The Latest Twitter Updates from "Peijing"

Long plane rides can get cold. If they last 13 hours and you’re next to a behemoth man with his AC vent on high, they can get very cold. I always end up next to that man (be it my 6′5″ husband, or the 6′5″ 300lb man I had the good fortune of being paired with on my way home from Beijing), and therefore always wear a long-sleeved something-or-other on flights.Well all I had heard about pre-Beijing was how hot and sauna-like it was over there, and I fully blame that for my not remembering to pack anything with long sleeves for the flight over. So my first purchase on our first night in China was a Beijing 2008 Olympics team USA zippie. Useful for our arctic hotel room, and, I was thinking, also for the flight home. Unbeknownst to me, it was also the same zippie that our US athletes were issued. I herein became a poser Olympian for the rest of the trip. A “Polympian”, if you will.

This wasn’t actually that big of a deal in Beijing because the only places I wore it were our frigid hotel room and just once to a club. It was freezing that night. What do you want from me? Now granted, I also had on flip-flops, a ball cap, and jeans that I’d worn almost everyday for the past 2 weeks, but I’m married, what do I care if anyone else finds me attractive anymore? I know that statement just struck fear into the hearts of all the single men reading this blog (hi Jeff!), but go with me on this one. All I meant is it’s nice to be able to wear a zippie and flops to a club and not really care that your experience will pretty much be the same whether you’re sporting that, or you have on your cutest outfit with a killer blow-out. We were out where all the athletes go though, so I was very much committing the fashion faux pas of what Jake likes to call “wearing the t-shirt to the concert.” ‘Twould have been bad enough had I been an actual athlete gearing it up out in public. As it was, I was the “polympian”… a crime punishable by death in some Olympic circles.

And just when I thought I couldn’t be more of a disappointment to anyone than I was to the HHFC friends and family (see “All dressed up and no one to interview” post below)… enter my flight home. I had no fewer than 17 people come up to me during the pre-boarding line alone to ask me what I did at the Olympics. Did I win a medal? What was my event? What was that object in my mysterious oblong carry-on?! I so wanted to live up to their curiosity…
“Oh that, that’s my javelin. Yeah, they fold up into these handy carrying cases. Convenient, huh?”
“What that little thing? Oh you must mean my Field Hockey stick. Yeah, we were so glad to qualify. It’s been since ‘96, you know?!”

Instead I had to ‘fess up that I was just a reporter and that was my tripod case. Waahhmp Waaahhh…
I’ve never seen such crushed faces. When the young brother-sister combo from Colombia came up (autograph pen and paper in tow) to me and asked if I was an Olympian you would have thought I’d followed my “Sorry, no” with, “Oh and by the way, there’s also no Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny is a complete myth, and your Dad is the Tooth Fairy.” It was the girl who asked me and when I answered her brother shot her an “I told you so” look like none other I’d seen. Big brothers are great at calling you out when you already feel like a complete bozo. I sympathized with my little Colombian friend in that moment because my big brother also excels in that area. Still, there was nothing I could do to make my story any cooler than it was.

On the actual plane ride I got it at least 20 more times. At one point, one of the flight attendants came by, stooped down by my seat and whispered, “Ok… all the flight attendants are wondering… what’s your sport, and how’d you do?” I of course answered honestly, and was surprised to see (hear) that my answer set my whole row off in murmurs of “awww”s and “what?!” (Who knew they were all snooping in on our conversation?!). And you know they were all thinking, but where’d you get that jacket then?!

So… lesson learned. When you’re pseudo athletic-looking and traveling anywhere near an Olympic city, don’t wear misleading gear. It’s just not fair to a star-crazed fan base craving an up-close-and-personal experience with the Rings. In the States, however, where I am now… you can bet I’ll be sporting my USA zippie with pride wherever I watch the Closing Ceremonies. Here it’s not posing… it’s just team spirit. Go USA!

I am literally running to the airport right this very second (but this won’t be the last post, don’t worry!), but wanted to get my pics from yesterday up before I took off.  They’re pretty self-explanatory (especially if you use the hints I gave you in the title of this post (see how I look out for you people :-)), but a couple notes…

-We picked the worst possible day in the world to go “see” the Great Wall.  See below pic for explanation of quotes around “see”.

-The Bird’s Nest and the Cube really are some of the coolest pieces of architecture evah.  And the most crowded to get away from.

