London 2012: A dream come true

Greetings from London – sunny, sunny London. Seriously, I thought this place was supposed to rain something like…always? I suppose if there are going to be any days for London to hold off on the rain, the Olympics would be the most primo time to do it. So far the only time I’ve been caught in rain was at the Opening Ceremony (hello, Murphy’s law). The press tribunes had been a flutter of plastic as journalists and photographers rushed to cover their equipment and kits.

Growing up, I had two dreams: Work at an embassy, or work at the Olympics. Let the other kids be president or astronauts; I only dreamt of those two careers. But like president or astronaut, I never ever thought either would ever, ever happen — and even if they did, I thought an embassy job would be more likely than the Olympics.

When I was 16, I used the Olympics to help me choose my major in college. It was my senior year of high school, and with Athens still fresh in my memory and Torino around the corner, I thought, Why do I love the Olympics? I realized it was the diplomacy of sport; I loved watching people of all nations come together every two years for this grand event. So I decided to go into international relations. (Though of course, I chose to go to the one school that doesn’t have an IR major, so I had study politics in the end.)

I apologize for the radio silence on the site this past week, as well as for the short posts in the two weeks to follow…as well as possible incoherency. Covering the Olympics, as someone once told me, is “a marathon, not a sprint.” 12-, 15-, 18-hour days become standard, for three weeks straight. I’ve been in London for seven days now and have slept a grand total of thirty hours. I don’t know how the 60-year old guys do it; I’m ready to keel over already. I suppose by now they know how to pace themselves.

So blog posts will be short, and possibly sporadic. I’d love to post often — there is SO MUCH that goes on behind the scenes; it’s an entirely different world out there in the media center — but time is short. This post itself has taken days to write because I haven’t had time to eat or sleep, never mind blog.

But I’m loving every minute of it. My work over the last two years has paid off in the greatest way possible — I’m 23 and already at my first Games. It is, and this is not a hyperbole, my greatest dream come true. I’ve never wanted anything more than to be involved in media at the Olympics.

In the last seven days, here are some of the amazing or ridiculous things I’ve done so far: Watching the Opening Ceremony from the press zone. Testing the Speedo Fastskin, the latest suit that Olympic swimmers race in. Interviewing Khaliah Ali, daughter of Muhammad Ali, on world peace (it’s not just a beauty pageant topic!). Watching the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay in person — aka, the race where France beat America in the final seconds, claiming revenge for their bitter loss in 2008.

It’s exhausting work, but I couldn’t be happier.