Beijing Welcomes You

Two meters separate my bum and the red-carpeted podium where the world’s greatest cyclists will stand in two weeks with their jade-laden medals as their anthems are played and their flags raised to the rafters. I’m leaning against the ramp that leads down to the team rooms, the lockers. The Chinese cycling team is riding slow laps around the velodrome. They’re wearing the team racing suits, China red and yellow, and sporting iridescent colored sunglasses. A few are riding in pairs, others on their own. One is playing. He’s laughing as he climbs the steep 42˚ bank of the turn, then rides downhill and weaves near his teammates.

One of them glides off the track through the infield and whizzes by me. It’s just him and I on this end. We make eye contact and he smiles, “Ni hao,” he says softly. Another follows behind shortly. He seems interested in me sitting here alone with my computer. “Hello,” he says, and I reply with a, “Hi,” and a smile. They’ve been instructed by the government not to talk to the media until next week, so we can’t interview them. A salutation in passing is the most I could ask for, but I am still shocked by their friendly, outgoing spirits. Most of my fellow FQRs are downstairs studying the athletes on the computer, but I’ve found a bit of motivational serenity up here in the infield.

The past four days have streamed by in a blur that closely parallels these sprinters turning 60 kmh laps five feet from my perch. I see no details, just colors. We’ve been in to work everyday from 10:30 to 15:30. Tack on two hours for transportation each way, and you’re looking at a very full and exhausting day.

I am very, very pleased with our ONS team at the bicycle cluster. All of my supervisors are foreigners with the exception of one, so it is a pleasant feeling getting away from China a little bit everyday. Krystyna (ONS Manager, Aussie living in England) and Paul (Chinese Venue Manager) are directly in charge of us. Also on staff are two ONS Reporters who will write brief stories throughout the Games on cycling. Amy the Australian and Ernst the Dutchman keep us in line with their rigorous practice runs and “no BS, no excuses” mindset. We just met the American Andy, the Sports Info Specialist, today. He’s been in Paris covering the Tour de France and just got to Beijing yesterday.

It’s some kind of exhilarating to be on such an international team such as ours. It’s a nice break to get away from the Chinese ways, but also to not fall custom to our American habits. Cycling is the perfect sport to be covering because it is not so familiar to me as American football or basketball, but it is also not a Chinese stronghold. It’s something in between. It’s international. It’s the essence of Olympism, and it has become an invigorating subject to learn about.

I think my days spent so far in the velodrome have given me great perspective on the magnitude of the Olympics. This place is truly unbelievable. I am sitting in the middle of the track. I AM SITTING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OLYMPIC VELODROME. I am sitting next to the medal stand underneath the flag-raising bar that’s just begging for the first medalist’s flag to be attached to it, and the first cyclist I meet smiles and nods and greets me to his country. His warm smile and dark eyes that glisten when he looks up say it all.

Today to me and tomorrow to the world, the message is loud and clear: Beijing Welcomes You.

XOXO