Yesterday, we left the Women’s triathlon event and after a long trip home and with the emotions of the race settling down, we headed for the incredible “Bird’s Nest” Stadium for a night of track and field. Our seats ended up being in the second row, right at the track which was quite a treat. Although we were exhausted it was a great night of athletics and it ended with the crowd cheering on a Russian athlete to a world record high jump.
The next morning we headed back to the triathlon site for men’s race. Another beautiful day and we took our seats in the Canadian section. It was good to visit with Lauren Groves who had broke her elbow the day before in the women’s crash and see that she as still in good spirits and funny as usual. Kirsten Sweetland was there too and pulled out an old T-Shirt of Simon Whitfield that one of his sponsors had made for the volunteers at the 2001 Victoria International Triathlon – probably the last one in existence. When the Canadian Men’s Team was announced it was another proud moment for Lance and I, having coached all 3 of the men at some point in their careers and then seeing them here on the starting line at the Olympic triathlon.
We invited friend Annamay Pierse to watch the race with us. Annamay is a Canadian swimming star who made the finals in the 200 breaststroke in Beijing and a “closet triathlete”. Annamay brought along Canadian phenom freestyler and medley relay team mate Erica Morningstar to check out the race. And wow, did they get a show.
If you are reading this story there is a very high likelihood that you saw the race, or at least the highlights. It was the most exciting triathlon that I have experienced, and may go down as the most exciting triathlon in history. Simon Whitfield being dropped from the lead runners and then surging back up to the group simply does not happen in our sport, never mind 3 times, it is almost unfathomable! And then to sprint by to take the lead – what incredible guts. He might have even started a bit too early with his sprint or he may have won it, but he had to play his cards to be first into the turn and it did spread it out the leaders. What a great race, it was electric, exciting, and so good for our sport.
Congrats also to Paul Tichelaar who is always such a competitor and Colin Jenkins for being part of the Canadian Team.
After the race we decided to take a local bus and see where it took us. We weren’t sure if we were heading away from Beijing, into the mountains, or back to the city. It was actually very interesting to go through some of the rural areas that were not affected by the Games to see how the locals were really living. Fortunately for us the bus ended up dumping us off at the new train line that was built for the Olympics which a beautiful new modern, clean system. It took us to a station where we jumped on a bus back to the Olympic site and out hotel. We got home from the triathlon venue, an hour north of town, right to our hotel for 60 cents!
In the evening it was off to the Powerbar hospitality party with Lisa and Richard. Thanks to Zibi and the Powerbar staff for their great hospitality. It was a nice night with a Chinese barbeque, a socializing with the Powerbar support team, coaches, and athletes including US swim star Peter Vanderkaay, who was part of Michael Phelps gold-medal winning relay, and Chunxiu Zhou, the Chinese woman who finished 3rd in the Olympic marathon, and of course Lisa Mensink, LifeSport Olympic athlete! We pulled up a picture of Lisa’s crash on the web and it was a good conversation piece at the party.
After that it was over the famous Heineken House to celebrate Lisa’s Dutch heritage. Heineken House has become an institution at each Olympic Games. The Dutch leased out an entire Chinese pagoda and the grounds around it and set up a village that includes tributes to the athletes and coaches, stores selling Dutch merchandise, a beer gardens, a full night club, games area and restaurant. It is quite the operation and is a lot of fun. We decided get in on some local spirit with some table tennis matches!
Today, we head back to Canada and directly to Ironman Canada. We are fortunate to do what we love because most people would be on the way home with some post-Olympic depression, but we get to go to Penticton and coach our athletes there. This trip has been wonderful and congratulations to Beijing for putting on a spectacular show. In a more peaceful time in our world these Games would have been even better with less security and restrictions, and you can’t blame the Chinese for that. I predicted that China would win the gold medal and overall medal counts when they were first awarded the Games and everyone thought I was crazy. It looks as though it may come true and with the legacy of these Games inspiring the masses here, the Chinese may dominate sport for the rest of our lifetimes. History does show that world superpowers do change but it is hard to see this one slowing down in sport, economics, culture, or anything else it chooses to do. Congrats to Lisa for her journey in making the Olympic Team and giving Lance and I a reason to come to these Games and have another amazing Olympic experience.
Lauren Groves shows off broken elbow from bike crash
Kirsten Sweetlands Whitfeild shirt she recieved at Kids of Steel 8 years ago
Gomez marches to swim start
Nova Scotian Lobster Head
Chinese Cheerleaders at Triathlon
Whitfeild gets Silver!
Lance catches up with Laura Bennett after her 4th place finish
200m breast stroke and 4x100m medley relay finalist Annamay Pierse
Sweet track side seats
Men line up for steeple chase
Stadium at night
