 Mark Ruiz 2004 Olympics HOME |
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Olympic Photos: Athens P. 1Olympian Web Journals: Mark's Notes |
March 25, 2008: My Return to Competition Last September, after a lot of contemplation and talk to close friends and family, I decided to come back to diving. I had that itch to come back and felt like I could still do it, but more importantly I want to have to no regrets later on. This time, rather than doing all 3 events like I have in the past, I've decided to focus on the 3m only. Since making the decision I've been training twice a day for about 5 hours. I've worked extremely hard to regain my old diving form and to position myself as a top contender for the Olympic games. In January I was invited to U.S. selection camp where the top 8 eight divers in the U.S. were invited to try out for the World Cup Team for the World Cup in Beijing, China. US Diving began hosting these selection camps back in '05 to find the most consistent and best divers in the U.S. that would give America the best chances to win international medals. This was the first selection camp I've ever experienced so going into it I didn't know what to expect of the process or what to expect from competitors since I had been away from the sport for the last 2 1/2 years. The level of diving was very high and it was a great parameter for me to see where I stood and what I had to work on. I did fairly well, not as well as I was hoping, but I came out of there with a great sense of motivation. When I returned home I immediately worked on new dives and techniques that I had to improve. In February, I competed in the All Star Diving Invitational in my home town of Orlando, Florida, where divers form all over the U.S. and Canada came to compete. One diver in particular stood out, Canada's Alexander Despatie, the current world champion on the 3m. The meet was held in a bracket format with head to head diving Ñ after the prelims, the top 8 divers would move on to the quarter finals and the seeds were determined on your standings in the prelims. So essentially if you made it to the finals, you had to do a total of 4 list of optionals. Fortunately for me, I made it all the way to the finals where I faced Alexander Despatie. In the finals Alex and I put on a great show, both of us did some great dives, but in the end he edged me out by 23 points. I was very pleased with my result because I was very consistent throughout the meet and made some huge improvements in my diving since the selection camp. November 28, 2004: Postscript Following the 2004 Olympic Games, I decided to retire from diving. I was in the sport for 15 years and I have been extremely fortunate to have had many great experiences, seen the world and met many great people along the way. In October, the US Olympic Team came together at the White House to meet President Bush: It was the last time that the US Olympic Team would be together again (Follow link in left column to Olympic Photos: White House.) We toured the White House and listen to a speech by the President - he was really close to us! And it was great to catch up with the people I had met at the Games. I also have started a great job at Orlando's YMCA Aquatic Center, where I trained for the past 10 years. I am the program coordinator responsible for all pool rentals and I'm also the meet director for all competitions. It is a lot of hard work and challenging, but it is a great experience. In late October, I did a stunt for the upcoming movie Annapolis. I had to do a front dive off the 10 meter and make it look like I was smacking. Fortunately I was able to do it without hurting myself. Also, they made me shave my head! Quite an experience. From this point I'm continuing to coach my diving club team and I'm putting together more diving camps for the 2005 summer, so keep checking this Web site for information. I just want to thank each of your for your support throughout the years. It's both encouraging and motivating for me. Good luck! Mark August 30, 2004: Dreams do come true One more day before I get to go home. I've had a great time, but I'm ready to go home. I've been really busy over the last couple of days, but they have also been a lot fun. I've had a great time sharing this wonderful experience with all of you and I hope that you've enjoyed reading my journals and seeing my pictures as much as I've enjoyed sharing them with you. To all the kids, I would like to say that "Dreams do come true". Look at me, for example. I came from a small town in Puerto Rico, Toa Alta, with fewer opportunities than you may have, but now, with the help and support of my mother and family, here I am at the Olympic Games, doing what I love. You too can accomplish anything that you desire as long as you believe in yourself and put your heart into it. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something; if anything, use their words as your motivation to prove them wrong. "Dream Big" dreams can become a reality. I wish you all the best and thanks to all of you for your support. August 29, 2004: End of the Games
August 28, 2004: The Party
