----
Wednesday, August 13
Today was our last full day in Beijing and it may very well have been the best for me. We began the day with the event I have been looking forward to all week - weightlifting. We viewed the men’s 77kg (169 pounds) weight class and saw some truly amazing athletes. Olympic weightlifting consists of the snatch and the clean & jerk, where the highest successful weight attempted per category are combined to crown the overall winner. These guys well exceeded any weights I was able to put up during my competitive days, and I weighed well over 50 pounds more than them during that time, so it gave me an even greater appreciation for the time, dedication, and talent of these athletes.
One athlete from Hungary suffered what might turn out to be a career-ending injury, as it appeared that he dislocated his shoulder plus a compound fracture in his elbow. That unfortunate event goes to show just how dangerous the sport can be.
We also visited a tea house, where we viewed demonstrations of shadow puppets, a martial arts-style serving of tea, as well as traditional Chinese musical instruments. The tea was jasmine, and it was interesting to say the least. The best way I could describe the taste was that it is what I would imagine women’s perfume would taste like, just a bit watered down.
We had a very informative visit at the Modern Pentathlon house, which was sponsored by New Balance shoe company. The discussion was based around the sports marketing concepts utilized by both the modern pentathlon international governing body (which represents the smallest Olympic sport with only 72 total athletes for men and women) and the New Balance Company.
Tomorrow we visit the Temple of Heaven and a Beijing market before flying out to Taiyuan for additional cultural experiences of China. The Olympic portion of our trip is over, and we are just a few days away from returning stateside.
It has been a wonderful experience here in China and I am sure there will be many more great memories made during our last few days. I want to thank everyone who has kept up with our travels on both wkusports.com and wku.edu/olympics, and I hope you enjoyed following me on our journey. I look forward to seeing family and friends again upon my return.
Enjoy the rest of the Games!
Craig Morehead
----
Tuesday, August 12
Today was a good combination of Chinese culture and Olympic competition for the group. We began the day at Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The architecture and history of this country still amazes me, and to think that so much of it has been preserved for such long periods of time is a testament to the pride of the Chinese people. Both venues were quite crowded, which is to be expected during the Olympics, but it seemed as if the majority of the crowd was not tourists, which was the surprising part.
This afternoon, we attended women’s archery competition. The Korean delegation had a very large and strong fan representation at this particular venue, and they definitely made their presence known. It sends chills up your back to see so many hundreds of people cheering on an athlete in unison, and I think it was quite intimidating for those women who had to face Korean competition.
Many members of the group also stuck around the archery venue this evening to scalp tickets to a field hockey game. However, I ventured toward the Olympic Village to visit National Stadium (a.k.a. the Birds Nest) and the Cube. Although I was a bit perturbed that I could not actually go to the venues due to security blockades, they are still amazing spectacles, especially at night.
Tomorrow morning is the event I have been looking forward to all trip: weightlifting!
----
Monday, August 11
I would be remissed if I did not start today’s journal with a funny story about myself. Our group split today between women’s handball qualifying and men’s canoe and kayak qualifying, of which Iattended the latter. When I woke up this morning and caught the weather forecast, they called for a 70% chance of rain this afternoon. I donned my WKU rain gear for the day and took criticism from the group. But lo and behold, as we entered the line for the security checkpoint entering the stadium, it started pouring.
Now, I told you that story as a sequay into this story. Soon after we found our seats at the canoe and kayak venue, I ventured down the “erecter-set” bleachers to grab a coke. As I neared the bottom of the stands, I found a wet step and, before I knew it, I was taking the quicker way down the steps on my backside. Surprisingly enough, my ego was not bruised, but I do believe I will end up with some tangible evidence of the mishap, especially on my lower leg near my ankle which contains a metal plate that I have been blessed with thanks to an old high school football injury. Let me tell you, metal hitting metal does not feel good! But, on the bright side, I did get a bit of a half-hearted ovation (and laughs of course) from our contingent, as well as a group of Slovenian fans.
As for the event itself, it was quite an experience. I had never seen this particular event before, but thanks to the help of WKU senior Tyler Spencer, I was able to quickly catch onto the concepts of the sport and followed the action quite easily. As a slolam event, it contains some of the same basic principles as its snow-covered cousin during the winter games, where athletes must navigate their way through gates. However, in the whitewater version, the athletes cannot “hit” the gates, as such a violation has a time-penalty with it.
Tomorrow is a busy day for the group, as we will be visiting the Forbidden City and Tienneman Square before heading out to the site of the archery competition in the afternoon.
