Interviews & Press Conferences

So over the past three days, I've been to numerous press conferences and have learned some nifty tricks regarding editing and posting audio on the web. A few of the files are a little rough around the edges, but I've gotten much better over the course of three days. In addition to the curlers (which I've edited after posting it the first time), I've been able to get interviews with the figure skating pairs team of Aaron Parchem & Marcy Hinzmann, Gretchen Bleiler (boarder), Danny Kass (boarder), Ted Ligety (alpine stud - to hell with that other guy), Anders Johnson (ski jumper), Carl Van Loan (Nordic combined), Shaun White (boarder) and Tyler Jewell (PGS boarder).

It's been pretty interesting sitting in on the press conferences (with many more athletes than listed above). Some of the athletes are very well spoken, some have different cultures (think: figure skating vs. snowboarding) surrounding their sport, some are shy, others are outgoing. The one similarity that courses through all their veins is their passion for competition. Each and every one of them is driven to be the best they can be and are totally stoked to be here. As am I.

I know I never finished up about my travel day, but that was two days ago and I simply can't be bothered to remember what happened Sunday. Except for two things. The first was an observation made as people were boarding the plane in Chicago: I could tell the Americans from the Euros by their attire. One set was fairly chic. The other? Jeans and white shoes. I'll let you figure out which was which. The other thing was the Torino airport's baggage claim. I don't think I've ever seen such a cluster in my entire life. There were gobs and gobs of people everywhere lugging big bags around. And in the middle of it all was a table set up for Olympic credentials and guess where the line formed? Smack dab in the middle of the chaos. Definitely made for great people watching.

Today was the U.S. flag-raising ceremony in the village. This is done with each and every nation and normally several nations take part at the same time. Today they were going every 30 minutes like clockwork. Guess which two countries were with the USA? Armenia and Iran. I got a chuckle out of that. I also ran into a couple of friends who live in Colorado. They were supposed to join me in learning how to telemark this season, but we never were able to hook up on the mountain. We had to come all the way to Italy to bump into each other in Torino.

So far the red wine and Italian food (they just call it food over here) has been outstanding. As if I expected any different - ha!

Peace out for now.

p.s. Here's the Olympic podcast page for your audio pleasure