WORLD GAMESOk, so I did fall off the face of the earth ... I blame the Russians and Roommates! I've gotten a lot of slack for keeping everyone hanging so ... "what happened"!
So, Saturday 18-July 2009 .... tempers cooled down and we all kissed, made up and finished racing. In fact, after the races, several of us were out drinking with members of the German and Russian teams, including the German coach. It's all just the "heat of the battle" tempers that flaired and both steerspeople (US and German) made some questionable choices. In the end, the US, Hungarian and one other team were DQ'd from the race ... seems like there was other stuff going on besides what we were doing in that 2000 meter race. Anyway, it was a 2000 that will be marked in our minds and my blade forever (yes, it has battle scars)!
Saturday's 500 meter races and 1000 meter races went pretty much like the rest with the US usually finishing about 5th. Russia took all the gold medals. They were a rock-solid group of 20-25 year olds that are a true National team. While drinking with them and members of the German team all through the night, we had an opportunity to get to know them better. And, no we weren't drinking Vodka ... seems like tequila is a true international border breaker!
Then it was time to shower and move hotels. With our competitions finished, it was time to move
out of the official athlete's hotel and into a new hotel. With the new hotel came a new roommate and so the computer went with the old roommate making it less accessible to blog. Sorry ... didn't know we had such a following.
So, Saturday 18-July 2009 .... tempers cooled down and we all kissed, made up and finished racing. In fact, after the races, several of us were out drinking with members of the German and Russian teams, including the German coach. It's all just the "heat of the battle" tempers that flaired and both steerspeople (US and German) made some questionable choices. In the end, the US, Hungarian and one other team were DQ'd from the race ... seems like there was other stuff going on besides what we were doing in that 2000 meter race. Anyway, it was a 2000 that will be marked in our minds and my blade forever (yes, it has battle scars)!
Saturday's 500 meter races and 1000 meter races went pretty much like the rest with the US usually finishing about 5th. Russia took all the gold medals. They were a rock-solid group of 20-25 year olds that are a true National team. While drinking with them and members of the German team all through the night, we had an opportunity to get to know them better. And, no we weren't drinking Vodka ... seems like tequila is a true international border breaker!
Then it was time to shower and move hotels. With our competitions finished, it was time to move
out of the official athlete's hotel and into a new hotel. With the new hotel came a new roommate and so the computer went with the old roommate making it less accessible to blog. Sorry ... didn't know we had such a following.For the next couple of days, we tried to attend as many of the other sporting events as possible, support the other USA teams, especially the Ultimate Flying Disk team who we befriended early on, and experience Kaohsiung as best we could. We saw a bit of aerial (formation skydiving), racquetball, korfball (yeah, we didn't know what it was either but the Dutch are exceptionally good at it!), jujitsu, bowling, and Wushu karate (I probably spelled that wrong).
We used our athelete credentials to get on the field for the medal ceremony when the Ultimate Flying Disk team collected their GOLD! It was awesome although it really unnerved our security detail that we were all out there. :) (The US, Israel and one other country all had security assigned to us due to some threats made.) 
Overall the World Games were the ultimate experience of a lifetime!!! The Taiwanese people were so friendly and welcoming, I can't even begin to explain it. I feel so fortunate to have had this opportunity and great people to share it with.
Overall the World Games were the ultimate experience of a lifetime!!! The Taiwanese people were so friendly and welcoming, I can't even begin to explain it. I feel so fortunate to have had this opportunity and great people to share it with.
Pictures (from the top):
- Opening ceremonies - Olympic flag leading in
- Germany paddler and Laurie hamming it up on Saturday (see we really did make up)
- USA's Jeannette and Tom taking in a little Russian Gold!
- On the stadium field to photograph USA's Ultimate Flying Disk Gold (Laurie, Cat, Rob & Rachel)
- Letting loose with Security on the last evening (Yes, they were off duty!)
Sorry so late on this posting but I'm now...
Back in the US, back in the US,
back in the US of A!!!!
Laurie
Laurie - sounds like an amazing experience! I hope the paddle with battle scars isn't your new Merlin.
ReplyDeleteThanks for giving us the final chapter of the story.
laurie you are awesome!! I second Rachel - I wish I was there until the very end. Mentally, I was still there, refusing to be back in reality, living without my VIP ID badge and hanging with the supercool crew of Team USA and all our international buddies. Can't wait to paddle together again! :)
ReplyDelete