Day 14 – Sun Aug 17

Up early.  Finish packing and on the 7.30h train to the airport.  Flight at 09.50h.

Heth comes with me.  Very mixed emotions as I go through security.  I have said to heth to take every opportunity and enjoy the last week of the Olympic Games.  The problem is it’s not that easy at 37.  When you are a kid its beer and women (or men) and have fun, but at 37 that’s not really what you want to do.  I am sure heth will hook up with some other athletes, but I know she would much prefer it if I had stayed the extra week and we could have shared all the different experiences.  Her mum is there for another two day’s but then she’s on her own until leaving on the 26th.  Hope she stays busy and enjoys it.

A final hug at airport security and then its off.

Flight home un remarkable.

Arrive in London at City airport.  Baggage doesn’t!!!!!!!!

Walk out side and find works on the docklands light railway and thus no trains.

Am now sitting on the no. 463 bus to Plaistow tube station.  A completely surreal experience contrasting with where I have just come from.  I almost wish for the efficiency of the Chinese culture.
As I sit on the bus driving through some relatively poor areas of London and I can only contemplate what London 2012 will be like.  We certainly cannot match the stadiums and newness and scale of all the infra structure of Beijing….and neither we should.  London will need to be a very different games.  The bus I am sitting on has at least five different languages being spoken by a Mexican family, a couple of eastern Europeans, a Caribbean lady and a couple of white English.

In one sense I am delighted by this.  This is the cultural tolerance that Britain is extraordinarily good at.  We really should celebrate this more.   Then I remember I have just arrived home and have no baggage and am on a bus trying to get to a tube station to get home…..suddenly I like Beijing a whole lot more.

My Olympic Games experience will now be in line with everybody else…watching it on the tv.  The GB team are doing fantastically well and the weekend has brought an absolute Gold rush for us.  My heart is with heather though.  All the turmoil of the Games…the pressure of competition….the mixed emotions of disappointment and celebration and achievement…..and another competition to do and fortnight before she gets home.  Elite sport is a very tough mistress.

Being the person I am, my thoughts are already turning to what we need to do over the next four years if she wishes to continue paddling….but it isn’t my call.

The people in the UK sporting system who lied, who removed Heather from funding in 2005 and who said…and I quote….”Heather Corrie will never make an Olympic Games”………..I’m tempted to take an opportunity to say something, however Heather’s performance is far to good to sully with petty vindictive comments…….……but boy is my smile wide!

Weary, I finally arrive home at 21.00h.

Final thought and reflections….

I continue to be a romantic about the value, the emotion and the experience of the Olympic Games and sport….I just love it.

The key to success for all of us world wide is undoubtedly tolerance.  London is very different to Beijing.   I cannot agree with big chunks of the Chinese state, but the people are pretty awesome and capitalism, Chinese style, is alive and kicking and I am really glad there is space in the world for all of us.

Thanks to everyone for taking part in this diary in the spirit with which it was meant.

Heather and I really appreciate all your support.  I am sure I am  going to miss some people out, and if I do I am really sorry….and tired…… but everyone here has helped us in some way directly related to the Olympics.

To Heather’s Mum…..thanks….you were really fantastic.
To Andy (heth’s brother) and Michael (her cousin) …for making it all the way to beijing
Doug our masseur
My brother
Maggie………thanks
Lisa and Mel and the kids in Augsburg who helped us so much
All my staff who make it possible for me to be away from my office
My business partner, Paul…for everything
All of our clients and friends
Everyone in the US who made it possible for us
To Peak and to Immersion Research
To zigzag for making the boats
Everyone at Loughborough where we train so regularly
Millie…our dog….(died in November last year but was absolutely part of the team).
To all of our neighbours and especially lucky monkey
To everyone who sent us so many supportive emails and text messages

Thank you       Thank you    Thank you.

PS        Maybe we’ll all do this again in four years time in London….what do you think eh!!!!!!!!

Kind Regards
Geoff Parsons

Day 13 – Sat Aug 16

The morning after the day before.  We wake up in the IBIS Hotel in Beijing.

Breakfast with Heather’s mum and cousin.

We decide to spend the day as tourists and then we have tickets to the Birds nest tonight for the Men’s 100m final.
Heather is still swinging between disappointment and contentment.  It will take time to look back and be happy with everything, but the more people that contact us and congratulate her, the more the realisation that coming 8th in the Olympic final is pretty awesome.

