Wadlow/Rast Olympic Campaign: Final Report

It's a few hours until closing ceremonies, the Olympic flame will be extinguished and the 2008 Olympic Games will be officially over.  Chris and I are walking in the ceremonies tonight, and then traveling home in the morning.
 
The official Olympic creed seems like a good way to sum up the way Chris and I are feeling:  "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

We are obviously disappointed with our 6th place finish.  The games were a huge emotional roller coaster for us, and unfortunately it didn't quite end the way we had hoped.  Nevertheless, we both enjoyed all the hard work and preparation we did, we have many great memories, and there are many moments that we are extremely proud of.
 
As I'm sure you've seen from the scores, we started out very slowly.  The first two days of the event we just couldn't seem to catch a break, missing wind shifts and getting caught up in some huge traffic jams at the windward mark.  These days the wind was extremely light, it was super hot, and the motorboat chop was some of the worst we have ever experienced.  We didn't handle all these challenges as well as we should have.  After two days were in 13th place, and any chance of good overall finish at the games seemed unlikely.

The third day of racing was a magical day.  We found some conditions we liked, we sailed very well, and we got a little lucky.  We won all three races.  Triple bullets.  Winning three races on a day at the Olympics is something we will never forget.
 
The fourth and final full race day we sailed very well and had scores of 3, 8, 4. We had the second best day of anyone.  Unfortunately, all the players ahead of us in the standings had OK days, and we didn't pick up a huge number of points. 
 

Going into the medal race there were 6 boats that could win a medal.  We were 6th, only 7 points from the Bronze Medal.  It would have been difficult, but entirely possible to win a medal with a great medal race.   As many of you saw, the medal race was extremely windy and wavy, and it didn't work out that well for us.  We broke down before the start and were unable to limp around the racecourse. We believe that the race should not have been started in the rough conditions; 40% of the fleet had serious gear failure, and the race winner flipped 3 times.  The conditions were deemed too rough by the Laser race committee, yet 49er's were sent out.   It also led to a big controversy when the Danish boat broke their mast, and then competed in the race with a different boat that wasn't theirs.   This situation has caused many jury hearings, and the appeals have been elevated to the court of arbitration for sport (CAS).  It was an unfortunate end to a good regatta caused by a poor race management decision. 

 

I'm sure many of you have been watching the Olympics on TV, and have seen what an incredible job the Chinese have done.  The experience of the games in China has been unbelievable.  At the completion of our event we stuck around Qingdao for a couple days and had a great time watching US sailor Anna Tunnicliffe win her Olympic Gold Medal.  We then traveled up to Beijing where as athletes we have had access to some great seats for big events.  We saw US women's soccer win Gold in overtime against Brazil, we watched the men's Volleyball upset favored Russians to advance to the finals, and we watched the Women's Basketball win Gold.  We've also had some great experiences living in the Olympic village, hanging out with athletes from every country and sport you could possibly imagine.  I'm writing this from a computer lounge with hundreds of computers, and flat screens TVs showing 5 different Olympic events going on at once. It's an incredible atmosphere.   There are more detailed reports up on our website www.wadlowrast.com about our experiences in Beijing.

 
Chris and I feel incredibly lucky to have had the chance to compete in these games, and were looking forward to coming home and sharing our experiences with you.   We are thankful for all of the support that we have received along our Olympic journey.  The support from family and friends has been incredible.  It's simply not possible without this support, so thank you!
 
A lot of people have been asking what's next for Chris and me.  As many of you know, Chris is living in San Diego now, and will be starting business school at UC San Diego next month.  I'm hoping to take a month off to decompress, see friends and reacquaint myself with life at home.  In the beginning of October I'll be returning to work. 
 
Tim and Chris
 
How to Help Team Wadlow/Rast: 
Make a 501c3 Tax Deductible Donation
Checks Payable to:         Sailing Foundation of New York – Wadlow/Rast
Mail to:                            Tim Wadlow, 640RR Hale St., Beverly, MA 01915. 
 
Supported by:
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Patagonia – www.patagonia.com
  

Nice shot my Clive Mason

 

A crazy few days.....

It's been almost a week since the end of our competition, and I've had some pretty cool expenses.  My first thought after our crazy medal race, and disappointing 6th place finish was to change my ticket and fly home as soon as possible.  As the team Captain I decided this might not be the best plan, so I stuck around Qingdao.  I'm glad I stayed.

 

For the first few days Ery and I hung around Qingdao, and enjoyed the medal races in 470's, Laser and Laser Radial.  As a sailor, the medal race format is truly exciting to watch.  We normally watched it on TV, as the coverage was excellent.  The highlight was watching Anna Tunnicliff earn a Gold Medal.  She had lost Gold part way through the race, but picked up a nice left shift on the last beat to earn in back.   The celebration that ensued onshore and on the water was awesome.  We snuck Anna's entire family and entourage through security so they could meet her at the ramp.  It was a pretty special moment.   And of course, watching the medal ceremony, which was attended by a couple thousand people, was amazing. 

