I received the below email from Arena Athlete Mike Hazle this morning. As you can see, he's sending daily posts from the US Track and Fields training camp in Dailan, China. Having experienced the excitement, awe and wonder of the Opening Ceremonies, the US Track and Field athletes (collectively dubbed "The World's Hardest Team to Make," or more simply: "The World's Best Track and Field Team") decamped to a less frenetic locale to put the finishing touches on their Olympic preparation. They will return to Beijing in a few days.
Just pause for a moment and think about the potential energy amassing at that camp: you have a group of superlative athletes in the best shape of their lives; they're all riding the high of making the US Team a mere month ago and the even more precipitous high of making the journey to Beijing to participate in the Opening Ceremonies, unequivocally the most spectacular in Olympic history; the pumps of their competitive fires have been primed and now, they wait: to run, to jump, to throw, to perform, to claim their places on the Olympic stage and the Olympic podia.
What collective fury of athleticism will be unleashed in the Bird's Nest upon the opening of the Olympic Track and Field program? I, for one, can not wait to find out. In the meantime, follow along with Mike's day-to-day activities as he keeps us abreast of the happenings in China.
Today was the first hard training day since I arrived to Beijing. I had a hard throwing session this morning in the pouring down rain (which you may have seen on TV). I followed this morning’s training session with a sprints and jumping session this afternoon. The rest of the hours in between training were spent resting and recovering and then preparing for the next session. It was a pretty quiet day here at the USA Training Camp other than the practice sessions. We have had a streak of bad weather for 24 hours but it should be clearing by tomorrow. No major news from Beijing other than a few updates on the medal counts and the Chinese have put up an impressive showing so far. The American Track & Field Machine is set to roll in just a few more days…should be one heck of a show!
Catch up with you tomorrow,
Mike ++
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