August 27, 2004: Sleeping at the Palace Coca Cola wanted a couple of high profile athletes to meet and greet their employees at a banquet they were putting on for them. To pay the athletes, Coca Cola put them up at this really nice resort in Athens, Astir Palace Resort, for 2 or 3 nights — which ever they preferred — all inclusive. Fortunately, I was one of those athletes. At the men 10 meter preliminaries, as you probably know, Kyle and Caesar unfortunately didn't have their best performances but they still have a lot to be proud of as they never gave up. After the event, Justin Dumais and I checked in at the Astir Palace Resort, a beautiful resort. I was very excited to stay at this really nice resort and somewhere else besides the Olympic Village for a couple of days. August 26, 2004: The best 3-meter meet The Women's 3-meter semi-final went from 12 to 1:30 p.m. and went really well for Rachelle. She held on to her 12th spot and that's tough considering the girls were doing great voluntaries. She held her own and made it to the Finals. After the competition, Doug Williams (NBC producer) took me to the NBC truck where he does all of his work and showed me what really goes on behind the scenes. In the editing room he showed me what they do, including all the different camera angles that they have; it was really neat! Their work is sometimes unappreciated, but they're really good at what they do and they make diving look really cool on TV. Afterwards I did a little shopping over at the official Olympic Store. Then I headed back to the Village and played Xbox. Killing time! Ha ha! The Women's 3-meter final was from 9 to 10:00 p.m. Guo Jinging from China won the Gold with an olympic record score of 633.15. That's Amazing! It was the probably the best girl's 3 meter contest I have ever seen. Rachelle Kunkel did a great job! She finished 9th but probably had the best meet she's ever had, and what a time to do it. Tomorrow is the guy's 10-meter preliminaries; Kyle Prandi and Caesar Garcia will be representing us. August 25, 2004: The Girls The girls 3-meter prelims went from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. It was a tough contest. Rachelle Kunkel did pretty good and she's seating in 12th going into the semifinals. Unfortunately, Kimiko didn't make the semis. Her shoulder has been bothering her a lot and she just seemed to be a little unsure and uncomfortable up there. But regardless she had a great year and we're all very proud of her. She's a tough Girl! Afterwards I went back to the village and relaxed for the rest of the day. Interesting day, huh? Girls 3-meter semis are tomorrow and Hopefully Rachelle will make the finals and win a medal for the US. August 24, 2004: The Boys The men's semifinals went from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. Troy Dumais did a great set on voluntaries and really put himself in a good position heading to the finals. After the conclusion of the event, most of us went to the Speedo Cafe, where the people from Speedo hosted a luncheon party for the divers and their families from 4 to 6:00 p.m. Everyone seemed to have a great time. Afterwards, I went back to the village and relaxed for a liitle while before heading back to the pool for men's 3m finals. The men's 3-meter finals went from 9:45 to 11:00 p.m. and it was a great contest. Troy Dumais did a fabulous Job! Unfortunately, he came just short of a medal but that takes nothing away from the performance he put on. Peng Bo from China was the winner and absolutely dove amazing! He broke Greg Luganis record for total Score on the 3 meter. Afterwards Troy,Justin and I hung out and had some fun. Tomorrow is the Girls 3 meter preliminaries and I'm sure they're anxious and excited to get started. August 23, 2004: 3 Meter Prelims Not the most exciting day I've had. Aside from watching the men's 3 meter preliminaries, I didn't do much else. I had a relaxing and boring day: Basically, I just hung out at the Village all day. The mens 3 meter prelims was a very good contest and surprisingly exciting and neat to watch. Usually there are so many divers in the prelims that it becomes hard to get into any kind of rhythm, and for the spectators it becomes somewhat boring. But I guess no event at the Olympics is boring to watch. It was a tough contest and Troy Dumais did a fabulous job! He has pretty much secure him self a spot in the finals. Unfortunately Justin Wilcock has been having severe pain in his back so he has not been able to train much. His back was bothering him pretty badly yesterday and I think it's very courageous and admirable of him to stand up there in front of the world and perform knowing you're not at your best and having to cope with the pain. I can relate: It's extremely hard to dive when you're in pain. I feel really badly for him, but hopefully he'll get another shot in 2008 to accomplish his dream. August 22, 2004: Making the Olympic Rounds This was a very exciting day for me. During the first half of the day I hung out at the Village and the around 4:00 p.m. Justin Dumais and I went to watch the Tennis Final between American Marty Fish and Nicholas Massu of Chile. Unfortunately America's Marty Fish didn't win but it was a very exciting event to watch. The quality of tennis that both guys displayed was unbelievable. From tennis we went to watch the Women's 10 meter Final where both Laura and Sara were competing. It was an extremely tight contest among all the girls and certainly exciting to watch. The quality of dives that those girls performed was spectacular. Chantelle Newbery from Australia clinched the Gold medal with a spectacular last round dive and both Laura and Sara did a great job! Unfortunately neither one of them won medal, but they both did some great dives and have a lot to be proud of. Laura just came short of repeating her 2000 Gold medal performance and proved to everyone that 2000 was no fluke.
