's sponsor, which was great fun and before that had lunch with the whole group. It was a really great way to end a stressful day hanging with good friends and relaxing.
Yesterday, Ruben and I got more texts, emails and tweets than we could possibly count - most before 6:00 a.m. in the morning back home. Thank you so much - it means quite a lot to Ruben and I.
I am going to one more blog on Saturday or Sunday before heading home. I hope you have enjoyed reading it!
Aug. 7: Final Preparations, A Different Side of Things, Million Dollar Decisions
In the last two days, the volume of our training has been reduced considerably. Saturday was the last hard track workout with an easy shakeout in the afternoon. From Sunday on, it's just easy runs without as much volume. Basically, the goal of the runs now is to just keep Ruben in tune and ready to run a personal best on Wednesday morning. Even the physical therapy is getting easy and less time consuming. It seems like we are on track and hopefully it all works out on race day. The heat sheets and start lists for Wednesday races will be up tomorrow. It looks like it should be three sections, and once we see the sections we'll try to put together a race plan.
On Sunday, we watched the women's marathon which was an extremely entertaining race with a big group through the first 18 miles, then the top three sorting themselves on the final mile. Unfortunately, Benita Willis (Ruben's training partner) came to London with a hip injury unsure she could even finish. But, this being her fourth Olympics, she wanted to gut it out. Benita was able to finish in 100th place, way off her ability, which is really to be somewhere in the top 10 and on her best days as good as anyone in the world. We watched as she limped in the last 250 meters and both Ruben and I felt just awful. After the race, they were so concerned about her they wouldn't allow her to leave for the trip back to the village without putting her in a wheelchair.
Benita did recover enough to hobble over to Cape Verde HQ (our apartment) to watch the Sunday evening Athletics session. We have it set up so we have the TV and computer going a the same time to watch multiple events. On our television, there are six channels just for Track and Field, so you can watch any field event all the way through every single attempt; or just watch the track events - all of it commercial free. It is really the best coverage I have ever seen for the sport. I am truly being spoiled. Going home to NBC coverage of any Track and Field event after this is going to be a let down. We had a blast discussing the races and making predictions for each race. It's always good to be surrounded by track nerds while watching a meet.
This morning I got up early for a little run then headed over to the Stadium to watch the heats of the men's 800 and the women's 1,500. I met up with John Evans, the head Track and Field coach from Brandeis University, who also doubles as the elite athlete coordinator for New Balance. He is over here to watch the meet and take care of business for New Balance. I definitely got to see a side of the sport you don't get to see very often. I was sitting in a row with the three representatives from New Balance, and in front of us was the coach for Jenny Simpson, the 1,500 meters world champion. Behind us were the coaches of the Australian and New Zealand teams. The 1,500 sections got on the track and everyone around me started to get a bit tense. They all had either athletes in the races as a coach or sponsor. The first section went off and everyone was pretty happy Lucy Van Dalen (from New Zealand and a New Balance athlete) from Stony Brook ran very well. Even though she missed an automatic spot to the finals, she looks to be in pretty good shape to advance on time.
The second section was when things began to get very tense. Jenny Simpson, basically the poster girl for New Balance, was in that section and her coach in front of us was decked out in New Balance clothing. This section went out extremely slow and after 800 meters it became very apparent that no time qualifiers were coming out of this section. So, as always happens when it's this slow, people start to push to the front going into the last lap. Jenny was boxed in and not in good position with everyone starting to fly in front of her. She improved slightly in the next 200 meters, but hit the final straightaway still in ninth place with alot of work to do. She inched up bit by bit and lunged at the line. Nobody was sure in what place she finished: sixth, with everyone breathing again; or seventh, which would of been devastating for many of the people I was with.
As soon as it finished, we were all looking at the scoreboard for the results. It came up with everyone in order except sixth and seventh places which resulted in a photo finish. Race judges had to take some time on the computer to figure out who was in front. It was about a full minute, which must of felt like a lifetime for those directly involved, before it finally came up that Jenny Simpson finished in sixth place and qualified for the next round. I am quite sure her coach and the representatives from New Balance grew a few grey hairs in that minute. In the last section, an Australian and New Balance athlete advanced without a problem. In the end, it worked out very well as all the Australian, Kiwis and New Balance athletes advanced from the three sections.
