Greetings from Olympia, where it is a little cooler than it has been.  There is a breeze today, so the heat isn’t quite as stifling.  That will come in handy tonight, as I have a tennis match against Xiu from China at 6:00 PM, and a football game at 7:00 PM.  I have been placed on Team Zidane, which is named after former French national team player Zinedine Zidane, who is most famous in the US for being sent off in the final game of the 2006 World Cup.
 
Yesterday the main speaker was Irena Szewinska, a 5-time Olympian (1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, and 1980) from Poland.  All told, she took home 3 gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze medals from the Olympic Games.  During her career, she set 5 World Records.  No big deal, right?  She spoke briefly about the terrorist attack during the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, and said that the athletes were hoping that the Games would not be called off.  When asked about other political activities, she said “In Mexico City, we could see the black hands of the two athletes but that was related to something in the United States.”  I have seen the famous act by Tommie Smith and John Carlos many times in pictures, and heard them speak about this on ESPN’s Sports Century, but I was a little surprised that this was seen by other competitors as a big deal.  I fully admit my naivety to the brevity of the situation, as Irena made it known that it was a big deal world wide.
 
Last night I was following the Twins-Phillies game on ESPN GameCast while sending e-mails back and forth with my brother.  I went to bed when the Phillies went up 8-3 in the 3rd inning, so I was pumped to see that the Twins came back in the 9th with 5 runs to force extra innings, and then finally won in the 11th.  I was given a piece of paper with the Twins’ schedule, so I always know when to check the results.  So far, the Twins are 3-2 since I left.  Go Twins!
 
I was ambitious this morning, as I decided to go on a run into Olympia and back.  Our schedule is pretty much booked during the day, and it’s way too hot to run outside at that time anyways, so I knew that I had to run this morning in order to get my workout in.  I wore just my shorts, and when I got back to the IOA, I joined the morning exercise group.  I was the only one not wearing a shirt, so I asked one of the coordinators (supervisors) if it was okay that I didn’t have a shirt on.  His response?  “You’re in Ancient Olympia – you don’t have to wear shorts if you don’t want.”  Ah, that’s okay, I will keep my shorts on.
 
It was quite ironic that my playlist this morning was all Eric Church, as I just saw him in concert two days before I left.  When we were out to eat before the concert, our server noticed two of my friends’ cauliflower ears.  She asked if we were boxers, so Sam Barber, the assistant coach at the Air Force Academy, without missing a beat said that we were members of the Arkansas River Boxing Club.  That being said, any guesses to what the morning exercise was?  Boxing.  Only fitting.
 
When I went back to my room to shower before breakfast, I noticed that I had an e-mail from a very well respected man in the wrestling world.  He is following this blog, so he had some advice for me: Work hard, carry the colors well, soak up the Olympic Spirit, make friends, but don't forget to shower.  Great advice.
 
Our lecturer this morning was an archaeologist, and he spoke about the idea of the Olympic Truce.  I was sitting next a Swiss participant, and she said that she was going to have to look up the word “truce,” because she thought all along he was speaking of “truth,” but she was mistaken.  I wonder how many other people that speak English as a second or third language think the same.  I forgot to say that the professor was from Austria, so I thought that he sounded just like Arnold Schwarzenegger.  The professor pointed out that the Greek words for peace (eirene) and truce (ekecheiria) are not the same, as truce was only a cease-fire during the Olympic Games.  I have a feeling that this will be discussed a bunch in the next week-and-a-half.
 
The World Cup is really drawing the attention of people here.  Last night, as Denmark and Cameroon were playing, many of the participants were fully engaged in the game.  Daniel, one of the Danish representatives, was draped in the Danish flag and wearing a red Viking hat.  Needless to say, he was just a little excited when the Danes went up 2-1.  If you watched the game, you saw that there were many times when both teams had great chances to score, so the crowd was very raucous.  I will video tape the crowd one of these nights and try to post the video on our YouTube site.
 
At the end of our lecture this morning, Weipang Lu from China came over and we traded pins (a common practice here).  I asked him what his American name would be, and he said that it is Kevin, because he is a big Kevin Garnett fan.  He said that his e-mail address and Facebook are both Kevin, so I guess I tend to believe him.
 
We brought some gifts over to the IOA from the USOC (basketball, football, volleyball, swim goggles, among other items), so we had to speak to the dean and ask when he would like for us to present to him.  Well, when speaking to him, we found out that Angie and I are scheduled to read our essays used in the application process aloud.  Wow, neither of us knew that was coming, so now it’s time to read over my essay so I’m prepared tomorrow morning.  If anyone would like to wake up in the middle of the night to check this out, go to www.ioa-sessions.org at 4:00 AM  Eastern Time to tune in.
 
Citius!  Altius!  Fortius!
 
UPDATE: I held on to defeat Qiu from China in tennis tonight in the first round.  We played to 3, and I won 3-2 (7-2).  I seemed to pour it on in the tiebreaker.  I think I was playing uphill, which seemed to work perfect as I normally hit balls long when I try to hit the ball harder.
 
Well, the votes are in for Man of the Match in our football game.  No, there are no votes of such a thing, but I can tell you that I definitely would NOT have been voted such.  My team lost 8-1.  No joke, 8-1  Hopefully I’m not too sore tomorrow or Tuesday from running and cutting.