Afterwards I went to a party that Speedo International hosted for their athletes and it was fun. I had a great time meeting athletes from around the world. August 21, 2004: Cheering for Teammates Today, Saturday, was the girls 10 meter platform semifinals when they had to perform their voluntaries. Both Laura and Sara did a great job and both made the finals. Both did a great set of vols and since only the scores from the semifinals carry over to finals, they're sitting in great position going into finals. I'm looking forward to tomorrow night's women's 10 meter finals because I think our girls are going to do awesome! After, I went to back to the Village and took a nap. In the evening Justin Dumais and I got tickets to watch the Track and Field and it was unbelievable; it was electrifying in there. We had a great time watching and cheering on our fellow teammates from the U.S. Team. It was a lot of fun! August 19, 2004: Escape to an Island
The first day on Santorini was Tuesday, August 17 and it took 45 minutes of flying to get to the island. When we got to Oia (which is the little town that we were staying in) Nicole and I asked my parents to watch the bags while we looked for the hotel located in this little tourist shopping area [photo] and we hoped that we were in the right place. When we asked some Greeks where Oia de Mare was located, they didn't know or we weren't pronouncing it correctly. Anyway, when we finally found the hotel, it was sitting on the side of the mountain and overlooking the ocean; It is the most spectacular resort I have ever seen. We turned around to go get my parents. As we start walking back here comes a donkey with our luggage and my mother and stepfather right beside it screaming "look at our taxi!" It was really Funny! Nicole and I were in disbelief, though, to see they use donkeys as bellmen (so to speak) [Photo].
On the following day, Wednesday, my family and I took a ferry to another little island (I'm not sure what the name of it was) with a volcano [Photo: us on the volcano]. It was a lot of fun! The volcano wasn't active, so unfortunately we didn't get to see any lava, and the island was very small but very nice.
On Thursday we all ate breakfast by the hotel pool, enjoyed a beautiful view of the ocean and fabulous food. Then we packed up our stuff, left our bags outside our room, and did some shopping. At 2:30, when the shuttle was schedule to pick us up, the donkey showed up with our luggage. Our Flight was short and good. Once in Athens, we went to my parents' hotel, dropped off our bags, and then went to the Bank of America Family Center for dinner and more time together. They head back to the states tomorrow morning. I'm sad to see them leave, but I had a wonderful time with them here and I'm very glad and grateful that they came. Tomorrow, Laura and Sara have prelims on the 10 meter and from what I hear (because I haven't been at the pool lately) they're looking great. Good luck to them: I know that they're going to do great! August 16, 2004: Olympic-style Surprises What a day! My family and I went to Bank of America Family Center to do a photo shoot for an advertisement. One of the employees showed me a one page ad featuring me for Bank of America in USA Today, which was really neat. Then Nicole and I did a little shopping before going to the family's hotel. That night the U.S. competed in two Synchro events and it was extremely exciting to watch! Our girls 10 meter Synchro team had a rough start, but hung in there and did a great job. The men's 3 meter was unlike any event I have ever seen. In the first few rounds the competition was flawless and all scores were very close. During the middle of the 4th round, a man dressed as clown ran up on the 3 meters on the opposite side of the pool promoting a web site. He jumped off the 3 meter and was quickly escorted out of the building. The last round of competition was indescribable. China, the first team in the event and also the leaders, failed their dive. One of the divers got lost which resulted in zeros. Then the Russian, who were in 3rd, also had a bad dive with gold medalist Dmitiri Sautin hitting his heels on the board. (He was fine after the meet). The USA was up with a great shot for the gold medal. Troy and Justin did a great job throughout the meet and gave themselves a great chance to win, however the craziness of the last round continued with Troy and Justin missing their last dive thus leaving them out the of the top 3. Greece, who only qualified for the event due to hosting the Olympics, won! Shocking to everyone and the stadium was in an uproar. It was the first medal Greece has ever won in diving. I just want everyone to know that Justin and Troy did an amazing job. It is not an easy position to be in and they did their best. Things don't always work out the way we would like and I commend them on their effort. For the next few days I am going to Santorini, which I hear is beautiful, with my family and Nicole. I will be back to let you know how it was and show some great pictures. August 15, 2004: Family Time Today I did an interview with CBS News about overcoming fears and conquering them. The interview went really well and afterward I went to the Bank of America Family Center. This is a place where