It was really exciting to see a side of the sport I rarely to get to see: How much the sponsors and the people who make the decisions on who they are going to spend their sponsorship dollars on are affected by what plays out on the track. I always get to feel and see how it affects coaches (nearly every weekend), but to see it at this level with the money and time people have invested was really a glimpse behind the curtain. It was not something I expected when I came to just watch a meet with a friend, then to literally see the million dollar decisions played out in front of me. It was pretty humbling.
Tonight and tomorrow Ruben a I are just laying low and letting him get some rest.
I will not blog again until after the race which is 10:30 a.m. local time (5:30 a.m. Eastern Time). I believe you can watch the race live online at NBC sports Olympic coverage page.
Thanks again for all your support.
Aug. 5: 100 Meter Preliminary; Familiar Faces, 10,000 Meters Frenzy
Friday morning was the first day of Athletics (Track and Field), and a very exciting one for Team Cape Verde. Adysangela Moniz was competing in Judo at the same time Lidiane Lopez had the preliminary round of the 100 meters. We decided at a team meeting the group would split up to give maximum support to each athlete. Since Ruben and I didn't know the first thing about Judo, we went to the track with Lidiane to help her in her warm-up and competition and help Nagana (her coach) translate anything that needed to get done. Ruben and I got up pretty early Friday morning to get his first training session completed, then went to breakfast with the team to get everyone in the right frame of mind. Since it was the first day of competition in Athletics, everyone was a bit on edge on the bus; not just Lidiane but many of the other athletes were deep in there own thoughts on the ride, including Jessica Ennis.
When we arrived at the track, we got settled and within 10 minutes or so Lidiane had to begin her warm-up about 90 minutes before her round of the 100. When you are competing at the Olympic Games you need to be in the first call room 50 minutes before your race is scheduled to go off, so you need to begin your warm-up pretty early. Once you hit about 25 minutes before your race, there is a little track strip under the stadium about 20 feet from the tunnel to the track to finish your warm-up but you need to have the majority of it complete way before that point.
Lidiane was in the fourth section, so when she went to the first call room we went inside the stadium to get a good seat. There is a special section for athletes and coaches to watch between the Olympic Flame and the cameras on the curve past the finish line. We moved ourselves down to the third row and the stadium was completely packed - there wasn't an empty seat anywhere. The place erupted when the 100 hurdles for the heptathlon hit the track. Then when Jessica Ennis ran a hep world record in the 100 hurdles. It was louder than any stadium I have ever been in, including Patriots playoff games.
The British fans have been unbelievable in every venue we have been in at the games, but with 60,000 of them it was just crazy. Lidiane finally hit the track in the fourth section of the preliminary with the top two moving on to round one in the 100. Lidiane showed pretty well with a fourth place finish in her section. She was in great spirits after and wanted someone to interview her in the media-mixed zone, so when she arrived at the end of the zone, Ruben interviewed her with his video phone. It was really a great way to end her race experience with some laughs and hugs.
Saturday morning was our last track workout in preparation for the race. We have access to three different tracks, but we decided to do it at the warm-up track which ended up being a great decision. It was great to do the last workout where Ruben will have to warm-up for his race in a few days just to make him as comfortable and familiar with the setting as possible. Ruben really nailed the workout right on to what we were looking to do, so that was a huge confidence builder for both of us.
Since the last blog we have had the pleasure of a few visitors from Lowell. Alumnus Bob Boehm and is family are in London and we were able to meet up with them for dinner. Bob has been to every summer Olympics since 1972 and has also attended four winter Olympics. It was amazing to hear all of his stories of the different games that he has attended. We were also able to get together with sophomore Brendan Adams and his family. It was great to have some support from home here in London.
During the day yesterday, I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to the stadium to watch the meet but finally I decided to take the shuttle over and WOW, I am so glad that I did. I arrived a few minutes before the first event, which was the 400 hurdles and things only go more exciting from that point. The team from Great Britain had its greatest single day in Olympic Track history, and the energy and noise in the stadium was even better than the opening ceremony, which is saying something.
The first big event was the heptathlon 800 and when Jessica Ennis kicked home for the Olympic Gold and set a British national record - I thought they might rip the stadium down. Then in an upset, Team GB (Rutherford) also won the men's long jump and finally the men's 10,000 was on the track. I agree with many people the 10,000 can be a boring race to watch, but at a high level the time flies by and the 27 minutes of the race went by so fast. There was surging by the different African countries trying to drop people off the lead group but the real racing started the last 800 meters. From that point everyone in the stadium was on their feet, going crazy for the last two laps. Before I knew it, I was yelling as loud as I could when Galen Rupp moved into second place but most of the crowd was going crazy for Great Britain's own Mo Farah who took home the gold. I happened to be sitting next to about 20 Ethiopians and 15 Kenyan Olympians in my section and they were certainly not cheering and had a look of disbelief when the race was completed.