We still don’t really get any time to ourselves and with me leaving early tomorrow and a late night tonight at the athletics, it is going to be another fortnight before we really get to talk about the performance.  Heather will travel back to the US to compete in the final competition of the season, the US nationals at the end of August.  She won this last year and it is good for a few reasons for her to make the effort to go.   Firstly we both think it is good as the only US representative, to be seen at the US trials and second it means that the possibility of heather continuing is still in everyone’s mind.  Whether or not she decides to is another matter.

It’s a tough end to the season as with two boats, paddle bags, and at least five pieces of luggage, she has to get herself from Washington to the course at Wisp and then travel home, for which she won’t have any support.  This doesn’t sound like much, but with two boats and so much luggage it will be a nightmare.  However we both felt it was the right thing to do….so no coming home yet.  I know this is all Heather now wants to do.

Anyway, we spend the lunchtime and afternoon shopping at Wangfujing road….basically oxford street in Beijing.  We buy a few bits and pieces and then head back for the hotel for a quick rest and then on to the 100m final.

This is my first time to the Olympic Park.  Security is tight but easy if that makes sense.  As we arrive in the Olympic park, we catch the end of a Disney style parade and then slowly wander towards the stadiums.  The birds nest and the blue bubble are truly magnificent.  I feel excited and just want to get inside.  Once again I seem to be part of the novelty and pose for at least half a dozen photo’s.  I always wonder what they say when they show them to people……”here is a photo of an incredibly tall person”……..who know’s.

Anyway I have learned to live with it and take it all in good humour.  We are all taking lots of photo’s but of each other and the stadiums, rather than “novelty people!!!!”.

We climb what seems like a mountain of stairs.  The tickets I have are way up in the gods on the opposite side of the stadium to the 100m start.  We finally get inside the main stadium.  Wow.  All I want to do is get my kit on and compete.  It’s fantastic.  The stadium fills during the evening and builds towards a fantastic crescendo with the men’s 100m final.

The stadium is absolutely full and the atmosphere crackling.   The gun goes and I can’t take my eye of Bolt.  As he crosses the line and I see the time, all I can do, with hands on head is shout “oh my god….oh my god…….that’s awesome”.  I have just witnessed one of the truly great sporting moments in history. 9.69 seconds off an average start, show boating over the last 15m and still 9.69s.  Unbelievable.

We leave the stadium and have to walk for ages to get far enough away from the stadium to find an empty taxi.  We arrive back at our hotel at midnight and settle down for a final beer.  Bed at 1 O’clock and I have to be up by 5.30h to pack and get to the airport.

A great final day of sporting “grand occasion”…..and still heth and I have not really had time to talk about the performance….in one way that’s probably quite good.  I know Heth is not looking forward to me leaving and especially as she will not get home for another fortnight.

I am also sad and happy because tomorrow will be my last diary day in Beijing.

Kind Regards
Geoff Parsons

Day 12 – Fri Aug 15

An absolutely glorious morning meets us when we wake up.  Feels like a good day to perform.

We prepare in exactly the same way as we have done for the last few days and in fact exactly the same way as we have done for the last few years.
We arrive at the course by taxi and this is where we separate for about 90 minutes.  Heth goes and does her pre-warm on the water and walks the course with Sylvan, the US coach.

We meet up an hour before her run time as normal and we prepare for the semi-final run.

The course is a tough one with gates 3,4,5,6 being the particularly difficult sequence.  The approach is slightly different to the qualifiers.  This is not just about a steady safe run like the qualifying round.  This is now a race….but not stupid….a sensible considered race.

As 6th boat off, of the 15 qualifiers, If Heather is leading after her run, then she is definately in the final.  The first run down is a very careful clean run by the Japanese girl in 107s.  I figure that this means the pace will have to be about 100 if Heather is to challenge for a medal.  My view quickly changes as the next couple of paddlers come down.  It was carnage with a couple of people missing gates and getting 50 point penalties.

Heathers run arrives.  I am actually pretty nervous as I know this is the run that will decide a) whether she makes the final and b) whether she has a chance of a medal.

Her face appears on the big screen as they announce her.  She starts well and her approach to gate three is fantastic, gate 4 goes well but as she turns in to gate five, she doesn’t get round quite enough and the boat is in trouble.  She is off line going through the stopper and cannot get back to gate 6.  She misses it and has to loop round to get it.  This probably costs us 7 seconds in running time.  A touch later means another 2 second penalty.  She reaches the bottom with a 114s run putting her in second place with 10 still to go.

