Friday, August 2: Morning walks, a visit to the wrestling venue, and Eiffel Tower viewing

Last night, Jason Bryant came by and we had dinner at a restaurant next to my hotel. The food was pretty good, but the atmosphere a bit strange. There were English curse words all over the menu and on the windows, and hanging from the ceiling were a bunch of bras and panties. You can’t make this stuff up. Jason was delayed a bit; there are so many Ibis hotels around here, he went to the wrong one and had to walk awhile to get to mine. We both decided to get some additional rest after dinner, because it gets very busy for us once wrestling starts.

So far, so good about being on the right time zone. I stayed up as long as I could keep my eyes open last night (10:15 p.m. or so) and set an early alarm, which I ignored a few times before getting rolling. I tend to get up way early, and even with a few extra winks, I was a few minutes ahead of schedule for breakfast, which opens at 6:00 a.m. each day.

The breakfast spread at the Ibis Syles Paris Alesia Montparnasse is impressive, but it reminded me that I am not very good at gadgets. Maybe my brain is too modern. I was unable to use their machine to make a hard-boiled egg correctly (quite messy when not cooked right) and I didn’t quite figure out the electric orange squeezer to make fresh OJ. I was able to scoop the tea leaves into a medal stainer and then use the hot water machine, to enjoy my first few teas of the day.

I took a walk after breakfast, although I plan to do it before breakfast moving forward. I became a huge advocate for walking early each morning during the Tokyo Games, when everything was locked down. I got up very early each day and walked the overpasses in Chiba, the Tokyo suburb where wrestling was held. I find the need to walk daily at the Games, both physically and spiritually. There is a ton of walking and stair climbing at the Olympics, and my legs and body need to be properly prepared. A nice morning walk clears the mind and soul before the craziness of the day ahead. It is also great for site seeing. Today, I did a shorter one than I will do tomorrow, walking the length of Rue de Plantes. It reminded me of the early walks in Belgrade, Serbia at the last two World Championships. Like in Belgrade, the French store owners were preparing their businesses for the day, sweeping and washing out the sidewalks, bringing in the morning deliveries, unlocking the doors and turning on the lights. Quite interesting, always.

After getting a few hours of work done for the morning (answering emails, working on journalist predictions story, listening to the Weighing In podcast), I packed up and set off for the wrestling venue, the arena at Champ de Mars. I decided to take the 92 bus, recommended by John Sachs. The bus stop was very close to the hotel and was a direct shot to the arena. The subway goes faster, but has some connections involved. I like sitting on the bus and looking at all the neighborhoods along the way. Taking the bus may take less time than the train, I am told. When I got out of the bus at the école militaire stop (which means military school), I saw the Eiffel Tower for the first time this trip, standing tall right near the wrestling venue. Kind of breath taking, for sure.

It was a short walk to the media entrance for the venue. I am a press operations geek and decided to check out the media set up. The idea is getting the right strategy for Richard Immel and I for doing our job well as press officers. The security check-point was finished quickly and easily, and I wandered around inside the protected area.

I located the media work room, which is in a temporary tent outside, then went inside to see the media work areas in the arena. I was able to meet one of the venue press chiefs, a pleasant and helpful fellow from Egypt. I went inside and checked out the media tribune (seating area), watching the judo competition where the wrestling mats will be placed down in a few days. The press chief gave me a personal tour of the media mixed zone, which is also outside. This is where athletes get interviewed, and this is easily the longest mixed zone I have ever seen at a Games. I took a lot of photos and got the lay of the land. I ended up running into another press chief later in the visit. Things were very muddy outside the arena, because of the rains last night. Needless to say, my brand new Nikes are no longer perfectly bright.

I also worked on my suspenders strategy. Really, it’s a thing. I dropped a bunch of weight this winter and my pants don’t fit well anymore. I have not dropped to the next size down, so I am not thin enough for a new wardrobe yet. Thus, I use suspenders with medal clamps to keep the pants up. Of course, I have to take suspenders off to go through the security metal detectors in airports and sports venues. The strategy is finding a private place near the security tent where I can put the suspenders back on. I have located my options, so things are good moving forward.

I had hoped to visit with our staff member Megan Ball, who has been here a few weeks helping the Wrestling Sports Manager Ender Yaksi pull together the wrestling competition in Paris. I was hoping to have her join me for lunch, but she was too busy, but she did give me some recommendations on which way to go to find good options. I went into a restaurant that was not overcrowded and got a seat immediately. Pretty much, the menu was almost completely fish entrees, which I don’t eat. I had the one meat meal available and it was good.

Outside the arena, I ran into one of the U.S. referees working the Games, Susanna Sylstad. She and two other women referees were visiting the area after just arriving here in Paris. Susanna is a neat person and very good at her craft, and I look forward to seeing her in action as a ref during the Games.

I didn’t attend the second session of judo, because there were no Americans competing today. Instead, I decided to check out the Beach Volleyball venue, which is next to the wrestling venue and built right next to the Eiffel Tower. My credential allows me to go to media areas in every arena. I called my friend Bill Hancock to see if Beach Volleyball was a ticketed event. Some venues are so popular with the press that there is more demand than space for media. At a ticketed event, media need to have a special “ticket” to get in, which they get from their Olympic Committees. Bill has handled media ticketing for the U.S. delegation and is very good at it. He said it was not ticketed, so I could go right in. You might recognize his name because he is in the news a lot. He just retired from his job running the College Football Playoff, and earlier in his career he ran the NCAA Final Four. Bill’s one of the nicest people I know, a wonderful people person.

I was lucky to see the U.S. men’s team compete against Spain. The place was packed and it had a spirited crowd. The view from the press seating gave a stunning, up-close look at the Eiffel Tower. The U.S. dropped a tight 21-18 in the first game of the match to Spain, so I left, thinking maybe I was bad luck (I also had other work to do). Jason Bryant might consider some of the volleyball announcer gimmicks to get the crowd fired up. There is the left-right chant, which makes the fans wave their arms back and forth. Then there is was 1-2-3 stomp, which made the crowd all stomp their feet loud on the medal bleachers.

Don’t think we have a lot of time to visit other sports. I have been to every Olympics since 1988 in Seoul and have only seen a few sports. Since we share a venue with judo, I was able to be there the last two Olympics to see U.S. star Kayla Harrison win both of her gold medals. In 2000 in Sydney, I saw all of the U.S. judo athletes, because I was also a press officer for judo during the first half of the Games. At the 1988 Olympics in Sydney, I got into the track-and-field arena and saw Ben Johnson win the 100-meter dash. (A few days later, it was stripped from him because of a doping violation). I also saw a basketball game during the 1988 Games. Like the athletes on our wrestling team, this is a business trip, so I am doing long days supporting the team, with little or no time for being a tourist.

Things got a little bit more crowded this afternoon. When I left the arena area, there was a big line for media tying to get in. The return 92 bus was really jammed also. I met a young woman on the bus with a huge bag and we had a short chat. She is from Paris but works remotely. In her big bag was a hang glider, and she was returning from the Atlantic Coast where she had done some gliding.

When I got back to the hotel, members of the wrestling delegation were in the lobby, having returned from Normandie. National staff members Cody Bickley, Richard Immel and Katie Kriebel were there, along with a number of the personal coaches and some USOPC Performance staff members. It is nice having familiar folks here at the same hotel. It makes it very clear that wrestling is about to get started. It will be game time on Monday. I am getting excited about seeing our Olympians compete.

Abbott Paris Blog: Wrapping up Paris Games, and appreciation for the Olympic spirit

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