 

Ery and I also had some really fun times hanging out with all the 49er sailors in Qingdao.  There is no alcohol allowed in the Olympic village, but on any given night about half of the sailors at the Olympics could be found at the New York Bar.   There is a great cover band, cheap drinks, and lots of celebrating (especially for the sailors that won medals that day).  It's always entertaining. 

 

After a few days we took the train up to Beijing.  It was a modern high speed train, and it was a cool experience taking the train instead of flying like we usually do.  Not really on topic, but I found the train to be an interesting tour of China's environmental problems.  Most of China's power comes from coal.  The coal is transported by train, on the same rail line as we were using.  We saw many coal trains.  There were about five coal powered power plants along the train line--all looked very old and very dirty. 

 

Once in Beijing Ery and I checked into a hotel.  I went up to the Olympic Village to check it out, and try and score some 'athlete' tickets to other events.  The international Olympic Committee requires that tickets for all events be held for athletes to watch.  The tickets are distributed every evening at 6pm in the US athlete's lounge in the Olympic village.   I arrived at 5pm, and immediately started strategizing by looking at schedules and preview articles online.  At 5:30PM it was announced that two tickets for the Gold Medal women's soccer match for that night had ben dropped off.  I grabbed those!  At 6pm we got the whole ticket run for the next day, and I picked up athletics for the morning, lunch time volleyball, and evening diving.  Sweet.

 

Technically, the tickets require an athlete credential, which Ery doesn't have.   We've found China security to be pretty mellow, so we figured we could get in.  When we arrived at the soccer game it was absolutely no problem--we just walked in, showed our tickets (they are a different color than the normal tickets), and went to our seats.  The seats were amazing, and we were sitting with athletes from many countries, including the USA. 

 

The game, if you didn't see it, was incredible.  The US got dominated for much of the game, but didn't let in a goal.  In overtime Brazil got tired, and we got a goal.  The celebration and medal presentation was awesome.

 

We didn't get home till 2am, so we slid the 8am Athletics ticket under the door of my parents hotel room.  They had a great time checking out the birds nest, and also had no problem using the athlete tickets.

 

In the morning we found a Starbucks (hey, they are everywhere!), and then headed for the men's indoor volleyball.  We were playing the Russians in the Semi-final match.  The US had not beat the Russians all year, and we were the underdogs.  To make matters worse the stadium was packed with loud, and sometime rude Russians fans.  In our small athlete corner of the stands we met a few other sailors and the Gold Medal winning US women's rowing boat.  We cheered as loud as we could, and supported our boys all the way.  They pulled off an amazing win in 5 sets.  At this point, we are thinking we might be good luck.

 

After volleyball I went back to the village for another 6pm ticket run, and Ery went right to the Diving so she could check out the Olympic Green.  We met at Diving, and with credentials and US team apparel had access to the entire water cube.  Checking out the building and everything that goes on was cool.  Scoping out all the camera technology used to cover diving kept me entertained for awhile.  We quickly learned that diving isn't that exciting--especially right after a raucous volleyball match.  We got bored after an hour or so, and took off.  Getting out of the stadium was a challenge--tens of thousands of Chinese were standing in the streets, watching the Gold Medal ping pong match, which was shown on jumbo tron screens on the sides of buildings.  I've never seen as much pedestrian traffic as we saw last night.   The Chinese love their ping pong.

 

We met up with more sailors at the USA house, which is basically a party house for the US athletes, support staff, and friends.   There was a big private party going on for beach volleyball and BMX, who had all won medals that day.  Eventually their party merged with the common areas and everyone hung out.  There was also a rocking Blues Band, getting everyone fired up for Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid.  Of course, everything was super high class, and free.  When the US Olympic Committee does events, they do them right.

 

We had more diving tickets for 10am, but after another late night these went under my parents door again.  Once again, no problem for them getting in.

 

At noon Ery had to leave for the airport to catch her flight.  I'm now back up at the village, and have checked into my room.  I'm writing this from the US athlete's lounge.  I'm about to head over to the dining hall for a meal.   This place is huge, as it serves meals to the 10,000 athletes and coaches in the village.  Tonight we have a reception at the USA house for the entire sailing team, who will soon all be up in Beijing.  Tomorrow night is closing ceremonies, then I fly home.

 

It's been a fun whirlwind week.....

 

Tim

 

Up to Beijing Today

Took the High Speed train up to Beijing, and I'm now scoping out the athletes village.  It's pretty cool getting to see it all, but it feels very separate from the Olympics we just had down in Qingdao.  Lots of athletes are done with their competition, so the village has quite a party/festive feel to it.....

Watching Anna win her Gold Medal

Yesterday was an awesome day....we got to watch a great medal race from the wall, and we got to see Anna win a Gold Medal.  What a day.....
http://www.sailing.org/24783.php?PHPSESSID=d108bbc8ccbb1c14ea25df90b47c51e9

wow....worth checking out this shot!

http://www.sail-world.com/Asia/index.cfm?SEID=2&Nid=47881&SRCID=0&ntid=77&tickeruid=0&tickerCID=0

Team Leader's thoughts on a crazy day......

http://www.ussailing.org/olympics/blog/dean/index.asp