Olympics Diary from Kate Johnson (Part 3)
8/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | Rowing, Olympics
University of Michigan women's rowing alumna Kate Johnson (1998-2001) is a member of the United States women's eight boat which will compete at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece. Johnson is providing periodic updates on her trip.
We are in Athens! I have been here for three full days and am at the start of a beautiful fourth. It is gorgeous here. When we flew in from Bulgaria we could see the course from the plane window just a mile inland from the Aegean Sea. It really was a spectacular sight. The airport had "Welcome Olympic Family" signs everywhere. We climbed onto a bus and made our way one hour outside of Athens to Schinias where the rowing venue is. We passed the race course and 10 minutes later pulled up to the USRowing compound on the coast of the Aegean. Literally we sit facing the sea! It is an awesome sight. It feels magical, it is magical. We dine on a beautiful patio overlooking the sea.
We have a house to seven people which leaves plenty of room for us all. The USOC has a house which provides us Internet and food galore. Everything we need we have, e-mail is slightly limited. We are not staying in the Olympic Village because it's an hour away from the rowing venue. Instead we're staying out here in paradise and I think we have the best end of the deal. Many of the other teams have to bus back and forth and hour one way to the rowing course.
The morning after we arrived we headed down to the course. They have set it up beautifully. It is like nothing I've seen in terms of having everything a rower could desire at their disposal. It truly is incredible. The course is designed so there are never any problems with boat traffic. The last 500 meters are entirely grand stand. When I'm out there I try and imagine the noise to get used to it. Yesterday as we practiced the regatta officials were doing test runs of the awards ceremony over the speaker system. As we crossed the finish line they announced "Olympic Champions" and though they announced them as Greek and for the wrong event it still gave me the chills. The butterflies made their way into my chest.
We have had incredible practices here. The course has yet to be as windy as the horror stories we have heard. Either way I'll take what they've got. It's amazing here friends. I wish I could show it to you all. I'll have pictures for you post-Olympics. It's a bit hard with the computer set up we have here now. I love getting your emails and will write again soon. We race on Sunday (August 15). Opening Ceremonies are tomorrow (August 13). We will have our own Opening Ceremony here with our team and a fancy dinner. If we were to attend we wouldn't get back home until three in the morning. Not ideal for racing the next day or day after.