Fortunately we do not have to wait long for someone to get another 50 and finish behind her (don’t like wishing bad things to competitors but hey I’m biased…sorry).  Heather now definitely in the final.   The course is proving incredibly difficult and a couple of the top favourites also get 50 second penalties and don’t make it to the final.  Heth is eventually 8th after first runs.   Absolutely awesome.  I’m ecstatic but I think that Heth will actually be a bit disappointed.   The leading times are pretty quick but anything is possible with second runs.

We have a very short time between runs and Heather is really late getting back to me before the final.  Turns out all the athletes were held after their runs.  We don’t really know why and suspect this might have been to help the Chinese athlete who was one of the last down in the semi final and would have had less time to recover than the early athletes.  The Chinese athlete gets a 50 second penalty and doesn’t make it to the final.

Heth is disappointed.  She knew that a medal position was on after the first run.  My “half time talk” is one of….relax and enjoy and anything can happen.  By the time she leaves for the second run I am more confident that she is feeling better about the possibilities.

Heth returns to the water for her final run.  She knows she needs to put a perfect run down if there is to be any chance of snatching a medal from this far back.

The paddlers go in reverse order in the final so Heather is third boat down.  I am for the first time in months, totally calm about this run.  Whatever happens, I know in hindsight that Heth will be delighted that she made the final of the Olympic Games…..everything else will be a bonus. I know she won’t feel like that straight away, particularly if she has a bad run……..but she is now an Olympic Finallist….a massive achievement.  6 World team medals means nothing without the additional……”and I’m also an Olympian”.  It perfectly rounds off her career…..the itch will finally have been scratched.

Again she starts well, but again gate 5 – 6 causes a problem and, rarely for Heth, she rolls the boat between 5 and 6.  As she said afterwards, “suddenly I was upside down and all I could see was blue and I thought what am I doing seeing blue on my Olympic final run”.  She recovers instantly and this time makes it to gate 6.

The rest of the run is good and she posts a 104 second run…….but oh no.  The judges give her a 50 second penalty at gate 5,….indicating that she didn’t pass fully between the poles.  There is nothing we can do until the end of the competition.  Heather’s total running time is a 155s giving her a total of 269s for the 2 runs.  Genuinely neither Heather or I think she got a 50….and we would say if we thought she had.

The rest of the racers come down and Heather’s time eventually places her 8th in the final.  Once again a number of the top paddlers have difficulty with 50 second penalties.  Only the eventual winner, Kaliska, has two perfect runs with no difficulties and ends up winning the Gold by 15 seconds.  Even with the 50 removed, Heth would have only been 5th, so appealing the penalty didn’t carry much conviction…..8th to 5th…..doesn’t really matter….only medals would have made the appeal worth while.

An hour after the run we finally meet up with Heather.  I give her a huge hug and congratulate her.  She has very mixed emotions….delighted with 8th in the final of the Olympic Games, …..but also disappointed as Silver or Bronze was there for the taking.  Almost instant swings of mood between wanting to do it all again for London 2012 and retirement.  I think we’ll wait a bit before even contemplating any discussions.  No time to stop and review everything though.

Unfortunately the work doesn’t stop.  We meet up with Heathers mum, cousin and brother who came out to watch.  We now have a bunch of photo’s to take in order to get some shots in different kit, in order to thank the kit suppliers that have helped us, as this is the last time we will be at the course.  This takes about half an hour and we eventually start to make our way back to the hotel.  Get some great photo’s though.

We now have to check out of the hotel and get in to Beijing and check in to another hotel.  We have more bags than we know what to do with and are very grateful for the help of the family.

Finally at 21.00h we get 5 minutes to ourselves after checking in to the hotel in Beijing.  Literally only 5 minute though as we then have to go out to dinner with everyone.  Finally midnight and we clamber in to bed together too tired to chat and start to share the emotions of the past days weeks and years, happy to just to sleep without any nerves or pressure the next day.

It is a really strange feeling immediately after your event ends at an Olympic Games or other major championships.  I have experienced this a number of times and at least have been able to chat through this and prepare for it.

Anyway the race is over….we reached the hotel and we are exhausted.  Time for bed and we can start to think about things and reflect tomorrow.

A fantastic achievement coming 8th at the Olympic Games.   Disappointment at what might have been.   Fantastic support from the family members that travelled all this way to support and all the people that have helped us…………and all I can think is that now I am only the second best Olympian in our household!!!!!!!!!!!

Kind Regards
Geoff Parsons