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Aug. 1

Today was not as smoggy! This morning we had another view of the mountains. Yet even though it was not that smoggy it was still incredibly humid, and after an hour on the water I feel and look as if I have been swimming in the lake instead of rowing on it.

Despite the humidity our preparations as a boat and as a team are going smoothly. We arrived here in China with plenty of time to get acclimated to the setting and surroundings and I almost wish we did not have so much time before our race because I am definitely feeling “antsy” to start racing. Although, thinking back on the week prior to our departure from Princeton I felt the same way there; eagerly anticipating the task at hand. I guess it is just natural to feel a sense of eagerness about something we as a team have been preparing for so long. And I am sure when the time comes it will feel as Susan like to jokingly say about everything: that “there is NO time, there is just no time”!

The food has been a point of consideration from the conception of this trip even in our planning. It is important for us always to be wary of what we are consuming even throughout the year just in case there is a banned substance that is hidden in something we eat or a vitamin or supplement that we take. And the concern over food health and safety was obviously heightened with the increased importance of the races this year. Therefore we were told to bring with us in our checked bag some of our favorite snack items or bars that we were accustomed to having because it would not be so easy to run out and pick some up. This has proven true.

We have been eating our meals at our hotel, and those meals are delicious, yet my boat mates and I were craving fruit in between meals to snack on. Our coordinator advised against getting fresh fruit from the local WuMart (which is its official name I believe – I didn’t go but some teammates did). Instead we are advised to eat only certified fruit that comes to us via the Olympic village. So today was the first day we dropped into the athlete dining area at the course, since we usually eat at our hotel, and it was great!! They had fresh fruit and a great selection of meal options for us to grab a quick bite after practice before we head back. We each definitely took a piece of fruit for snacking later and some of the girls grabbed Chinese Coke. I had a sip and it seems better than US Coke I think because it has sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. Or maybe it tastes so delicious because I have not had regular coke in like a year, haha!

The whole team is settling into a nice rhythm here. Also the Canadians and the Italian team have shown up and are staying at our hotel! It is nice to see some friends and former college teammates who are now on the Canadian team!

No, John Isner will actually be playing doubles this week with James Cerretani. (If you think that headline was a bait and switch to get you to read this post, well then you must be a regular reader of this blog.)

First, Isner's singles draw. It's not great, but there is potential. Isner drew No. 5 seed Marat Safin. Safin, as you probably know, just reached the semifinals of Wimbledon. So that's bad. Safin, as you may also now, is also one of the most mercurial performers on the ATP tour. If he's interested, he has as much talent as anyone on the tour, seriously. But that's a big. Safin's a thoughtful guy, which in tennis can be a bad thing. Once he starts thinking - "Why am I here? Do I really want to be on a broiling hard court in Los Angeles in August?" - his game starts tanking. So that's good. If Isner can get enough first serves in, he may be able to frustrate the big Russian. Steal the first set in a tiebreaker - Isner's usual M.O. - and things will likely get easier from there. Pull the upset of Safin and then the draw opens up. Isner would then be a favorite to reach the quarterfinals (there are only 28 players in the draw), where he'd likely meet No. 4 seed Feliciano Lopez. Two wins would pick up 40 ranking points for Isner, who comes into LA ranked No. 133 in the world.

As for doubles, Isner's recent strong results with Mardy Fish have pushed him up to No. 91 in the world those rankings. But Fish isn't entered in LA, forcing Isner to come up with another partner.

Enter James Cerretani.

He's hardly a known quantity, like Fish. And while Fish has been a consistent top 50 singles player in recent years, Cerratini's career high in rankings was No. 620, back in 2006.

But that doesn't mean Isner's taking a step down in quality. In Cerretani, 26, Isner is getting the epitome of a doubles specialist. And he's a guy who's paid his dues and is finally starting to make a dent on the ATP Tour.

Take a look at the playing activity for Cerretani in 2007. By my rough count, he played a whopping 37 tournaments in 2007. If that's enough grinding for you, consider that NONE of them were on the ATP level. He started off playing mostly Futures (14 in all), which is essentially Double A. Then he worked his way up to Challengers and played 23 of those. His highet pay day was $3,100, for winning a challenger event in Orleans, France.

That, folks, is a guy who is dedicated to doubles.