-Club Bud is why I got stood up for at least 3 interviews this week, so I had to at least give you a glimpse…

I just got stood up for an interview I’ve been trying to book since I got here 2 weeks (2 weeks?!) ago. His reason? “I… oh my gosh… I totally forgot to set my alarm.” Ummmm… did I mention it’s 2pm here? He continued on with, “… well I didn’t get in ‘til 7:30 this morning. There’s this big place here that Budweiser sponsors…” Yeah, you can stop right there buddy. I’m familiar with “Club Bud.” And yet I still manage to awaken myself before nightfall the following day after an outing there.

When I was chatting with Phelps before our interview (you like how I just throw that in there like it happens everyday, “So then the biggest Olympic name in history and I were hangin’ the other night…” How annoying am I?) he was saying how now is the most fun time in the Village because as people finish up competitions it becomes par-tay central. But that’s neither here, nor there… and I’m actually not that mad at my little no-show. He’s done with his event and he’s enjoying himself at the Olympics. Who am I to judge?
But in the interest of making (insert Chinese delicacy here) out of chop suey, I decided to blog about the spot where we were supposed to meet. I certainly had had plenty of time to get to know it while I looked for him all over the building. Sooo… allow me to introduce you to the “Bank of America Hometown Hopefuls Family Center:”

Olympic athletes are pretty much the only ones allowed inside the Village for the most part, so aside from being just a cool-looking facility, the HHFC is the one private-ish spot in which our U.S. athletes can hang with the friends and family members who traveled halfway across the world to see them compete in the Games. They’ve got several constant food buffets going, TVs everywhere showing competitions in real-time, an internet lounge, and even a full-time masseuse. Aahhh the life of an Olympian. Or even a friend of an Olympian…
My favorite part of being there though, is listening to all the conversations going on among the family members. Most of the people are totally down to earth and cool, but there are those select few who you know got kicked out of at least one game per season that their kid was playing in for yelling too much. They’re fairly tame at the HHFC because there’s no actual competition taking place at the time, but overhearing some of the conversations is like what I imagine it would be to sit in the waiting room of a baby food commercial with 200 stage moms. “And then little Johnny sat up on his own when he was just 2 weeks old. 2 weeks, can you imagine?!” “Oh that’s nothing; my Susie could recite the Pythagorean Theorem before her 2nd birthday. And her Russian pronunciation skills are just so dead-on… don’t even get me started.” But for these people they’re instead talking about how their kid could out-run Carl Lewis by his freshman year of high school, or put Mia Hamm to shame on the soccer field with her eyes closed. I just want to pull everybody aside and say, “Pssst, you’re at the Olympics. Everybody’s kid is that good. You’re not impressing anyone.” Unless, of course, you’re Debbie Phelps, in which case you can say whatever the heck you want.
I have to admit though; it is kind of cool though to see the parents of the Olympians. I mean, these are people who produced some of the best athletes in the entire world. They themselves often look like they just walked out of an extras shoot for “Conan the Barbarian.” Several of them struck up conversations with me at the buffet line, asking what sport I played. I’ve never felt like more of a disappointment in my life. Instead of continuing to explain that “well, I used to play softball. I played my freshman year at UNC, but I never really loved the sport…. and I… uh…well…” I should have just ended it with “am nowhere near as impressive as your freakishly athletic child.” I opted instead for the more quick and to-the-point, “What a waste of 6 feet, huh?” Oh and by the way, I just got stood up for an interview I’ve been trying to get for the past 2 weeks. Yeah, you guys have a great day too.

Steven, Mark, and Diana Lopez, aka “The First Family of Tae Kwon Do” make up the first family of 3 siblings to compete for the US in the Olympics since 1904. But back then, the sibs (the Tritschler gymnasts) came home empty-handed. The Lopezes, on the other hand, are expected to head back to Sugarland, TX with medals in tow, and they start their competition today.
I met with them early last week to talk about their upcoming matches, play a little “Newleyweds“-style game with them, and of course… discover their “stupid human tricks”:

No cutesy titles on this one. An interview with the biggest Olympics name since… well, since ever really… kinda speaks for itself. Don’t ya think?
2 days after breaking the Olympic record for most Gold Medals won by any athlete in one Olympics, Michael Phelps is larger than life. He’s also dieing for a huge burger and fries, some QT with his dog Herman, and a beach vacation with buddies (all things I overheard in the 2 hours I was waiting for my interview time slot). I was the only reporter there in the flesh -everyone else was talking with Michael via satellite from back in the States. And by the time I got to him he’d been answering questions for 4 hours straight. Ouch.
Still, when I sat down next to him (close enough to see the razor burn on his freshly shaved legs) he was very pleasant and talkative. Just see for yourself…

