Day 6 – Sat Aug 9

Bit of a stream on consciousness diary entry today. This may also be delayed as I am having trouble connecting through my VPN to my server and thus am struggling to get my emails out or to receive any at the new hotel.

Packing up at the Novotel at Sanyuanqiao. Moving today up to the Reward International hotel at Shunyi, next to the whitewater and rowing course. I am reminded of my time competing, when living out of a suitcase for weeks at a time, packing, travelling, competing, packing travelling competing etc. etc. was the norm……I remember again my loathing of having to pack bags.

Shunyi is about 45 minutes to an hour North East of Beijing. I plan to get the high speed express train to the airport and pick up a taxi from there. Heather will not be back at the Reward until 17.00h so I have a few hours to kill.

Get the subway to a shopping area and have a good wander around. Then just wander generally. Take some photo’s of some fantastic new buildings, the new Bank of China Building and the one everybody is talking about that looks like a bit of a mobius ring. I am told that the local Chinese refer to this building as the “pair of pants” , because it looks like a pair of legs in some baggy trousers. I can kind of see it.

Lunch in McDonalds…I’m giving up apologising…its just so easy and they have Olympic sports on the TV. The big coverage is of the first Chinese and the first Olympic Gold medal winner, the 48Kg womens weightlifter. I saw her first lift, the snatch, and she did 95Kg easily. Awesome lifting. Suspiciously spotty skin…or am I just a cynic like everybody else these days!!!!!!!

Back to the hotel and pick up the bags and off to Shunyi. All goes well until I get to the entrance of the Reward hotel. My lack of accreditation once again causes problems. Heather and the team are not yet back at the hotel and they won’t let me past the front barrier. Eventually they go and get the manager and things get sorted. Everything here looks new. I pick up a book in the hotel room that advertises Shunyi as the International Green port. The roads from the airport are absolutely brand new.

Heather arrives back at about 19.00h with the rest of the team. They look like they have had a long day. Turns out that boat weighing and measuring and kit checks was extremely hectic and long winded. Lots of the athletes had problems with their boats, kit badges etc. etc. Huge queue’s each time they tried to get a boat re-weighed or a piece of kit re-checked. In addition most of them had to train as well. All Heather’s kit and boats now good though.

Heathers session was actually pretty good and for the first time since I have been out here, I got to see video of her 2 full runs. (her final session). The first was OK, but the second was awesomely good. Lots of room to feel encouraged and positive. The water is enormous and very strong. Even from the video I can see that one mistake and you really struggle to recover from it.

We attend a team meeting at 19.30h. This provides us with the information we need for planning our next few days. The meetings ends on a bit of a downer when Sylvan, the team coach, informs us that an American Volleyball players parent has been stabbed in Beijing and the attacker then committed suicide. (Haven’t seen this reported on Chinese TV at all). No other details were given but I guess this gives food for thought…particularly for someone like me…having just spent 2 – 3 hours wandering around, off the beaten track on my own. I always figure I’m pretty big and ugly (and can run very fast when motivated appropriately!!!!!)…but I suppose you never know.

After dinner, back in the hotel room, I explore all the brochures. Turns out that they have a spa here………I look forward to exfoliation, foot buffing and oiling and a full body salt scrub! I expect that you will see me in the crowd on the TV as I will be glowing!!!!!!!!!!

It is interesting…Heather was saying that last time she was here training a couple of months ago, there were speakers in the streets that were constantly on, giving what she supposed were Chinese propaganda messages/news. These have all gone now that the Games are on. Also the hotel has a sign that tells you are being video’d in the lift. This is the first ever huge hotel I have been in that doesn’t have a specific bar area.

This place feels a bit more like old Moscow used to. This feels a little bit more of an oppressive surveillance society. I am told that Shunyi is a bit of an “expat” area, which might explain things………this just feels like “the Party at work”. Interestingly Heather also spoke to a Chinese athlete on the bus from the opening ceremony. She asked him how Beijingers viewed the Games. He said it was mixed as many people, farmers etc. had lost their houses and land with all the new building with very little, if any compensation. There was apparently a place in Beijing where you went to voice your complaints…you obviously had to wait so long that people build homes there…a bit like the Hutong that I described in an earlier diary……but these were apparently all demolished for the Games.

Anyway.

Heather got to shake hands and was photographed with George Bush yesterday. He apparently came to visit all the US athletes whilst they were waiting to come in to the opening ceremony. So far this trip she has got to meet Big Arnie, Big George and Big Jaques. (It’s a bit like being on safari and ticking off the big five…Lion, Tiger, Rhino etc.).

Enough for now. We need to start to plan the next few days timetable. Tomorrow is demo’s day. A small number of boats will go down the course, firstly with the gates set as they will be for the qualifying round. This is the first opportunity the athletes will have to see the course and assess how to paddle it. The course will then be re-set and the athletes will be able to watch paddlers go down what will be the semi final and final course. We are pretty lucky as we will get to see all of the Men’s race, both qualifying and finals, on the first 2 days, before we have to paddle.

Heather also now has her bib number….16. With only 21 athletes in the race, this means that she will be 6th athlete down the course. She needs to finish in the top 15 on the first day in order to make the semi final the next day.

The qualifying race is 2 runs down the river….Heather’s times are 15.52h and 17.34h local time (so I figure that means 08.52h and 10.34h UK Time on the 13th Aug). Her combined running time, plus penalties, is what will decide where she finishes. Penalties are 2 seconds for a gate touch and 50 seconds for missing a gate. Normally missing a gate means you are not going to make the semi-finals, but here it looks very possible that you could still get through with a 50, so it is crucial that whatever happens, you keep focussed and don’t give up. Heather very good at this and we deliberately train in such a way that when we miss a gate in training, we always go back for it. This helps teach the athlete to recover from unusual positions and is mentally toughening.

A 50 is very unlikely to be good enough to make the final, in the semi-final run, the next day as only the top 10 go through to the final.

The sap is beginning to rise. The guy’s are on in 48 hours and we compete in 4 days. This is what it has all been about.
Kind Regards
Geoff Parsons