Finally, this year Cerretani has worked his way up to the big leagues. He played his first ATP even in February, in Zagreb. In his third ATP even, in Morrocco in May, Cerretani and his partner, Aussie Todd Perry, reached the finals.Then in July, Cerretani teamed with Romanian Victor Hanescu to win an ATP event in Austria. That $15,000 check brought his ATP winnings this season up to over $73,000. Cerretani is now No. 45 in the world in doubles.

Clearly Cerretani is a hungry player who will certainly take his pairing with Isner seriously. Whether they'll have enough chemistry to prosper is another question. They play today - which will be late this evening on the east coast, against the French duo of Florent Serra and Sebastien Grosjean.

Aug. 6

On Saturday I got an e-mail from one of my college roommates (Ms. New York 2006) who is in Beijing for the summer doing a language program at Beijing normal University. On Sunday she came out to see me. It was awesome! It was unbelievable to have a reunion in Beijing since we hadn’t seen each other since graduation. She took a taxi to my hotel, but the real adventure began when she arrived. She had to wait at the hotel gate for me to come down from my room. I had to sign a sheet saying she was with me, and she had to hand over a picture ID in return for a temporary badge that let her get into the hotel. I was pretty astounded at the high quality of security just at our hotel. Crazy! I am excited to see how it goes when my whole family tries to come visit me, with my Southern grandma! My mom, dad, older sister and maternal grandmother are arriving in Beijing tomorrow, and I can’t wait to see them!

The rowing has been going really well, and things at the course are shaping up. They have turned the large-screen TVs on and are testing the screens. Plus, they have a cable across all 10 lanes of racing, from the 1,000 meter to the 2,000 meter mark (finish), crossing over the course diagonally and hooking up with the finish tower. I am not sure if that is an adequate description to visualize this, but basically it’s a cable that swoops down over the last 1000 meters of the course. Today they attached a little camera to the line, so I think they will get some interesting shots of the race.

It’s still super hot and humid. Today, while we were practicing our starting sequence and our finishing bump, I could feel the beads of sweat form on my shins, roll around my legs and drop into the bottom of the boat. Very ladylike. But every day at practice I try to let all of these little things such as the heat and sweat and the crazy music just melt away into the background as one big mush.

While I'm surrounded by all of these distractions, I focus on totally blocking them out and concentrate on the upper back of our stroke, Caryn Davies, who sits in front of me. As the seven seat, it is extremely important for me to be exactly in sync with her metronome-like rhythm, and so every practice I am focused on her, the boat and getting the most out of the time we spend together on the water. Every day they blast music over the loudspeakers at the race course. Today the music sounded like it was straight out of a Lifetime movie! I mentioned that to Susan Francia , who sits behind me in the six seat, and she said, “Yeah, I feel like it’s time for me to cry now.”

Click here for the list.
Suffice it to say the group has been unlucky. Nearly half of the ex-Bats and Hoppers who have played in the Majors this season have also spent time on the disabled list. That doesn't include Curt Schilling and Jason Vargas, both of whom have missed the entire year.
Things have quieted down for a few on the list. Jeremy Hermida's name was bandied about in trade talks but appears to be staying in Miami.
Speaking of the non-waiver deadline, Sports Illustrated reports that the Marlins never considered trading the Grasshoppers' Mike Stanton.

Joyce Vaughn Battle, the wife of Wake Forest associate basketball coach Jeff Battle, died Wednesday from lung cancer, the school announced. She was 44.
"Our thoughts and prayers at this time are with Jeff and Jordan and their family,” Ron Wellman, the school's athletics director, said. "Joyce was an exceptional person who lived her life with a tremendous amount of dignity. She showed remarkable strength throughout her ordeal. The tremendous example she set during this fight was inspirational to everyone who knew her.”
Joyce Battle was an All-CIAA player at Fayetteville State in the 1980s. After a brief stint as a professional player, she entered coaching at Delaware State, where she and Jeff Battle met.
They were married in 1992 and have a 14-year-old son, Jordan.
A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday in Wait Chapel on the Wake campus.

