1:18 PM Sat, Aug 02, 2008 | Permalink
|
Rules are rules.
It's a standard line you hear from the time you're a little kid and your parents are teaching you right from wrong.
The rules say Olympic athletes can't have certain substances in their systems that could enhance their performance.
The rules also say the U.S. Olympic team won't add any swimmers to the roster after July 21 no matter what.
These two rules have come crashing into one another in the past co...
9:03 AM Wed, Jul 23, 2008 | Permalink
|
Day 3 brought a couple of excursions away from our neighborhood & workspace. One was a trip over to the IBC and MPC - the International Broadcast Center and the Main Press Center. These are BIG buildings that hold the core of the activity for broadcasters, print media and all sorts of journalists from all over the world. The other trip was a visit to Houhai area for dinner last night.
...
3:28 AM Tue, Jul 22, 2008 | Permalink
|
We're getting a feel for the neighborhood near our workspace and hotel. Like I've mentioned, the people are very friendly and Beijing is feeling quite cosmopolitan. Here are a few of the tidbits and sights around us.
...
3:09 AM Tue, Jul 22, 2008 | Permalink
|
An amazing amount of work has been done in preparation for the games here in Beijing, and the work continues. Here at the NBC News workspace things an amazing amount of work is being done by the advance crew including dozens of engineers & advance production staff from network news, the Today Show and affiliate services. Let me give you a little tour in pictures.
...
4:26 PM Mon, Jul 21, 2008 | Permalink
|
There was a lot to soak in on day 1 here in Beijing. The people are very friendly and helpful. The city is stunning - when it's not hazy. But just like Beijing itself has rapdily changed and modernized, even the air has changed... in just 36 hours.
...
8:51 AM Sun, Jul 20, 2008 | Permalink
|
I'm on the ground in Beijing after a smooth, but long flight. First impressions of Beijing, BIG and new airport. Efficient and, of course, business-like immigration & customs process. Lots of Olympic hospitality folks throughout the airport. Good signs. NBC transportation super-organized as usual & got me swiftly to my hotel, my home for nearly 6 weeks. Long flights sure make one think of interesting things...
...
8:36 PM Thu, Jul 17, 2008 | Permalink
|
The Road to Beijing is looking very short as our coverage from China of the XXIX Olympiad starts this weekend, a full three weeks before the Opening Ceremonies. Can you hear the trumpets? Can you feel that Olympic spirit? In just 20 hours I'll be flying my way to Beijing, the advance person of our team.
...
1:47 PM Sat, Jul 12, 2008 | Permalink
|
These are always mildly irritating and mildly amusing days for us. Mix dozens of athletes with dozens of newspaper, radio, internet and television reporters, photographers and field producers, throw in a handful of coaches who actually want to get some serious training in and a gaggle of well-meaning, helpful and often overwhelmed USA Swimming public relations types and you have all the makings of a magnificent public scrum. >> Continue reading: Media day musings
9:20 AM Sat, Jul 05, 2008 | Permalink
|
9:00pm Update
It's official. Emily Silver's name is now listed on the USA Swimming Olympic roster. It's been a foregone conclusion for several days that the top six finishers in the 100m and 200m freestyle finals would make it. (Silver took 5th in the 100.) But, her name wasn't added to the roster until tonight. Silver's one event is the women's 4x100 relay. The preliminary heats are on the opening Saturday night in...
9:19 AM Fri, Jul 04, 2008 | Permalink
|
6:15pm Update
It looks like Emily Silver of Bainbridge Island is in, although we are not absolutely sure. Silver finished fifth in the 100m freestyle final. The top four are guaranteed spots on the 4x100m relay team. The fifth and sixth place finishers get to go, depending on how many other swimmers have qualified in other events. The US can only bring a total of 26 women swimmers. But, after the race, the NBC announ...
9:28 AM Thu, Jul 03, 2008 | Permalink
|
Track & Field
2004 Olympians Jarred Rome and ian Waltz easily advanced to Saturday's final in discus. Rome, who hails from Marysville, was the top qualifier with a throw of 206-10. Waltz, the former Cougar, made one throw of 204-03 and passed on the rest of his turns. That was good enough to place him third in the opening round. Reedus Thurmond, the UW coach who's married to three time Olympian Aretha Thurmond, finish...
9:33 AM Wed, Jul 02, 2008 | Permalink
|
7:30pm Update
Winning the swim-off for 9th place has landed Nathan Adrian in tomorrow's 100m freestyle final. Ryan Lochte, one of the eight qualifiers, withdrew this evening, opening up a spot for Adrian. The top four finishers (and maybe the fifth and sixth place finishers as well) will make the Beijing Olympic team.
6:30pm Update
Womens 200 Meter Individual Medley
Ar...
9:50 AM Tue, Jul 01, 2008 | Permalink
|
5:40pm Update
Megan Jendrick is going back to the Olympics. Jendrick finished second in the women's 100m breaststroke final a few minutes ago, beating Bremerton native Tara Kirk by just .01 seconds. Jendrick won two gold medals in Sydney eight years ago as a teenager. But, she missed the Athens games when Kirk beat her by .11 in the trials four years ago.
