Welcome to Beijing China
Hello to all!
I arrived in Beijing China yesterday afternoon (Wed. July 30, 2008). The USA Track and Field sports medicine staff all met in California on Monday, July 29 for Olympic Team processing. This was held at San Jose State University campus. We all flew into San Francisco and were bused to San Jose where processing took place for the entire day for staff and all USA athletes. We spent the night on campus in dorms and flew out direct to Beijing the next day, Tuesday and arrived in Beijing on Wednesday–a 12 hour flight pretty uneventful.
The Olympic Team processing is quite an operation. All staff and athletes go to multiple stations where you are fitted with your Olympic gear including Opening Ceremonies Parade uniforms and Olympic Village wear. The USA delegation is the largest at the Games followed by China. We will have over 600 members of the USA delegation with Track and Field being the largest team with 123 athletes. It is the Track and Field team that I will be working with.
The Team processing center was an efficient and fast paced operation with tailors from Polo Ralph Lauren fitting and doing alterations to Parade Uniforms through the night to have jackets and pants ready for athletes and staff departing on early flights the next day. The processing center operates for the entire week. You bascially enter the center with a shopping cart just like you would at a large grocery store. You push your cart around to various stations where you carry a clip board with a checklist of all the gear you are required to collect. You are fitted for hats, shoes, dress shirts, belts, more shoes, polo shirts, olympic pins, roller bags, shoulder bags, back packs and everything an athlete and staff will need while representing the United States of America. It is quite an operation to see–dozens of athletes from all sports pushing shopping carts around picking up clothing and gear. This place would be a sports fan mecca to see all the USA stars all in one place.
The USOC staff and Volunteers did an amazing job of making this experience smooth and efficient. They were simply great preparing our athletes to look great at the Games! By the way, wait until you see the USA delegation enter the Olympic Stadium (the Bird’s Nest) in the Polo Ralph Lauren designed suits! They look specatular and will proudly represent the USA look!
In Beijing: Our arrival at Beijing Internation airport was great. This new airport in Beijing is beautiful and very modern. We have flights arriving every day for the next 5 days of various USA teams. We were greeted by official China Olympic organizing committee officials who then escorted our group through customs and Olympic processing. There are special Olympic processing lanes in Customs to make the process smooth. The official Olympic mascot made an appearance and was a big hit with many USA athletes getting their photos with. You will see this mascot plenty once the Games begin.
With a truck load of gear and USA bags we were bused to Beijing Normal University in downtown Beijing. This is the where the USOC High Performance Training Center is located. This is a University Campus that the USOC (United States Olympic Committee) will house athletes and staff for training and preparation for the Olympic Games. This is a hotel–dorm style living with training facilites spread throughout Beijing. Our dining facilites, here at the USOC Training Center is as good as any Five Star restaurant and I am not exaggerating folks! America’s Olympic athletes are treated well, as they should be. These women and men have worked hard to reach this moment of being an Olympian!
I am only spending one night here in Beijing. The Track and Field sports medicine staff and athletes board a flight later orning to Dalian, China. It is about an hour flight Southeast of Beijing on the coast. If you look at a map of China, looking towards Korea you will see a small penisula on Korea Bay. We will have a track and field team training camp in Dalian until several days before Track and Field (known as Athletics around the world) competition begins. During this training camp we have two practice sessions daily along with all the sports performance medical care. We will provide lots of massage therapy, stretching, hyrdotherapy baths and any other sports medicine care necessary. It is a full on operation preparing the best Track and Field team in the world!
We board our flight in two hours for Dalian. I will let you know how our operation is set up to provide best care for our athletes.
Thus far, our Chinese hosts have been absolutely awesome! Many people gather at the gates of our training center in Beijing each time a bus arrives to catch a glimpse of USA athletes arriving. The Chinese are very excited about hosting these historical Olympic Games. Stay tuned–this is going to be a great time!
Benny Vaughn LMT, ATC
Beijing China 2008
Posted on July 30th, 2008 by Benny Vaughn
Filed under: 2008 Olympics
Benny,
I know you are honored, ready to work and help the Olympians any way you can with sports massage. As a 4-year-old therapist, I am still learning and soaking up whatever knowledge I can to help those that come to me. This profession is such a blessing. I consider you one of the go-to teachers of sports massage. Thank you!