As crazy as it sounds, the women's 100 was almost anticlimactic in the stadium after the great 10,000 meter race, but we were extremely pleased to see former NCAA Division II runner Carmelita Jeter get the silver medal. Also, last night other Division II athletes did very well: Leford Green qualified for the finals of the of the 400 hurdles and Semoy Hackett just missed the finals of the 100 meters but made it to the semifinals.
This morning we went out for a run early so we could watch Benita Willis run the women's marathon. We ran into a few Irish staff members that kept us company, including Sonia O'Sullivan, one of greatest female distance runners in history. That was a great thrill for me since she was someone I always looked forward to watching to race when she was competing. We are now settled in for a morning of watching the Marathon so I had better get going.
Thanks again for all the support from home.
Aug. 3: More Progress, Women's Handball, Countdown to Athletics
The past two days have shown a lot of progress. We have been going to the physio every afternoon for about 90 minutes to get Ruben worked on and he seems to be coming along well. His hip was tight which was causing the knee pain. But his hip has loosened up quite a bit which has allowed some relief to the knee. The progress from a week ago is really remarkable and Ruben has well over 100 miles in the last 6 days, including a workout. Tomorrow we will be on the track in the afternoon for another track workout and hopefully we'll continue to see the progress. These are certainly not ideal circumstances but there has been so much progress that our confidence in the 5,000 meters is rising each day. The field Ruben will be racing against is likely the best 5,000 meter field ever assembled, so its a great honor just to be in the field. Rest assured, everything he has will be left on the track in Olympic Stadium.
Yesterday, I attended the technical meeting for Athletics (Track and Field) as the Cape Verde representative. No technical meeting is ever the greatest way to spend your time, but this was a bit different. Each country is only allowed a maximum of three representatives, so I was in the meeting with basically the top administrators and coaches from literally around the world. This will be the most excited I will ever be to attend a technical meeting, that's for sure. I just looked around the room and realized just how far I had come in my profession from my first coaching job as a junior high school assistant at the Keene Middle School. I thought back to coaching sixth, seventh and eighth graders; showing up for practice at Trinity not knowing anything about coaching a college team; going to practice my first day at the Merchant Marine Academy when one of the captains quit because I expected him to come to practice each day; and finally being introduced to the team at UMass Lowell in the stands at Costello (Athletic Center) by Joan Lehoullier (Senior Associate Director of Athletics). Its amazing to think back on all the steps along the way to get me here to London and all the people that have had a hand in getting me to this point. I would thank them all too many to list here but without all your help I would never have made it London.
Last night Ruben and I attend the Spain vs. Denmark women's handball game. For those that have never seen handball, its a cross of soccer, lacrosse and generally tackle the person with the ball. It was in a place called the Copper Dome (the outside is completely covered in copper, oddly enough) which was one of best venues I have ever been in to watch an event. We were literally on top of the action from our seats and I truly enjoyed the entire game... or match...Actually, I'm not even sure what its called, but you get the idea. Those women were unbelievable athletes and extremely tough. The only reason we even got tickets to handball was because it was a 4 minute walk from our apartment and I am really glad we experienced it.
Today on our morning run and dinner tonight I finally got a chance to meet up with, Benita Willis, one of Ruben's training partners in Colorado. I have heard so much about her, but never have had a chance to meet her in person. Benita has the very special distinction of being the last non-African winners of the World Cross Country Championships. She also holds many of the national records for Australia and has run the marathon in 2:22. She has also been a great help to Ruben as he has made his way through the world of professional running. It has been great for Ruben to have such an influence on his running and training. Now that I have spent some more time with Benita, I know why Ruben thinks so highly of her.
Tomorrow we have the first day of athletics so we are looking forward to getting that ball rolling. In the first session tomorrow morning, Lidiane Lopes from Cape Verde will be in the preliminary sections of the women's 100 meters - section four if you get a chance to watch.
Its hard to believe we have been here over a week - the time has gone by so fast. We are looking forward to finally seeing some great Track and Field performances live in Olympic Stadium over the next week!
All the feedback from the blog has been great, so keep it coming!