Jessica Hardy won the final and the other Olympi...
9:30 AM Mon, Jun 30, 2008 | Permalink
|
5:40pm Update
100 Meter Breaststroke
Tacoma's Megan Jendrick made a statement in her semifinal heat, blowing away American record holder Jessica Hardy in the second 50 meters of the race. Jendrick won easily, advancing to tomorrow's final. In the first semifinal heat, Bremerton native Tara Kirk finished right behind top seed Rebecca Soni. Jendrick and Kirk go into tomorrow's final as the second and third...
9:49 AM Sun, Jun 29, 2008 | Permalink
|
Track & Field
Success this afternoon for two UW grads who qualified for the Olympics.
Pole vault world champion Brad Walker made his first Olympic team with a vault of 18' 6.5". That put him third in the competition, which is all he needed to lock up a spot. Walker only made a couple of tries, clearing the height he needed to punch his ticket to Beijing. Walker and the other vaulters had to battle tric...
3:07 PM Sat, Jun 28, 2008 | Permalink
|
Diana Pickler's Post Race Comments
I was pretty overwhelmed after javelin because it has not been my forte to race the 800 to beat someone out. I knew I was capable of it. My coach knew I was capable of it. He was really calm. He was like, 'I know you can do it'. It took me a little bit to convince myself but I just stuck on her like glue and knew I could as the race went on.
She put it on at 300 to go. I k...
5:37 PM Fri, Jun 27, 2008 | Permalink
|
10pm Update
That's it for day 1. The only final that determined spots on the Olympic roster came in the women's 10,000 meters. Shalane Flanagan, Kara Goucher and Amy Begley all earned spots. Goucher lives and trains in Oregon with her husband Adam, who advanced to the finals of the 5000 meters tonight.
Tomorrow, former Coug Diana Pickler will try to punch her ticket to Beijing in the last events of heptathlon. P...
10:38 AM Thu, Jun 12, 2008 | Permalink
|
OK. We're eight weeks out and the U.S. Olympic Team is taking shape by the day. June will be a big month for determing the fate of dozens of local athletes. Here's a look at who's in, who's oh-so-close, who has lots of work to do and who needs outside help.
...
5:53 PM Wed, May 28, 2008 | Permalink
|
Cases and manifests and Chinese customs, oh yes. Here we go again. Planning for the KING5 Beijing operation started before we packed gear to come home from the last Olympics in Torino. Now, we're in the home stretch on the road to Beijing.
This is the time when folks here in the KING5 building take notice that "something's happening." Lots of cases of equipment moving here and there. Even in a newsroom that's used to covering the big s...
5:33 PM Wed, May 28, 2008 | Permalink
|
So who needs a newsroom? Take a look at the KING5 News Eastern Washington Mobile Olympic Bureau. This is Mission Park in Spokane, a nice shady place for lunch on a hot day, in between morning and afternoon video shoots. Two laptops, a digital HD camera, a blackberry, two cell-phones and we're able to do most of the business we need to do.
...
11:01 PM Tue, May 27, 2008 | Permalink
|
This happens a lot on the long and winding Road to Beijing. We met some extraordinary people today. Dateline: Pullman, Wash. and the Olympic express rolls on. Cougar track coach Rick Sloan has been here for 37 years. Pretty good athlete in his younger days. Good enough to compete in the '68 Olympics in Mexico City as a decathlete. That's ten events in two days. He was 21 years old I believe, and finished 7th. His teammate Bill Toomey won. Anyw...
9:30 PM Mon, May 26, 2008 | Permalink
|
Another day in the glamorous life of a big-time Olympics correspondent.. I'm in the Cabana Motel in Othello, just down the road from Royal City and not too far from Lind and Ritzville. That Othello. It's our stopping point for the night as we head for Pullman, Spokane and the Tri-Cities.
...
4:59 PM Wed, Apr 30, 2008 | Permalink
|
Here we go. The countdown to Beijing hits 100.
Things have cooled down along the route of the torch relay after weeks of protest and disruption and occasional violence and many arrests. But it has cooled down only because the relay has been running through Vietnam and North Korea and is now on Chinese soil.
The flame has been split (not sure how that really works) into two pieces with one in Hong Kong right now and the other at an ...
9:57 AM Thu, Apr 10, 2008 | Permalink
|
Marion Jones cheated. Today, her teammates from the 2000 Olympics in Sydney paid the price.
The International Olympic Committee executive board disqualified and stripped the medals from the athletes who won gold with Jones in the 1,600-meter relay and bronze in the 400-meter relay. Her teammates on the 1,600 squad were Jearl-Miles Clark, Monique Hennagan, LaTasha Colander-Richardson and Andrea Anderson. The 400-relay squad also had Chrys...
9:03 PM Sat, Apr 05, 2008 | Permalink
|
They watch, they listen, they care about things political.. But they also have a job to do. Our local Olympic athletes and Olympic hopefuls this time around, and many others I've interviewed over the years seem to give some form of the same answer whenever I ask.
Do the often ugly political realities of the world, the nasty games of government vs. government, the thousand shades and shapes of propaganda, have an impact on th...