And, I want to thank those of you who have sent me emails during my trip thus far. I have enjoyed hearing from each of you. Feel free to continue writing me, and visit www.wku.edu/olympics for additional pictures and information.
----
Sunday, August 10
I have just finished watching the “good guys” defeat China pretty handily, as I am sure many of you will be viewing when it airs stateside. It was a great game for the U.S. and it makes me even more pumped than I already am to see my first Olympic events tomorrow.
We had a very informative lecture to start the day off, with discussions on the art of Wushu (martial arts) and Chinese massage. It was very interesting to see the Chinese philosophy behind the martial arts to say the least. I was always under the impression that any type of martial art was to master the skills of hand-to-hand combat, but on the contrary, according to Chinese martial art doctrine, the true “art” of the martial arts are passive tendencies. In fact, Mr. Wu - who lectured for us again today - explained that outside of a competitive venue, if two martial arts students met each other on the street and got into a confrontation, neither party would throw the first punch.
This is based around the idea that aggression should only be used when protecting oneself from a heated situation, and never to use the “art” to inflict undue pain on another.
Following our Wushu lecture, we had a hands-on experience with the art and philosophies of Chinese massage, where we were taught the different elements of massage therapy in China. It was interesting to see our students’ interaction when asked to apply the knowledge that they were being taught in the session into a practical setting by practicing on a classmate. I believe this “hands-on” approach (no pun intended) is the best way to teach today’s students, and the applicable nature of the instruction was much easier to comprehend, rather than trying to commit the lecture to memory only.
After our morning lectures and lunch, we visited the Beijing Zoo. The notable difference that I recognized between this particular zoo and those I have visited back home were the living conditions for the animals. It seemed as though the Chinese zoo had much less room for the wild animals to “roam” within the framework of the system. Unfortunately, a heavy thunderstorm came through the area during our visit, so my pictures were limited today.
I accompanied several students early this evening in an attempt to purchase some tickets for tonight’s swimming competition, but it was to no avail. It probably would have helped had I led the group in the correct direction, but by taking the wrong direction on the public transportation systems inadvertently, I actually led the students further away from the venues. But, as a silver lining, I believe it was the best wrong turn I have ever taken, because it led us to a district that had a McDonald’s, and I had my first non-Chinese meal in a week! I would have never dreamed that I would have been so relieved to see the golden arches!
Again, please feel free to email me with any comments or questions to craig.morehead@wku.edu.
----
Saturday, August 9
We began the day with a very interesting lecture from Dr. Teng Jian on the making of top Chinese athletes. As a state-run concept, the training of Chinese athletes and olympians is much different than we have back in the states to say the least. When athletes, as young as seven years old, are brought to the attention of the powers that be, that students goes on to an athlete-training school, where their sport takes precedence over schooling and they train for upwards of ten hours per day, six days a week. Therefore, by the time some of these athletes have reached a peak training age for international competition, they may be only in their late teens or early twenties.
Now, with that being said, it is not that these young athletes-in-training do not receive any type of schooling, it is just that it is structured to where their sport takes priority and studying occurs during specially allotted time periods within their training day. However, as elementary through high school in China typically lasts for ten hours each day, these young student-athletes do not spend any more time on their “trade” as normal students. It is my opinion that this would definitely never fly in the U.S., but it is a system that has proven beneficial to the China’s international athletic success.
Following this insightful lecture, the group visited the “Summer Palace,” which surrounds one of the largest bodies of freshwater in Beijing. It was a beautiful piece of land that one could spend hours in getting lost in all of the trails that lead from one temple to the next through beautiful gardens.
From the Summer Palace, we enjoyed a pheonomenal display of athleticism at a Chinese acrobat show. Unfortunately my carmera batteries died early on in the show so I do not have many pictures to share with you, but you can find additional photos of our journey at www.wku.edu/olympics.
Enjoy the first day of competition, and congratulations to the U.S. women’s fencing team for sweeping the medals to get the American team off to a strong start in the medal count!
---
Friday, August 8
It is finally 8/8/08 - a day that has been almost eight years in the making for the people and city of Beijing. I won’t give away any surprises for those of you who will see the Opening Ceremonies tonight in primetime in the States, but you are in for a treat!
Today’s plans were to visit the Great Wall and Ming Tombs before we viewed the Opening Ceremonies, but as last minute changes were made by the Beijing Organizing Committee, access to the Ming Tombs was closed today due to the cycling competition. However, we were still able to visit the Great Wall, and it was worth the trip to China all in itself.
