Let the Games Begin

Post # 107

London, England - The Games are officially here! Last night as we watched the Opening Ceremonies on TV from the rowing village (we're too far away from London and are racing too soon to go march in them), I couldn't help but feel excited to be part of this amazing event. We're surrounded only by rowers out here at our satellite village, which makes it easy to forget that there are SO many other sports being contested just an hour and a half away in London. It can make it hard to grasp the magnitude of the Olympics, but last night I could start to feel how gigantic this really is. All I can say is that I'm so proud to represent the USA and I'm excited to get the racing started!

In our Opening Ceremonies outfits at the Rowing Village

I've had a lot of people ask me when/how to watch my race on TV. I don't know when they are going to air our event, but it seemed like today they were airing the racing live - which means if you want to see it in the US, you'll have to be up early! Here in London, we are 5 hours ahead of the east coast and 8 hours ahead of the west coast. The best way to figure out when it's on is to go to nbcolympics.com and search for your local listings.

Our event is the lightweight double (LW2x) and here's our race schedule. All times are local.

Sunday July 29: Heats beginning at 10:40 am. Top 2 from each heat advance directly to semifinals, the rest go to the repechage.
Tuesday July 31: Repechages beginning at 10:10 am. Top 3 from each rep advance to the A/B semifinal.
Thursday August 2: A/B semifinals beginning at 10:30 am. Top 3 from each semi go to the A final. The rest go to the B final.
Saturday August 4: Finals

For tomorrow's heat, we'll see Canada, Brazil, Australia, Greece, and the Netherlands at 10:50 am. We've raced all of these combinations before and it promises to be some great racing. I'm really looking forward to experiencing what it's like to race at the Olympics for the first time. If this morning's racing is any indication of what tomorrow will be like, there will be TONS of people cheering; the last 500 meters will be like rowing into a stadium full of fans. I hope I hear lots of USA fans, but I'm guessing it'll be so loud I'll barely be able to hear myself making the calls in the boat!

Here are a few photos from the past few days. Go USA!

Official 2012 US Olympic Rowing Team photo

Last week's "college uni day." Each member of the women's team wears their college uni to recognize and give thanks to the programs that got us here. I'm second from the right, and the lone Wisco representative! The schools with the most athletes are Cal, Washington, and Princeton. 

The view out my window at the Rowing Village

The daily village newspaper