August 14, 2004
Summer Olympic Games Opening Ceremony
Athens, Greece

Friends,

The Games have begun. Far from all the hand wringing and furrowed brows that accompanied Greece's preparations, the Opening Ceremony was a clarion call of readiness, grace and style. We got to bed around 3AM this morning, but the sense of momentum, fun and excitement was worth the half-day of drowsiness that followed. For what it is worth, we had one of our best workouts this afternoon, only hours after we woke up. Mind over matter? Our guess is it happens every day at the Olympics.

Before we jumped onto buses that would take us from the Village to the Olympic Stadium, our lively basketball team hosted a block party. Hip-hop improvisation by Allen Iverson and Lebron James was offset by casual conversations between athletes. A few athletes who were competing the next day walked around in their pajamas, emphasizing their freedom from the next eight hours of standing, walking, and sitting on curbs or the stadium floor. We chugged water and sweltered in the windless heat. Many of us tried to figure out the fashion inspiration behind our parade uniform. The ride on the bus to the Olympic stadium gave us a chance to chat with beach volleyball legend Misty May. She gave Matt a sporty pin for his very staid and boring Canoe/Kayak pin.

Three hours later we walked into the Olympic stadium, welcomed by a roaring crowd and an affirming presence of American flags in the stands. We were only able to catch parts of the preceding show on a JUMBOTRON TV (in the gymnastics arena, where athletes from all nations were held before they marched into the stadium next door). While it was shorter and less extravagant than Sydney's opening ceremony, many athletes mentioned how moved they were by the images and music, and many of us were simply surprised by the style, intelligence and smoothness of the performance, a marked contrast to the predictions of failure that have led up these games.

Some athletes, especially those who had not spent much time in Greece, thought their might be "boos" for the team, and seemed to believe the oversimplified press about how negatively Americans are viewed abroad. On the contrary, the Greeks have been incredibly gracious to us during the last six trips to Greece. Moreover, every Greek seems to have a close relative in the states, and they are generally very proud of the U.S., if anything, they often seemed to feel sorry for our current political "situation."

Our Team Captain and youngest athlete, Brett Heyl, walked up front with the women's basketball team. They apparently adopted him as an honorary team member. Most of the slalom athletes walked amidst volleyball players, divers, shot putters, and our lone rhythmic gymnast. The U.S. Olympic committee insisted everyone walk in rows of eight, hoping to avoid yet another year where the team blobs out onto the field, with athletes and coaches videoing, using cell phones, and acting like "Americans!" We did well through the tunnel and out onto the field, but just as someone close by said, "Wow, we really are keeping formation," the U.S. Parade started break apart like a slow motion "crack-the-whip." Oh well.

Richard Jefferson, U.S. Basetball player of the NJ Nets?

Bill Endicott, our team manager and the former head coach of slalom for the 1992 Games, walked in with Ted Nash, the legendary Olympic rower. It was Ted's tenth Olympic games overall, which may be a record. He was already a rowing legend when Bill rowed at Harvard in the late 60's. By then, Ted was the coach at Penn, a bitter rival to the Crimson eight. Despite the rivalry, Ted was one of Bill's early athletic "heroes." Now the two men walked together in the opening ceremony. As we walked out at the end of the evening, the flags and litter strewn on the field could be markers for a thousand other stories like Bill's.

Ala'a Hikmat the only female on the Iraqi team
She's a runner ... 100 and 200m events

It was a fantastic start, and like the "miracle"T victory of the Greek soccer team at the European Championships earlier this summer, the Greeks have shown again what this small country of 10 million is capable of doing. Our late start this morning (most of us woke up around 10AM), the potential for grogginess after being up until 3AM and standing or milling around for three hours straight, was more than offset by the inspiring Opening Ceremony. We hope it was exciting for those of you watching at home.

We will write again after the games. Our first race is in four days. Stay tuned for the NBC coverage (the exact times, as best we can wrangle from our contacts at NBC, are:

Qualifiers for Doubles Canoe:
Thursday Aug 19th-NBC between 1pm ET- 3pm ET
Finals for Doubles Canoe:
Friday Aug 20th-USA Nework between 7am ET and 8am ET
Finals for Doubles Canoe:
Saturday Aug 21st-NBC between 12:35am ET- 2am ET

Thanks again for your incredible support!

-Matt and Joe