US athletes and their families can go and relax with fellow Americans and get away from the Olympic atmosphere. Since Bank of America is one of my sponsors, they had a poster of me diving in front of an image of downtown Orlando. It was really neat. While I was there I met up with my parents and my girlfriend, Nicole. We headed to the Acropolis which is beautiful but quite a walk! We have some great pictures which I will download later. Afterward I went back to the Village and watched the USA in water polo while hanging out with the volleyball team and tennis star Andy Roddick. It was great to see the U.S. win the game in the last second! August 14, 2004: Diving in the Olympics When I woke up, I felt great and I had a great feeling about how we would do. Kyle and I first worked out from 1 to 3 p.m. We worked on our timers and lead ups off the 5 meter and we felt great! Afterwards we headed back to the Village where we had 4 hours rest before going back to the pool. In those four hours kyle and I just laid around our apartment resting and watch other sporting events on TV. We started back to the pool at 6:45 p.m. and got in the water around 7:45 p.m. Practice was really good. The girls 3 meter Synchro went first, from 9 to 10 p.m. After their event we had ten minutes to warm-up before the meet began. Kyle and I did two dives off the 10 meter and they went pretty well so we felt ready.
I don't know what contributed to our lack of performance, but I do know that we trained extremely hard for it and that we did the best we could. One of my dreams has always been to win a medal at the olympic games and I didn't achieve that, so it's really hard for me to swallow this performance because I worked so hard and did everything I could possibly do to give my self the best chance to min a medal. For it to end the way that it did, is very disappointing. But I also have to put things in perspective and realize that at least I made it this far (twice) and accomplished and experienced some great things. For that, I am very grateful. From this point forward I will be there to support to my teammates (who I believe are going to do great) and enjoy the Olympics. August 13, 2004: Early to Bed
Kyle and I did timers on the ground first and then off the 3 meter tower. Since the 5 meter is not wide enough for synchro, Kyle and I did our synchro lead-ups individually. Practice went well and both of us feel good. Following practice, Kimiko and I got to do some modeling for the Today Show [Photo]. She modeled a Speedo outfit and I modeled the opening ceremonies outfit. It was a lot of fun! Basically, we stood there in the clothes and answered some questions about what we thought about the clothes. We also got the chance to meet Katie Couric and she was extremely nice. After the Today Show, I met with my parents and my girlfriend Nicole (they got here early this morning), and was able to spend some time with them. I missed them very much, so it's really nice having them here. Unfortunately, Kyle and I decided not to attend the opening ceremonies because of our meet tomorrow night. Both of us want to feel rested and 100% tomorrow night. It was an extremely hard decision for us to turn down the opening ceremonies, but we feel it is the right choice otherwise we would have spent a lot time on our feet and we wouldn't have gone to bed until really late. There was no way for us to go and leave early; the USOC won't allow that. We are extremely excited about tomorrow night's event and feel great about it, so hopefully things will go well. Watch for us tomorrow on NBC because we are bringing home a medal! August 12, 2004: Ready
The press conference went a little longer than we expected. We thought that at the latest we would be done by 11:30 a.m. but we didn't finish until 11:45 and our first practice was schedule from 12 to 1:30 p.m. clear over at the Olympic Pool. So, as you can see we got there a little late for our workout. The good news was that open workout went 1:30 to 4:00 so we could sort of take our time and get everything done. The workout went really well for everyone; everyone seems to be ready to go. Our second workout didn't start until 9:00 p.m., so we had plenty of time to kill. I walked around the village chatting it up with athletes and meeting new people, and I went to the international zone and played pool table with the Mexicans and Cubans. It was a lot of fun! Our second workout was awesome! Everyone had an unbelievable workout, and Kyle and I dove exceptionally! The best we've ever done. Our dives were right on and our synchro was too. I feel great about our chances on Saturday. Following practice everyone went back to the village (arriving about 11:00 p.m.) Kyle and I went to the NGB services room and analyzed our workout with Randy Ableman and Jeff Shafer. Kathleen (one of the USOC people) was kind enough to film our workout and put it together for us to watch. Ready for Saturday! August 11, 2004: Eying the Competition It's so nice being back in the Olympic Village. Our first workout went from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. and we had the Chinese and Australian teams training with us. You can tell everyone on our team was a little bit more pumped than usual and checking out the competition.