Aug. 1: Life in the Village, Security, Go Great Britain
I have been asked to write a bit about life in the Olympic Village, so I will do my best. The rooms themselves are very much like dorm rooms at Donahue Hall. Two people per bedroom with a common room and a bathroom in each suite. Some suites have big common areas which are used for offices for each Nation's Olympic committee or they are assigned an office in the same apartment complex for the larger teams. The team doctors' rooms have extra rooms that are quite large with a treatment table. I am sure the larger teams have an entire suite just for the medical team, if not a few of them.
The dining hall is open 24 hours a day with food from around the world in different sections, and of course a 24-hour McDonalds. That is where we see most of the people in village. We basically have seen everyone in that area from Dana Vollmer, the U.S. gymnastics team, Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt. It is definitely a people-watching paradise to be in the dining hall. Many of the Olympic athletes are getting pictures with the even more famous Olympic athletes. Although yesterday Prince William and Prince Harry were here, so that was pretty neat to see them touring the village.
Around the village, they're are also food vendors in booths and just walking around and everything is free if you wish to pick up something from them. You also get free use of all the drink vending machines in the village. The village is also equipped with a medical center with everything from MRI machines to alter G treadmills and also has dentistry and optical services. You have access to massage therapists and physical therapy whenever you need.
Inside the village the security is quite tight. You can't enter a building, even inside the village, without credentials. Leaving the village and coming back in is like an airport security screening each time, so you need to plan your schedule accordingly. Even going back and forth to Olympic Park you go through the same security screening.
The service throughout the entire village is first class and we have really enjoyed our stay thus far. I'm not sure if that covers most of it - if it doesn't, please forward me some specific questions.
The past two days we were able to go to the Great Britain vs Canada and United States vs Angola women's basketball games. The Great Britain-Canada game was very entertaining and ended with a four-point Canadian victory, but it was back and forth the entire game. The leading scorer for Great Britain, Johanna Leedham, played at Franklin Pierce, so we were rooting for her to do well. Ruben left after the first game and, after I went to get a drink, five kids came to get my autograph and pictures done with me but they were disappointed that Ruben had left the game. I did the best I could to put on a good show for them. That led to several spectators around me to ask who I was, thinking maybe I was famous for something. Unfortunately, I had to disappoint them. I did, however, meet a teacher from Springfield Central High School and her daughter who knew one of our incoming student-athletes, Mark Hegarty, so that was pretty cool.
This morning I had the Olympic Park Orientation for coaching staff members. They took us through the check-in areas through the tunnels to the final preparation area then out the tunnel and into Olympic Stadium which has been completely transformed from the opening ceremony into a track venue. I was able to walk around the stadium for a few minutes and look over everything on the track. For those wondering, the Olympic Flame has been moved to the side of the stadium that was the stage for Paul McCartney during the opening ceremony. It was really a thrill to follow the same journey that the best athletes in the world will take. It is even more exciting that one of our own River Hawks will be making that journey. I was also able to see where they line people up for the medal ceremonies after each event. I will be able to access most areas of the stadium, so I hope to do a fair bit of exploring when the competition gets underway for Athletics (Track and Field).
This afternoon I will be the Cape Verde representative for the technical meeting for Athletics and I am looking forward to that honor. It should be great to be in the room with the highest ranking track officials and coaches from across the world. Tonight, Ruben and I are attending a handball game which I know very little about, but Ruben says is extremely popular in Cape Verde. Tomorrow night, we are going to watch the boxing competition.
As a final note, Ruben did his first track workout yesterday and it went as well as we could of hoped which is great news! Once again thanks for all the support from home!
July 30: Progress Made, World Records, Another Opportunity
Since the opening ceremony, everything has progressed really well. In the last four days of training, Ruben has averaged 10-12 miles of flat running in the morning at Victoria Park then in the afternoon he has been getting on the alter G treadmill at 85% body weight and putting in another hour. For those not aware, an alter G treadmill actually can change the percentage of body weight you are actually running with through an air system. The goal is to put less strain on the body, and in Ruben's case, on his patella tendon. So his mileage total for the last four days is close to 100. Our goal is to get on the track Tuesday and get a workout, which would really be huge progress from a week ago when we flew to London and he hadn't run in three days.
We need to thank the physical therapy people at the Games particularly Neeko, who spent 2-3 hours with us a day all week to get us to this point. So, basically our day consists of an hour and a half of training in the morning then another hour of training in the afternoon with 2-3 hours of PT. That has kept us pretty busy but we have managed to still embrace the experience.