Read a v informative and V entertaining game recap right here.  Here are my pics from the game:

I love to shop. Well, I at least like to shop. Kind of a lot. And I like to think I’m pretty good at it. But I met my match yesterday at the Silk Market in Beijing…
The so-called “Silk Market” is a 7-story shopping mall of sorts that sells everything from jewelry, to bed sheets, to Chinese tea… and everything in-between. It is a shopper’s paradise. And a barterer’s absolute utopia. I decided pretty early on that I wasn’t in the mood to fake price squabble with every 3rd stall salesperson yelling “hello pretty lady… you like Gucci purse for you?” Even though they promised to “give me nice price”, I opted instead to wander each floor, taking in the sights and sounds, and keeping the little Yuan I have left safely tucked inside my passport folder (carry it with you everywhere here!).
I did, however, come across one v cool part of the Silk Market that had nothing at all to do with selling me anything. Well, at least not directly. It was an exhibit outlining how silk comes to be. And it was fascinating. You can read all about the painstaking process right here, and I highly recommend that you do because it really is quite interesting. See pics below for all the gory details…

If you believe what you’ve read about the smog in Beijing (which, unfortunately, you probably should), you know why every picture I’ve posted so far has looked like I took it about 5 minutes before a torrential downpour. Nope. That’s the smog folks. It constantly looks as if the entire country of 8 bajillion people (or is it 9 bajillion now? I’ve lost count…) has simultaneously exhaled the smoke from their non-filtered cigarettes. But yesterday was an exception. It was sunny, clear, and absolutely gorg. The proof is in the pictures:

Chinese people seem to kind of dig the smog though, to be perfectly honest. Most people I saw were scrambling for shade all day yesterday like the beams of sun were acid falling from the sky. But here’s one thing that has me stumped: it seems to be very commonplace for Chinese people to carry umbrellas every single day of their lives regardless of the actual weather, which is usually decidedly smogtastic. Rainy day? An umbrella absolutely makes 100% sense for obvious reasons. Sunny day? Sure, I’ll buy that. I myself used to rock an umbrella when I was living in Honduras. That sun is stri-zong, and this Scandinavian girl’s skin was not havin’ it. But smoggy day? I mean, what is the point? Does the water-repellant fabric also carry with it some sort of anti-pollutant that guards your lungs from the poisonous air? Are they all just beating the possibility of rain to the punch? “No 3 seconds of raindrops for me while I reach into my purse! I’ll have my umbrella out the whole time just in case.” Or maybe they all just really buy into the “you get more sun on a cloudy day” myth our moms tried to scare us with growing up.
However you slice it, it looked like Tucson here yesterday and the tourists were lovin’ it. Now we’re back to the usj (short for “usual”, but tough to spell.  Just go with me on this one.), but I don’t actually mind the cooler, grayer, non-squinty days-o-smog.  I’m so in touch with the Chinese people. 

Our US Olympics Field Hockey Beijing contingent includes 6 Tar Heels, 2 Deamon Decons, 80+ friends and family from back here in the States… and a partridge in a pear tree.  Check out the video below for more on where and how they all get to hang out in China.  And to see Rachel Dawson’s rockin’ dance moves.

Write a funny caption for any of the photos below and win… uh… the respect and admiration of your peers!

 