Our second workout went from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. and everyone of us had a great practice. I did a couple of dives off the 10m and they went really well. I feel great! Everyone on this team is ready to go.
On our way back to the village, Kimiko and I got to have a more serious chat and it was a nice conversation. We got to know each other a little better. Once I got back, I just hung out at Athlete Services talking and meeting new athletes. August 9, 2004: Sprechen Sie Englisch? Our first workout was at 11:30 a.m. and everyone did pretty well for the most part. Kyle and I did our lead-ups and timers off the 5 meter and they were right on. Following workout, some of the girls went to the city [Berlin] to do some shopping and the rest of us (including myself) went back to the hotel and pretty much did nothing. Sounds like a lot of fun, huh? Ha! Before our second workout began, Troy and I played ping pong to warmup and then Kenny Armstrong decided to join in on the action. We had a mini tournament going on: It was fun! Our second practice went pretty well, even though everyone seemed to be a little tired and ready to get back to Athens. Kyle and I did our sychro list off the 10 meter and I think we had our best workout so far: Our timing and dives seem to get better and better. In my mind, Kimiko Soldati stood out from the rest of us, though: She had a fabulous workout. After workout we all went back to the hotel and packed up our stuff. We are all anxious to get to the Olympic Village. We miss the food, our rooms and the free access we have to a lot of different stuff.
Following dinner, we went back to the hotel and we're looking forward to Athens. August 8, 2004: Golly Golly and Platz Pizza
Today was my day off so I didn't even bother to go watch practice, but I heard that those that went dove well. I tried to stay away from the pool. Justin Dumais, Troy Dumais and I felt like having some kind of American food for lunch. So we decided to go to Pizza Hut in Wittenberg Platz by train (which was our choice of transportation). It took 45 min. to get there — "Craziness" but at least we didn't get lost. Quite the journey! Once we got there, it was well worth the trip — the little things we take for granted when we're at home, but once you're away you learn to appreciate them. Following our adventure, I went back to the hotel and rested for the rest of the day. I must admit that it was boring, but it's also nice to have a day where you can rest. August 7, 2004: Go Rachelle
Now we are off to a local German restaurant for our team dinner. Hope the food is good! August 6, 2004: Working Hard Today we had two workouts; we're back into the normal swing. We have bumped our workouts up a little, though, so we get use to diving later. Every final at the Olympics is late in the evening. Our first practice moved from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Kyle and I worked on our timing and our lead ups off the 5 meter. Pretty much everyone else did their voluntaries. Following practice we had 5 hours to rest until our next workout. During that time Troy, Justin and I ate and then went up to the room to watch movies. Our second practice went from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. While we were stretching to get ready for practice, Troy spotted a ping pong table, so he and I warmed up by playing ping pong. What better way to warm up than to find something to compete at? Ha! During practice Kyle and I dove our synchro list off 10 meter and had a great practice; our synchronization is really coming around. Everyone seemed to have a very good workout, but especially Laura Wilkinson had a great practice! And Caesar (I've nicknamed him "C") had a great workout as well. Following our workout we all went back to the hotel and hung out and I'm Looking forward to tomorrow. August 5, 2004: Berlin is the Best
From the hotel we went to practice and directly into the dryland room, which is the best dryland I have ever seen. It has everything; it has a hydraulic platform, three springboards (two of them are placed above a foam pit), three tramps, and etc. — almost everything you could think of. We were jumping on tramps, doing flips onto the pit, and doing new tricks on the tramp. In one incident I almost killed myself by flying off the tramp toward the concrete. Luckily, I landed on a foam mat and didn't get hurt. We were all delirious because the Berlin facility is so awesome! It has the best diving pool I have ever seen. We had a light work out there and afterwards we were exhausted. I look forward to this time in Germany to train hard and prepare for my event. August 4, 2004: Pool and More Pool Our first workout today went from 10 to 12:30 a.m. and it went really well as everyone seemed to have a good practice, but Sara and Cassandra stood out. They had an exceptional workout on their 10m Synchro. Their timing was right on and their individual dives were well executed. After practice was over, we headed back to the village where we had 3 1/2 