Besides the running part, our adventure around the Olympics has continued. Last night we attended the second swimming session and were able to witness two world records, one of which was Dana Vollmer in the 100 fly. The natatorium was loud from the moment she was in the pool and the announcers did a great job keeping everyone updated so you could easily follow the action and feel the emotion to build throughout the stadium. It made it even more special that she represents the United States.
We are able to put in for tickets for other sports through an on-line system so we are trying to get to a number of different sports. Last night the entire event was very cool because they sat us in the athlete and coach section of swimmers. I'm not sure we were supposed to be in that section, but I wasn't going to argue. We sat behind the Australian team and coaches and they had several athletes medal so the atmosphere was full of electricity. As a coach, it was great to get an upfront view of coaches from a different sport at the very top level. It was a privilege and motivating.
I have also been learning so much about different countries from around the world. I already did my research on Cape Verde so I have a pretty good grasp on the country's history (which was founded in 1975 for those curious). The link between many of the Portuguese countires is what I have found most interesting. All the coaches and athletes from the countries including Portugal have a very special bond and truly support each other. I have also made some special bonds with the Cape Verde delegation - socializing with them, eating and living with them has been a true learning experience. This entire experience is something I will treasure my entire life. They have welcomed me as a true member of team Cape Verde and I have started helping out by attending technical meetings and doing paperwork for the entire team. It is truly a privilege to be given the responsibility.
I need to tell my wife time to save some money - I have already been invited to another international competition for all Portuguese speaking countries - the 2013 Lusophone Games - in India next November at a beautiful beach resort. Next time, I want the entire family along to share these unforgettable experiences.
Tonight we are attending a women's basketball doubleheader first Great Britain vs. Canada, then the United States vs Angola. Its a tough life here in the village and I am trying not to suffer too much.
The e-mails and tweets from home have still been pouring in and Ruben and I love sharing them with each other so thanks again. I will be back with another blog in two days.
July 28: The Opening Ceremony
Wow! How do I start this edition of the blog?
This is the morning after the opening ceremony and I woke up to cheers from Olympic Park in an open bedroom window and the goose bumps and adrenaline returned so this is a perfect time to capture my feelings.
When this whole process started I wasn't sure, 1. if I was able to march in the opening ceremony and, 2. If I wanted to march. Once I found out I was able to march I wanted to make sure I wasn't impeding on the true stars of the Olympics the athletes. After discussing it with the team, since there are only three Cape Verde athletes at the Olympics, they were happy to have everyone march with them. That's when the excitement really started to build.
Last night was quite simply one of the best experiences of my life. It all started at 8:45 p.m. local time when the team (all seven of us) met in front of our village apartment and headed to our designated meeting spot. Each individual team has a specific time and spot to meet to start the march to the stadium. The distance from our complex to the stadium is under a one-mile walk. The stadium is actually closer, but a river separates the village from the stadium at the closest points. Our time to meet and head over was 9:08 and the London workers didn't let you leave until that exact time. We started our trek with volunteers handing us water and snacks since we would be on our feet for a good 3-4 hours. Not ideal if you had to compete today and many of the swimmers and cyclists didn't take part to rest for this mornings competitions. We marched through the park with all the London workers cheering, which was very cool. Then we turned the corner out of the village and it was like a bomb went off.
The entire walk to the stadium was lined six or seven people deep on both sides and they were going crazy. They wanted pictures with you, autographs, high fives and just cheered the entire walk. The walk itself took over 90 minutes but it went by so fast. Ruben must of signed hundreds of autographs at one point I was even signing autographs. You truly felt like the star of the event. Each country had a section of fans from a local school, so when we finally made it to Cape Verde section I was the first one on the fence yelling to the other members of the team. I was yelling back at the fans, signing autographs, getting pictures done...it was great.
After we got by the Cape Verde section, we were finally getting close to the tunnel and the butterflies started. Just before going into the stadium, Canada, the team in front of Cape Verde, started singing their national anthem - that was really neat. Then it was our turn we marched out in a line across the track and then you heard Cape Verde annouced and the stadium cheers went up. I think the small teams get a huge amount of support and we are certainly one of the smallest teams here. The march on the track was great waving at the crowd and everyone just being loud and truly happy. When we got to the point when we had to enter the infield I was ready for another lap.
