Day 7 – Sun Aug 10

Demo day today.  Again I still cannot get access to the course.

Heather rings me.  In a very un-Chinese fashion, a gate fell down at the start of Demo’ runs.  The water has been turned off and everything has been delayed.   The athlete’s are all now hanging around the course while they fix things.

I am in our hotel room.  Seriously contemplating my first exfoliation session of the day!!!!!  May go for a run first.  (am writing this entry in real time).

Already fed up with the Chinese coverage of the Olympics.  It is all just Chinese stories.  I said in an earlier entry that the BBC were a bit biased with the coverage, but I have to say, it doesn’t compare with the Chinese coverage.  The stories do show the rather young, nervous feeling of the Chinese nation.  They are so afraid of losing any face or covering things in a gritty fashion.  It reminds me of a young, insecure teenager who still hasn’t come to terms with who they are and is not yet comfortable, as  nation, on the world stage….so they think the only way to present themselves is to be perfect….which is actually what we in the West, find strange and laugh at.  Growing pains.

Writing again now 10 hours later than the words above.  Went for a run at lunch time, to the front entrance of the course.  Only 20 minutes (well 19m 45s but who’s counting).  Sweat was blinding me by the time I got back to the hotel.  God only knows how you run a  marathon in this.  I actually feel concerned for Paula’s well being after what happened in Athens.

Spend most of today watching the Olympics.  I suddenly become a fan of such spectator sports as archery and handball.  Watched the GB’ers lose in the semi-final of the archery by 6 points.  It’s actually quit exciting the way they fire 3 arrows at a time and compete up to 24 arrows.

Watched the final later in the day, when the Koreans beat the Chinese.

Also watched most of the synchronised diving and quite a lot of the women’s 53 and Mens 56 KG weight lifting.  Having lifted for most of my life, I find the weights these people move, absolutely phenomenal.  Finally saw Nicole Cook win GB’s first Gold in the cycling.  Good start for team GB.

Heather arrives back from the course.  The demo’s have been OK with the qualifying course a little open but tough because of the big water.  Semi and final course a little more technical.

We plan our timetable for the next three days.  This has a settling effect as it establishes our routine and movements for the next 72 hours, right up until the end of Heather’s second qualifying run.  It allows us both to relax in the knowledge that we know our routine and now just follow the clock.

Dinner was good tonight after a bit of skank first meal last night.

I have now decided that the mirror by the desk, in our room, has cameras behind it.  Why else put a mirror next to a desk???  My natural paranoia beginning to show!!!!!!!!

Finishing tonight as I want to watch the China USA Basketball match which has just started and China are winning 6 – 4.

I go to the course tomorrow with Heather for the first time as we watch the Qualifying rounds of the Men’s C1 and K! classes.  This is good preparation for us for Wednesday, as long as Heather manages to keep out the heat as much as possible.  Very sapping now with only 3 days to go before the first run.

Got 2 beers, a great Olympic Girlfriend and a ticket to watch….feeling pretty good really and.it all starts soon.
Kind Regards
Geoff Parsons