hours to kill. Some us decided to take naps while others, such as myself and Troy Dumais, decided to have a pool-table match. It was a lot of fun and a good way to kill time. What's a better thing than competition? At our second workout, Kyle Prandi and I did our synchro dives off the 10 meter platform and had a great work out. Our back 2 1/2 somersault with 2 1/2 twist — which is the hardest dive on our list and the hardest dive being done in the world — is getting really good. After synchro workout, Kyle went ahead and did his individual dives and they were awesome! He stole the show for the day. Everyone on the team seems to feel very comfortable with the facility. After practice we all had to go back to the village to pack up our stuff and get ready to leave for a training camp in Berlin the following morning. We're going to Germany to train for a couple of days and get away from the distractions and the hype surrounding the Olympic Games. After packing and before bed, Troy Dumais and I went to play pool table again. Troy and I are very competitive, but it's all in great spirits. August 3, 2004: Time Out
The Women's Soccer Team just got to the Olympic Village today. They're staying in the same building as we are, so it's nice to finally having some company. August 2, 2004: Making New Friends Now that I've been here for a few days, the Olympic Village is getting a little more crowded, which is great because now we're starting to feel that Olympic atmosphere. The neatest things about the village — besides the free food that they have for us — is the camaraderie that goes on between the athletes and the fact that you get to meet a lot of different athletes from different countries and sports. Team practices are going really well as we're starting to get over our jet lag and become more comfortable with the facility. I'm really starting to see our team become more cohesive and united. It's really a neat thing to be part of such a great team — the possibilities of this team are endless. I think that we're going to surprise a lot of people. Everyone one of us is really excited and motivated about our events. Everyone on the team believes in themselves and we all believe that we can win, which is the key to success! August 1, 2004: Hello From Greece I made it to Greece safely. It is a quite an amazing city. The team got all checked into the Olympic Village, however there are not too many other athletes here yet. I think we are among the first to arrive. Practices have been going well and we are leaving for Germany in a couple of days to get away from the Olympic atmosphere and focus on training. Just wanted you guys to know that I am thinking about you. For those who are going back to school this week, I hope you have a good one. And those that aren't, enjoy the last few weeks of summer!
Copyright 2004 by Mark Ruiz, all rights reserved. |
On the last day of the Olympic Games, I spent the morning catching up on sleep. After we all awoke, Troy and I played tennis until Russ Bertram, our assistant team manager, called and told us that if we wanted to attend the closing ceremonies, we had to get back at the village by 4:00 p.m. or we weren't going to be allowed back into the village until all the athletes returned from the closing ceremonies. We got back to the Village at exactly 4:00 p.m., "lucky us". We didn't have to be ready to go until 7:00 so, in the meantime, I took a nap. By 7:00 p.m. all the US athletes gathered to go to the Olympic Stadium where the closing ceremony was unbelievable [Photo]. It will certainly stand as one of the most memorable parts of the Olympic Games for me. I took a ton of pictures at my appearance, the Sports Illustrated party and the Closing Ceremony.
At the Astir Palace Resort, Justin and I hung out and enjoyed the things the resort has to offer. Later in the day, Troy Dumais met up with us there and he and I played tennis, and then we all went to the beach where we met up with some of the swimmers who were also at the resort doing appearances for Coca Cola. That evening from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30, me and the likes of Jenny Thompson and Aaron Piersal and a couple of other athletes, did appearances for Coca Cola. Everyone seemed to enjoy their time! Following the banquet, Troy and Justin met up with me and the swimmers and we all went to a Sports Illustrated Party. It was unbelievable! It was the best party I've ever been to and tons of athletes were there, like Carl Lewis, Evander Holyfield [Photo] and a bunch other great athletes and celebrities!
From Diving I went to the Olympic Stadium [Photo] to watch the 100 meter Finals where 3 of our U.S. sprinters were competing including USA's 2000 Gold medalist Maurice Greene. That was probably the most amazing race I have ever witnessed in person and the place was electrifying; you could see the excitement and anticipation that the crowd had for the event. Justin Gatlin from the USA was the winner and Maurice Greene finished in third. It was a really neat event to be a part of.
