Hello Everyone!
It has been a hectic couple of days since we arrived. I have been wanting to update everyone but it feels like I have been nonstop (which is a good thing I think!).
After we arrived in the Village on the 4th we had one hour before we had to leave for opening ceremonies so we quickly located out opening ceremony outfits, threw all our stuff in our room and packed lots of snacks for the long evening ahead. We left at 3:30 pm on a bus with a couple other athletes. We had one security check point an hour in and then arrived another 2 hours later in Beijing. We unloaded and slowly!!! filed into a mini stadium where we picked up ‘dinner’ which was a lunch box of pasta broccoli and chicken and ate it in bleachers inside the arena. Then about 45 minutes later we started the walk to the main arena with the rest of Team USA. This is where each country walks in one after another so we were standing in ‘queue’ for a while here as well, but the anticipation was growing! During this time we chatted with other Team USA athletes and took photos/videos. I even met the flag bearer John Shuster or shoostie who is a curler and won Gold in 2018.
Finally around 9 pm we entered the building! We could see the huge arena slightly but mostly we were in a dark corrider. Then when it was finally USA’s turn (we went in order of the Chinese alphabet), we walked down a ramp and into the stadium. This was by far the coolest part of the night for me. The transition to being in the dark and not seeing much to all of a sudden seeing the Olympic rings and then the massive arena was pretty surreal. Everyone was cheering and smiling and crying and waving.
We then did a half lap of the stadium where there were many smiling Chinese volunteers jumping around and waving and then took our seats to watch the other nations walk in and then the official opening ceremonies started.
Here are some photos!
I want to share so much more so stay tuned! I have lots more photos, but have been struggling to upload them all so wanted to give a small update :) Let me know if there is anything specific you want to see or hear about in the comments! Also I have been making some behind the scene videos on my tiktok that you can watch here.
https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdkXQEyD/
https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdkXpJf5/
Thank you so much to everyone for all the kind messages and good luck! I am very excited to race the combined on the 17th and Downhill training runs start on the 12th!
#GoTricia
#GoTeamUSA
Tricia-Super thanks for the pix and prose!! Your experiences ARE our experiences. What we get is the filtered TV experiences.
Drink it all in. Share whatever and whenever moves you.
#SpeedThrills
Wish we were there to SCREAM for you.
Thank you!!!
UD
Tricia, we love reading your updates and are so excited for you to race!