Wrestling Blogs - Terry Steiner

Ni Hao or Hello in Chinese!

Did you know that China has 1/5 of thw worlds population with 1.3 Billion people. Amazing!

Today - I woke up at about 6:00 am. I thought I might Sleep longer but I guess it takes a few days to acclimate.

Let me tell you a little bit about The Beijing Olympic Village. It has enough room for 16000 people, it will hold all 205 countries that are competing in the games. There are also Olympic Villages in the cities of Hong Kong & Quindao which are 2 main host cities for sports in the games. The village is divided into three parts: 1) The International Zone, The Resident Zone and the Operations Zone. The village includes: cafeteria, a barber shop / salon, a tea / coffee shop, a fire station, a Post Office, a library, a clinic, a fitness center, 4 internet cafes, a swimming pool (many ponds), a running trail, tennis courts, and sand volleyball courts. It has a transportation system that includes 24 electric buses that go around in and out of the village. It also has a laundry service for EVERYONE - and you get it back in 12 hours.

The Dorm or apartments are very nice - everything is new and clean. The whole village is made of 6 and 9 floor structures it sits right outside the Olympic Green ( the venue area) it also sits as a gated community. It is already presold to Chinese people who will take ownership after The Olympic Games and The ParaOlympic Games on September 20. It sits on the north side of Bejing.

The Cafeteria holds 5000 people it is open 24 hours per day. It many sections: seating, fruits, cheeses, and salad, desserts, international cuisine, mediterrenian cuisine, asian cuisine, Coffee and drinks, McDonald's (yes, McDonald's) It is pretty amazing. I hope we make weight - I can see me chasing miller out of there a few times this week.

Today when I woke up the air quality was not good it seems better as the day goes on. The Chinese Government has put the equivelant of 16 Billion US Dollars into battling
pollution. You can drive according to you Liscence plate - if you have an even or odd numbered plate you drive only on even or odd days.

The Olympians, Stan Zeamer and myself then went for a workout at 9:00 am in thr fitness center. Everyone did cardio and lifting again - tonight at 6:00 pm we will get back on the mats.

I really enjoyed working out - I just love watching and learning from different cultures - we tend to think we know better but I think you can learn a lot from the rest of the world if you just keep an open mind. I'm going to spend an afternoon in the fitness center looking at other cultures routines and excersizes before we get into competition.

We came back to the dorms and got ready for the press conference - we had to leave the village at 12:00 noon for that. I showered and hand washed my workout gear.

In our room - Stan, I and eventually Tadaaki will be staying. We have been lsitening to Natasha Bedingfield on the IPOD

The workout partners and personal coaches went to The GREAT WALL today with the Greco Team while we were at the press conference - we will meet back up with them tonight for a workout. Stan and I had a great lunch talking about the development of women's wrestling at lunch. Stan is a brilliant business man and we are lucky to have him in our corner and as a team leader.

The press conference went well. I thought the girls did a great job. A lot of questions about Japan / Yoshida. I think our girls are ready and are not going to take back seat to anyone. We feel whoever is on a US Team has what it takes to win here. At the press conference all of the athletes and the coaches sat at a front table with Gary Abbott directing the Press with questions. It went well.
After the conference we ran into Roger Federer and Randi chased him down to try to get a picture but his onterage protected him. So Randi wasn't so lucky - but it was funny watching our team run after him.

I haven't seen to many of our foreign competitors only - Spain's delegation (2 athletes and coach Francisco Barrera) and the Italian Team Leader and also Tomyama the Japanese Team Leader. The Sweden Coaches and Venezuela - but the village is full.

Owe by the way my (Raven's) IPOD went out (just in case! My birthday is coming up).

Our workout went ok - it took us a while to get there - we missed the bus it leaves on the half hour every hour all day. It was our first time so we rode in a van with some media sports Tv from Spain. We finally got back on the mats. We looked a little bit sluggish but we need to expect that for a day or two.

The team behind the team had a good time today at the Great Wall but they too looked tired. We just got back from BNU - Beijing Normal University the home of USOC's Training Center.

And speakingof the GREAT WALL - I think the trip is getting to me now and I'm hitting the Great Wall. I need to go to sleep.

Shea Shea or Thank You - in the Chinese Mandarin Language

Over and Out!

Terry