Had a shoot yesterday in the Lenovo “I-Lounge” (Athlete computer lounge) inside the Olympic Village. The Village is usually open only to athletes and VIPs (ie friends of the security folks), but Lenovo is able to give out passes into the lounge every now-and-then so I snatched one up for yesterday. After promising my first-born son, all of my next 4 paychecks, and the rest of my peanut butter crackers to the lady at the front desk, she let me and my co-hort in Olympic intrigue (aka recent UNC graduate Suzi Tart) run outside of the I-Lounge walls for a tour. As long as we promised to be back in 5 minutes. So what you see here are the pics I snapped on my whirlwind visit into the “Forbidden City” (not that one)…
I counted at least 25 different country names on clothes adorning the chiseled physical specimens walking the grounds around us, but got some dirty looks when I tried to get pics of random people, so you’ll just have to take me at my word on that. I didn’t want to risk getting the boot from a Russian who looked like she could kick my butt 4 different ways to Friday.
Other than the sing-song sound of innumerable different languages being spoken within a 100 foot radius… it really does feel like just what you’ve heard; a college campus. A college campus where you have to have 2 percent body fat or less to be admitted. In the middle, there’s a ginormo metal Olympic rings display that you can actually climb up onto (see above pics for this and all references here-in. As if you haven’t figured that out by now.), and an amphitheater where a group of Chinese kids was practicing some sort of performance while we were there. The athlete dorms are strictly off limits to anyone other than the athletes (hence the name…). And all the other “buildings” are big temporary tents housing things like a general store, a Chinese culture center, a bathroom, etc. At least that’s what the signs said, but we’ll have to take their word on that too. I wasn’t allowed in to confirm any of their claims.
I think my favorite thing in the whole Village was the salon. Yes people, they have a real honest-to-goodness full-service salon in there. Now that was worth risking life and limb to get at least one little pic. Mani/pedis, facials, waxing, blow-out… you name it, they do it. I think if I were an athlete that’s where I’d spend all my time just pampering my perfect little Olympian bod. But that’s probably a good indicator to us all of why I’ll never sniff that level of athleticism. Ho-hum… but you can’t say I don’t have great nails.

Not to beat a dead horse, but I did indeed find at least one copy of the aforementioned pic that proves I did indeed meet (and side-snuggle with) President Bush.  Take a look… and feel free to clown me for not taking off my sunglasses.

About 100 of my fellow Americans and I got to meet the leader of the free world today, and that’s pretty darn cool.

The pictures above are:

· Bush with some of the USA Baseball players and coaches

· Bush with Durham Bulls pitcher Jeremy Cummings. Good dude, that Cummings. Jeremy is such a sweet, mild-mannered guy… I had to grab him and make him go sit by el Presidente so he’d have a pic of himself with the Pres to show his kids (wife is about to pop back in the States with baby girl #1!)

· Jake (not at all subtly) sneaking into the background of photos while Bush is signing baseballs. I just had to include this one because it’s such a classic Jake move and will make anyone laugh who knows him. And if you do know him, you probably have a picture of him doing the same thing at your wedding/graduation/birthday party.

Bush came by the Wukesong Baseball field to meet the US and China baseball teams (they scrimmaged in the afternoon) and the rest of us who were lucky enough to bribe the right people for a day pass to the stadium got to get in a handshake, a pic, and in my case a lame attempt at witty banter with good old Dubya. He was very friendly, way down-to-Earth, and… I liked the guy. There, I said it. Say what you will about his politics, his proposals and his… poor pronunciations (The guy couldn’t say “nuclear” correctly to save his life, bless his heart. But that’s no reason to hate the man.), but you can’t say he’s not a nice enough guy. His daughters are about my same age (ahem… give or take a year or two), and meeting him I kind of felt like I was hanging out with one of my friends’ dads. Only my friends dads don’t usually have big bald dudes ask me to “please back away 3 feet now” after I talk to them for 30 seconds. But that’s neither here, nor there…

And I’ll bet you’re wondering why I’m not posting the picture where I’m actually in the photo with the President. No, it’s not because I’m too modest to self-promote like that (C’mon, you should know me better than that by now). It’s because I lost all my brain cells when the President gripped my hand, gave me a hearty “C’mere Page”, and pulled me in for a “picture hug” (the ones where you embrace, but only on the sides of your body, grin like heck for the camera, and then release with an awkward side-squeeze), and I was literally holding my own camera in my hand as about 3 random people I’ve never seen before in my life snapped away at my one chance for Presidential posterity. Whoops. But I’m determined to find at least one of those 3 people, and when I do, you can bet all of Crawford, Texas (no relation) that I’ll post the pic right here for you to see.

Have I yet mentioned that I started off my Olympics experience interviewing Gold Medalist Jennie Finch (see video below) within my first few hours in China?! Yeah, sorry for the delay in posting this… my editing software was hating me as much as my last cab driver (see tweet from yesterday afternoon) up until today. But anywho… talk about starting things off with a bang! Or should I say a knock-out? Because she is one. I mean, that girl is gorg. She’s also, by the way, one of the top female athletes in the world, wife to minor league baseball pitcher Casey Daigle, mother of a presh 2-year old little boy, and… sweet as sugar to boot. I kind of heart her.