The time on the infield waiting was a good opportunity to just soak in the entire atmosphere of the Olympic Games and, truly in my wildest dreams, I didn't imagine ever being in that position. Ruben was all over the infield posing for pictures getting autographs. The last team in was Great Britain and the place got so loud and the workers on the infield were very emotional which was awesome to witness.
We were very lucky - on the infield, our team was placed right next to the flame. I was able to capture some great pictures of the flame from about 12 feet away. The lighting was very cool and we were able to see all the events leading to the lighting of the torch on the big screens in the stadium. The night ended with Paul McCartney and singing a song I remember my mother and father listening to when I was very young, which gave me a very special connection.
After the singing we hiked back to the village and with all the excitement we were not able to sleep so we went to eat again. The dining hall, including McDonalds, is open 24 hours a day and everything in the village is free so we went and got some snacks and just went over the entire experience. This morning, the excitement of the entire event still hasn't worn off. This is a once in a lifetime experience and I feel like I am getting the most out of it right now. Tonight, Ruben and I are going to watch swimming. I have so much more to share but Ruben just got up and time for some training.
Last night, I received so many texts, emails and calls from people who were watching for us on NBC. Ruben and I were in our room at 3 a.m. when it was shown in the states, and everything started beeping and vibrating. It kept us up for a little longer, but that support and pictures people took from the ceremony on TV mean a tremendous amount to Ruben and I, so thank you very much.
Off to practice. I may have to slow Ruben down this morning if his adrenaline level is like mine!
July 26: Bumps, Big Names, Tight Security
Ruben and I are pretty settled here in Olympic Village. We've hit a few bumps along the way. This morning I woke up with conjunctivitis, but thankfully the service here was fantastic and I was seen by a doctor and had eye drops in less than 15 minutes.
The second bump was the testing of the firework display at midnight for the opening ceremony 200 meters from our fifth story window while Ruben and I were asleep. The final and most important bump is a touch of swelling in Ruben's knee. Yesterday we had a physical therapist work on him; we had him run on the alter G treadmill, get a massage and then get in the ice bath. The knee did feel a bit better this morning and we had him run normally but his second run will again be on the alter G today.
This morning Ruben and I ran through Olympic Park past all the venues including the basketball arena, BMX park, field hockey and volleyball venues, velodrome, Olympic stadium (I am sure I am missing a few). It was really a very inspiring run. We stumbled into a neighborhood park to run a few miles in just outside the gate of the warm-up track. We also got a chance to jog a few laps on the warm-up track just outside the main stadium to help Ruben get used to that area for the big day on August 8th.
We have spotted a few "big names" in the village: several world champions, the U.S. women's gymnastics and U.S. swimming team ate at the table next to us on Wednesday night. The U.S. track and field (or for the rest of the world athletic team) arrives at the village today. In every country but the United States, track and field is called athletics. More often than not, if you say 'track and field' people give you a funny look.
Security here is very tight. Just on our run today, we got stopped at six gates to check credentials by computer scan and went through four metal detectors all for 50-minute run. The entrance to our apartment is just across a walkway from the Israeli team which always has 2-4 guards with machine guns in the street. Its amazing what you can get used to in a few days - now we just say hi when we see them. The first day or so it was pretty intimidating.
We will try to update you again after the opening ceremony tomorrow. Both Ruben and I will be marching in the Cape Verde delegation. Today we also have the welcome ceremony to officially welcome Cape Verde to the Olympic Village (a ceremony is held for each country).
Thanks again for everyone who has sent emails and messages of support. its great to hear from you.
July 24: Settling in the Olympic Village
Ruben and I have arrived in London safely. We have now been up for over 27 hours and it's only noon here. The flight over was perfect - six hours before landing at Heathrow airport direct from Boston. The organizing committee met us at the airport and took care of everything to get us on the shuttle and fast tracked us through customs. On the ride to the Olympic Village we passed London Bridge, Buckingham Place, Thames River and Olympic Stadium. It was quite a ride.
We are now settled in Olympic Village and have met the rest of the Cape Verde delegation. Between coaches, athletes, a doctor and officials, there are 10 total people in London. The Village is quite large with everything an athlete needs to prepare. The security here has been quite tight, stopping each bus and searching it completely along with everyone on the bus before entering the Village. The dining hall is enormous with different areas set aside for food from each part of the world. Ruben and I had pasta and cereal for lunch - not very daring on our first venture.
We will have our first workout in London shortly then hopefully to bed early. Thanks for all the support from the entire UMass Lowell community.
