Vicky gave away my $3000 RMB ($400+ US) closing ceremony ticket. To a photographer, of all people. Like anyone's interested in seeing pictures of the closing ceremony. I can't belive she did that!
But she also gave me news that she's moving the 3 of us IT folk who are remaining in the media village over to the 3-star hotel attached to the Main Press Center for the last couple of nights. I think we're basically taking the rooms of folks who are leaving, but still...there's absolution for the Great Closing Ceremony Caper there as far as I'm concerned.
There's been talk of the medal count and how China has somewhat come out of nowhere in such a short amount of time. Aside from the controversy about the age of the women's gymnasts, though, their prowess has honestly just come down to hard work and determination. Through perserverance and a state-run athletic academy system (where the athletes live and may only be able to leave to visit their families one or two times a year), the Chinese have made improvements athletically in only a few years that most other nations take decades to achieve. Imagine if they continue to improve in swimming and track, where the US tends to dominate. Those are sports that have high numbers of medals to win and in which the US is highly competitive. If the Chinese start to dominate in them, the US tradition of winning the bulk of Olympic medals will probably quickly come to an end. It'll be interesting to watch in the next Olympics.
Tomorrow (Sunday) is the last day of competition. We'll be here until 4am to help support the reporters, photographers and editors with their final push.
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