And just for kicks I had to include this freeze-frame of me getting ROCKED in a tall-off. I’m 5′11″ barefoot, so I rarely have to look up to other women, or men for that matter. But Jenny is a different story. The books list her at 6′1″, but I would tack another inch (or 2) on there if it was up to me. I mean, just look at this picture! The girl is big-time.

My Opening Ceremonies “watch party” turned out to be kind of a bust. As I previously threw him under the proverbial bus for, you know Jake had ditched me earlier in the evening to watch the Ceremonies live (Relax, I made him go.  He tried to stay with me but I couldn’t let him miss that.) So I thought it’d be fun to catch the show with some locals in one of the much-hyped “live viewing” parties around town. The paper said one place would be showing the ceremonies on the 2nd largest TV screen in the world. I bit.

Turns out, that “TV” screen, albeit GINORMOUS, was in fact more of a block-long overhead scrolling advertisement for Coke than a way to show the Opening shin-dig. They did show the Ceremonies, but on 3 smaller (and lower… and behind high walls where you had to peek through tree limbs to see the picture) screens. False advertising if you ask me but hey, it got me there.

But right at the moment I happened upon a limb-free viewing spot… there they were marching into the show; our U.S. Olympic Ralph Lauren models. And I have to say… I got a little vaclempt when I saw them come out. I was one of very few Americans there, and I felt very proud. And very tall. I noticed several people around me glancing in my direction and nudging each other when our team made its debut (What, I can’t be from Norway? Sweden?), and I was glad to hear some clapping break out among the crowd as our team paraded by. The shot of Dubya was met with only mild booing, and the crowd went wild when the camera caught Kobe working the crowd. I mean that man can rock a driving cap. Which reminds me… Ralph hooked it up for our men. But the women were looking a little rough in those outfits. Couldn’t we have come up with just a slight variation to make our ladies look as cute as the guys? A tennis skirt?  A white headband instead of the hat? I’m just sayin.

Overall good Opening Ceremonies times though. China rocked the world stage. And now it’s our turn to put on the show. Go Team USA!

Can you believe that first-thing off the plane we ran into two of the most recognizable Olympic figures over here?! Even got pics…

These “Fuwa” (aka “Friendlies”) totally live up to their names, and they’re all over every billboard in China.

Jake looks excessively excited to meet the yellow one. My boy loves him some friendlies.

2 hours down, 14 more to go. I made it safe and sound on the RDU to EWR (Newark, NJ) flight. But now comes the big daddy… 14 loooong hours from the U-S of A all the way over to China. Buckle up baby, this is gonna be a killer.
To make matters worse, I myself am not much of a flyer. I don’t like things I don’t understand, and a multi-ton piece of equipment virtually floating in thin-air doesn’t make much sense to me, so it tends to not be my favorite thing to do. I used to love to fly. Couldn’t get enough of the thrill of take-off… the excitement of landing in a new place. A smooth flight was boring. Turbulence was my thing. Now, not so much. As I board the plane I’m constantly thinking about how appropriately every conversation going on around me will fit into the made-for-TV movie about how our plane tragically went down just 5 minutes into the flight. Morbid, much?
As soon as we’re prepped for take-off I close my eyes and keep them that way until the blessed moment when I hear the “ding dong” sound that means we’ve reached a height safe enough for iPods. Then I hook up and pick a playlist that promises to be soothing as I imagine what it would feel like to hit the dreaded “wind pockets” I’ve heard so much about.
During take-off I become quite Helen Keller-esque. I can’t see anything (remember my eye-closing/”ding dong” rule), but the rest of my body is keenly aware of how fast, slow, or sidewise the plane is at that moment. My nose is poised for any weird smells, and my ears are straining to hear every bit of conversation on the plane. On this flight I’m praying I’ll continue to hear the woman in 16 B trying to badger the awkward 20-something dude (who, btw, looks like all he wants to do right now is sleep off his hangover) into an in-depth conversation all flight long. All of this, of course, being a much more attractive alternative to hearing any gasps, screams, or fear-inducing little munchkins innocently asking how Mommy made the wing catch on fire. You see where my imagination goes with this, people?!  Like I said… I’m really not much of a flyer.
So on that note… off I go to board part 2 of what will soon register as the longest flight of my life.
See you on the flipside.  I hope!

This pic is from the “Pintsized Sports” shoot last week at the Marbles Kids Museum.  They got some HI-larious stuff on tape. You’ll def want to tune in to NBC 17’s “Olympic Zone” show starting Saturday, August 8th (7:30pm ET). 

