Editor’s note: SportsFanLive would like to take this opportunity to express our deep and heartfelt thanks to Professor Lisa Delpy Neirotti and her class of pioneering students from The George Washington University.
Their efforts in filing stories, pictures and video were outstanding and admirable. Despite a packed schedule, a huge time-zone change and a shaky Internet [...]
Maggie: Public Transportation was the best way to get around Beijing during the Olympics. This Olympic bus is traveling from the field hockey venue past the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest on its way to Tiananmen Square.
– Maggie Webbert.
Maggie: During our first weekend in Beijing, we had the opportunity to be on TV. CCTV, the official Chinese network, was very interested in George Washington University students’ reactions to the USA-China men’s basketball game. Since it was nearly impossible to get tickets to the actual game, CCTV filmed us watching it in a local [...]
I spent the whole plane ride home reflecting on my trip (and sleeping).
First, I want to say this course was amazing. I know many of the blog entries I wrote (and probably others) focused on experiences outside of class rather than our site visits and speakers. A lot of the knowledge that we were exposed [...]
Kara and Matina: Check out this serious pin collector in the Olympic Village.
– Kara Franz, Matina Golias.
Tiffany: The plane ride home was long. We had two layovers, one in Korea and one in LAX. Oddly, and I say oddly, it was a very smooth route security-wise. Even leaving China, I was not questioned, searched, pulled over — you get the point. Coming back to LA was fun. It was great to [...]
Matina: During our tour of the USOC High Performance Training Center’s gym, we saw beach volleyball players working out.
– Matina Golias.
Rosina: For my last night in Beijing, Editra and I went to see the USA-Japan baseball game. The game was great and scoreless for the first 10 innings. The 11th inning started with players on first and second base, an Olympic rule we appreciated because otherwise I think we would have been there all night. [...]
Rosina: When Kara and I went to Chaoyang Park for beach volleyball, it really set in just how much venues operate differently from each other. Security for this venue, just like basketball and baseball, was much tighter than others, even those located on the Green. Not only were our bags X-rayed but they were also [...]
Patrick: Come along as I try to find my seat in the Bird’s Nest Stadium.
– Patrick Donnelly.
Molly: In the last two weeks, our group has been together through the bad and the good, but we’ve stuck it out and now it is over. Throughout our trip, I have had to constantly remind myself that this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity has actually been our reality! The chance to see China overcome hardship to host [...]
Chris: Thought we would check out the USA house at night. Usually this place is overrun during the day with corporate execs who gave a pretty penny to put their name on the wall. Nighttime is a bit different, though. This is where we watched USA basketball take on Argentina in the semis.
To my left [...]
Kari and Maggie: Michael Phelps’ contagious smile can be seen on as many billboards in Beijing as in his hometown of Baltimore.
Matina, Rosina, Kara and Gina: Hello, McDreamy.
Kari: Small world: One day at the Bird’s Nest there were a lot of people snapping photos of the building. [...]
Kari and Maggie: Martial arts is a large part of Chinese culture and is still practiced by both young and old in Beijing. Here is a video with a martial arts master passing along this skill to her student during morning exercises at the Temple of Heaven.
Kari: One morning, I got [...]
Gina: Two nights after our whole group went to Club Bud, six of us made another visit. We saw Evander Holyfield (an inside source told us Bud pays him for appearances) and Chris Tucker, who was sporting a white hat and a Capri shirt. The Chinese had a blast dancing and taking pictures with Holyfield [...]
Patrick: We toured two interesting sponsor houses on the Green the other day. The GE house had this cool dot-matrix waterfall and this even more fun interactive wall. Graphical interfaces coupled with human computer interactions is where it’s at — go computers! The Johnson & Johnson house was clean and contemporary, but the really cool [...]
Kelly and Mayer: The men’s 4×400 meter relays will be run this weekend. We interviewed one of the U.S. runners, Calvin Smith, back at Dulles Airport at the start of our trip.
– Kelly Finn, Mayer Weisel.
Kari: We just got back from the rowing and canoe/kayak facilities. They are amazing. Extremely tempting to hijack one of the shells and take it out for a row. It was definitely worth the hour drive out there to see the venue.
Alex: We went to the canoeing venue, which was an incredible place to see. [...]
Hae: I’ve experienced a slew of crazy cab drivers. It feels like I’m riding a roller-coaster.
Maggie: Traffic is much better than I remember four years ago, but still scary enough to have my classmates reach for their imaginary seatbelts when our taxi driver flips a U-turn against four lanes of oncoming traffic. One driver explained [...]
Matina: This is a quick video clip of U.S. gymnast Raj Bhavsar.
Stephanie: Click this link to see several pictures of our group cheering for Michael Phelps. The photos are organized by date. Look for us on August 19.
– Matina Golias, Stephanie Baldwin.