The trek up the mountain by foot was a daunting experience to say the least, but once you reach the wall, all of the sweat and soreness was more than worth it! It is truly hard to believe that the Great Wall was constructed without the use of any modern tools, and walking up the mountain rather than taking the cable gives one even more respect for the dedication it took to construct one of the greatest wonders of the world.
Although it was quite foggy (or maybe smoggy?) today, which obstructed some of the views of the large expanse of the wall, I hope you enjoy the photos I was able to capture.
I am looking forward to updating everyone again tomorrow, and again, feel free to email me at craig.morehead@wku.edu.
Enjoy the ceremonies!
---
Thursday, August 7
Now that we have arrived in Beijing, the meat of our Olympic adventure has begun. I am finally over the jet lag and my sleep patterns have returned to relatively normal levels, which has certainly helped me take in even more than I had in the first few days of the trip.
We began the day with a lecture from Associate Professor Wu Guanyuan of the Beijing Sport University. The topic of this morning’s lecture was Chinese Culture, which focussed on the philosophies of Confucius, Lao Tzu (Taoism) and Buddhism. These three philosophies are the cornerstones of Chinese culture, and are necessary to understand the history and fully appreciate everything this country’s 2000-year-plus history has to offer. In an interesting twist, joining Mr. Guanyuan was Professor Hu Bo. What made Mr. Bo’s presense so special was his important role with the Olympics. This New York University Film School graduate is a producer for the Opening Ceremonies, but was gracious enough to take time out of his busy schedule to visit with us despite his pressing schedule in the final hours to the start of the Games.
After lunch, we visited the Capital Museum as guests of the Beijing Organizing Committee, which allowed us to further our understanding of Chinese culture based on the artifacts and historical records on display there. However, the most interesting aspect of our time at the museum were artifacts not from China, but from Greece. Set up as a traveling display, artifacts and historical records of the ancient Greek Olympics were available for our learning pleasure, which was of particular interest to me, as track and field events were among the original events of the ancient Olympic Games.
In a nice change of pace, we had dinner not as a group, but on our own this evening. With that availability, a large number of the group walked the two blocks to “Big Pizza” for a bit of home.
With the opening ceremonies less than 24 hours away, anticipation is high here in Beijing. Although the ceremonies will get underway at 7:00am back home, I hope everyone finds time to take the time to enjoy what is gearing up to be a great opening ceremonies and competition over the next two weeks.
Yours in Sport, Craig Morehead
---
Tuesday, Aug. 5
Despite an inauspicious start on our Olympic trek to China for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad that involved traffic stops, air cancellations, and mechanical malfunctions, we have arrived at our first destination - Shanghai.
My name is Craig Morehead, assistant track and field coach at WKU, and I will be updating you on my Olympic journey over the next two weeks as I accompany students, staff and friends of WKU and Winston-Salem State University on a once-in-a lifetime study abroad opportunity for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Leaving Bowling Green at 5:00am Sunday morning, August 3, we spent more than 24 hours en route to our first Chinese stop. Having followed a flight path that took us north across Canada, Alaska, the Bering Sea and across the International Date Line through Siberia into the People's Republic of China, it was a long day of traveling to say the least, but the group of over 40 people were ready to begin Tuesday morning on our first excursion.
This morning we visited Zhouzhuang, an ancient Chinese canal-based village along the Yangtze River. Originally built in 1086, the historical town preserving the heritages of the Ming and Qing Dynasties has been exceptionally well-kept and was breathtakingly beautiful. The architecture is what you envision when you think of an ancient Chinese village (probably thanks in large part to Hollywood). Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the village was the canals that interweaved with roads and bridges to create a truly unique transportation system that allowed access to almost anywhere in the village via boat, foot, or horse drawn carriage. Although the canals were not as wide as those I have witnessed in photographs of Venice, Italy, water travel was very similar.
Wednesday will be day of travel for the group, as we board a train to Beijing as we continue our Olympic journey. For those who may be curious, the time difference between our locations in China and Bowling Green is 13 hours, so at 5:00pm in Bowling Green, it is 6:00am the following morning in China.
As long as I continue to have Internet access, I plan on posting a daily journal here on www.wkusports.com starting Thursday. Also, I hope to be posting photo galleries of our excursions that same day. I would be happy to hear from anyone via email if you so desire at craig.morehead@wku.edu.
Until next time, I want to leave you with one note from the 2008 Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee: “One World, One Dream.”
“One World One Dream” expresses the common wishes of people all over the world, inspired by the Olympic ideals, to strive for a bright future of Mankind. In spite of the differences in colors, languages and races, we share the charm and joy of the Olympic Games, and together we seek for the ideal of Mankind for peace.
Craig Morehead