Meantime, try your hand at a caption for this picture (you can put it in the “comments” section below).  Surely you can beat my lame “Village People” reference…

Do you remember the old Reebok “Dan and Dave” commercials?  Well I talked with Dan (O’Brien) of “Dan and Dave” last week and got his take on the upcoming Games, some of our local athletes, and even found out he’s got a local connection to us right here in Raleigh (his in-laws live here).  But we almost missed this tid-bit because I told him to “shut up” when he first mentioned it.  Doesn’t anyone else say that in that context?!…  Apparently not, because his whole control room and ours bust out laughing as soon as it came out of my mouth.  Ooops. 

I guess I could have used a friendlier version of what I was trying to convey… like, “No way!” “Get outta here!” or “Really?!”… but hey, I’ve always been a little rough around the edges.  Good thing Dan didn’t seem to mind.  I went ahead and kept this little pre-interview banter in though (you can see me laugh during the time-delay pause that always makes sat interviews so fun, as my Director Tom says in my ear “he’s not gonna answer you… you just told him to “shut up”) because I think it’s pretty cool that he has a Triangle connection.  That is, after all, what the “Peijing” site is all about!

In addition to spending his every 3^rd Thanksgiving in the Tar Heel state, Dan also gets cool points for making it through a devastating loss at the Olympic Trials for the 1992 Barcelona Games, and coming back to kick tail in Atlanta in ‘96… winning the gold medal and earning himself the title “World’s Greatest Athlete”.  And as if all that wasn’t enough… I just googled him and found out he and I have the exact same birthday.  Dan, I knew I felt a connection during that interview…

Now he’s giving back to his sport by training Arizona State track star Jacquelyn Johnson and he’s a part of the Goodyear “Get There’ Award program.  I take back what I said before Dan.  Don’t shut up.  You definitely have lots of good stuff to talk about.

A Beijing press credential is tough to get.  Or should I say, was, tough to get.  Now it’s darn near impossible.  Especially when you apply for it two months before the Games.  But if it’s a question of go sans credential and get what you can or simply don’t go at all, the decision is an easy one.  Ya just gotta get creative… 

One type of story I”ll do is “Jaywalking” style man-on-the-street interviews.  You know, like on “The Tonight Show” where Leno’s people go out and ask questions like “Who’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?” to random people.   

I had a satellite interview with Ann Curry the other day and decided to try some of my questions out on her.  Probably not my best idea of the week.  Ann was a v good sport, but seeing as how she’s never been to North Carolina and that’s what all my questions were about… it was a tad awkward.  Take a look at the interview, compare your own answers with Ann’s… and then let me know your ideas for word associations and/or questions to ask people about in Beijing.  Clearly, I could use the help.

Ni hao (hello) folks!
Welcome to the land of the Olympic-Bound! The games are a mere 16 days away… and I don’t know about you, but I’m prettty pumped. I’ve been to college bowl games, The Final Four, even a Superbowl… but I’ve never experienced anything close to the scale of an Olympics. And I cannot wait!
T-minus exactly two weeks until I leave for Beijing… but before we jump ahead, let’s take a look at where we’ve been. Take a little scroll down the page, and you’ll see I’ve posted some past interviews with current and former Olympians. Take a peak when you have a minute and catch yourself up on where we are up to this point. I’ll see you back here soon with more…

… and she’s willing to help other people too.  Even when they’re her competition.  Or at least were her competition.  Two lucky local high schoolers (one of whom competed against Natalie at the Olympic trials this summer) came into the studio earlier this year to join me in talking with Natalie about swimming, schools, and life:

 

 

It’s moments like these that make the Olympics magical. It’s moments like these that make you want to get up and cheer for your favorite athletes. And now you can.  And they’ll actually be able to see you do it.   At the “Americas Cheer” website you can upload encouraging videos for all the athletes headed to Beijing.

NBC 17’s Page Crawford talked with former Olympic gymnast Kerri Strug and current Olympic Badminton player (yes, that is an Olympic sport!) Howard Bach about how much these videos mean to them…

 

 

USA Baseball’s Jake Fehling and NBC 17’s Page Crawford talk with Journalist Gideon Yago and Taekwondo Olympian Steven Lopez about how to avoid offending the entire nation of China during the Olympic games…

*With bonus surprise pre-interview footage!