I just got back from Santorini island today and it was awesome! The island was beautiful! My girlfriend, family and I had a wonderful time and it was nice to spent some time alone with them and get away from Athens for a couple of days. But boy did we walk! We had to walk up and down that mountain time and time again. It was grueling but worth it.
Once we got settled in, Nicole and I went to the beach and looked around the area. Afterwards we had a nice family dinner with some food that mother made &$151 nothing better than homemade food!
Later that day, Nicole and I did a little shopping, had dinner together and later in the evening went to Fira, the main city on Santorini were everything it's happening (which is 15 minutes from our hotel.) We had a great time together.
[Photo: Introduction of Team USA] Once the meet began Kyle and I got off to a pretty good start, which is what we were looking for. Our second round dive was a reverse 1 1/2 somersault with a 1/2 twist which is normally a really good dive for us and both of us really chunked it, so from then on we were playing catch up and that's a really hard spot to being in especially when you know that the competitors in front of you are very consistent. Neither of us ever gave up; we fought to the end! We gave it our best!
Opening day of the Olympic Games and due to the ceremonies, we only had one workout and from 10 to 11:30 a.m. The pool was really crowded so, it was a little hard to get into any kind of flow, especially because the air was little cold and we had to wait about 5 minutes between dives on the towers. But for the most part, it was a good practice.
Our day started off by having a Team press conference at 10:30 a.m. at the main press center. The press conference was fun and went really well. After the team conference, each of us was put into different spots for individual press interviews. It was nice to see some local media there and some familiar faces like Mark Middleton [Photo]. Everyone had a great time, and for an hour or so, everyone felt important. Ha ha..
Everyone of us is happy to be back at the Olympic pool: We feel very comfortable in there. Since we only had an hour and a half between workouts to rest, we all decided to stay at the pool. Some people relaxed and rested; others laid outside and sunbathed; Coach Jeff Shaffer and I decided to walk around and check out the other venues. I took pictures of some cool sights, so check them out.
After our workout, NBC wanted individual interviews with Kimiko and both interviews went well. Since we didn't want to keep anyone waiting, we told the team to leave without us and that we would meet them back at the village.
After Kyle and I packed up, Randy Ableman ask if we would like to go out to eat and, of course, neither of us declined. He took us to real authentic german restaurant that, honestly, I'm not sure what it's called: I can't even pronounce it! Anyway the people there were not expecting Americans to walk through their doors and no one knew how to speak english and menus were in German. "So we were screwed", but luckily for us a lady sitting near our table graciously helped us out. The food was unbelievable, and it was a good time for us to bond. We had a great time.
Team Dinner last night was great! It was at the Georgbrael in downtown Berlin and everyone seemed to enjoy the food and themselves. It was a great time for all the athletes and coaches to be with each other in a relaxed environment. All of us had a great time telling jokes and conversing with one another and toward the end of dinner everyone started to play a game called Golly Golly. It's a game Kenny Armstrong learned to play when he lived in Canada and it's a bit difficult to explain. In fact, a lot of us couldn't quite get the game — "confusing" — but it brought a lot laughs to our tables. After dinner, everyone headed back to the hotel.
Today's workout schedule was the same as yesterday, and once again to warm up for our practice, Troy and I battled it out on the ping pong table. In our first workout, Kyle and I practiced our timing as well as our leadups, while everyone else focused on their line-ups and required dives. It was a light workout, and then between workouts, Kimiko and Justin Wilcock decided to do some sightseeing while the rest of us relaxed at the hotel. Everyone dove well in the second workout however Rachelle Kunkel, women's 3 meter, excelled: She really stood out.
We spent half the day traveling to Berlin and when we arrived we were all exhausted. At the hotel some people took a nap, others just kinda laid around. Justin, Troy, Caesar and I watched a movie in Troy's room.
We practiced at the Olympic facility from 9 to 11:30 a.m. and then, as a team, we chose to take the afternoon off. Some went to see the Acropolis and Parthenon and the rest went to the beach: I chose to go the beach and have a relaxing day and it was very relaxing. The beach was great — the water temperature was perfect and the day was beautiful. It was nice that we got the afternoon off and saw something besides the pool. PHOTO: Justin Wilcock and me at the beach. Nice shorts, Huh?