Caroline actually wrote this over the weekend, but due to the frantic pace of things wasn't able to send it to the News & Record until late Monday night. The race that she refers to has already occurred. Lind and her teammates won their heat race early on Monday, advancing to the finals, on Aug. 16-17

Last night the water and food fairy came to our hotel rooms. The water in China that comes out of a tap is not of the same quality as that in the USA so all the water we drink has to be bottled water. We are also encouraged to brush our teeth with bottled water, just in case. So every few days our team managers/coordinators leave flats of bottled water at our door. Last night they also left a box of cliff bars and a couple boxes of nutrigrain bars for each room! That was pretty exciting!

I appreciate that we are at a hotel away from the Olympic village because it keeps the experience feeling like a world championship instead of the Olympics which I think is good for alleviating any added pressures. I think that if we were living at the Olympic village it would be easy to get caught up in all the activities that they have there. On the other hand I think the dining hall is open 24/7 at the village and that there is a never-ending supply of bars. That is the one aspect that would be nice - to not have to plan so much for meals and snacks. We were encouraged to bring over food from the US for snacks and things. If we were at the village I think that wouldn’t have been as necessary. But the food here is great. I have no complaints and the energy bar fairy visits around every now and then so being here is just as terrific! We will all get to experience the village in the week after racing, and truly be able to enjoy it then!

It was hot this morning at the course. Well I am not sure if "hot" is the right word for it, but humid. It’s really the humidity more than anything else that affects me. The air is so smoggy and thick that the sun doesn’t seem as bright beating down on us, but it is still super moist outside. I was drenched today and I am everyday after practice.

Things were pretty normal at the course today. I saw a friend of mine from Princeton, Sam Loch, who is 2 seat of the Australian men’s eight. We were the same year at Princeton and the same major, so we got to be pretty good friends. Princeton has a pretty good contingent at the Olympics. On Team USA alone there are four Princetonians. In addition to Sam on the Aussie team, my teammate from Princeton, Andy Morin, is in the Canadian women’s eight!

Our first race is Sunday at 5pm Chinese Standard Time (5am EST). It will be broadcast live at http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/index.html!

Wednesday, Aug. 13

A couple of days ago we had the heats, which we won. It was really important for us to win the heats because the 5 seat of our boat, http://www.mickelsoncrew.com, is doubling up in the pair. Our victory in the heat means that our boat goes straight to the finals, and that means less total races for Anna. This means more power for the final.

Our heat was interesting. We were supposed to race last Sunday but ended up racing on Monday due to bad weather. On Sunday we were totally ready and had a great warm-up. As Mary Whipple, our coxswain (the woman who steers the boat and calls out our race plan), was pulling us into the starting area, we were told to paddle it back to the docks because there was a storm coming in. We weren’t surprised because it looked extremely ominous when we shoved from the boathouse docks for our warm-up, but still we were disappointed. I called out to the official who told us about the race, “Lets race home to the docks! It’s the quickest way to get there.” He ignored me, but it was true - the whole boat was ready to race home. Had there only been one heat, it would have been the best decision. However, there were two heats, and for fairness they needed to be run on the same day, and it was unclear whether the weather would hold out long enough for two races. As it turns out, the officials made the right decision; it started to rain heavily as we rowed through the final 500 meters of the course. For pictures of the dark sky and our bewildered looks at the start, check the "Sunday Heats" gallery at www.row2k.com.

On Monday, we went out and did our race warm-up again and geared up. I thought the butterflies wouldn't be as bad this time at the starting blocks since we were just up here yesterday. But they may have been worse, or at least they seemed worse. It has been awhile since I have had that many butterflies before a race, but I think the starting line of your first race ever at the Olympics will do that to you!

The race itself was excellent. We executed our plan, listened to what Tom (our head coach) has taught us over the past four years and focused in on Mary Whipple’s voice as she guided us down the course. My focus again was on Caryn’s back, and I did my best to back up the rhythm she was laying down. The pain was excruciating, and honestly I went deep past the hurt locker and into the pain cave. I wanted to give it everything I had - the same as I want to do in the final - so that I have no regrets. Go big or go home! We won and achieved the first stepping stone to our goal.

I am already getting mentally prepared for the barn burner on Sunday (that is what my college coach, Lori Dauphiny, always calls really tough races). I am getting prepared physically and mentally to race and race the toughest most proficient race of my life on Sunday, while also remembering that I have done it all before. I don’t want this race to get too big because it is just another race and we know how to race!

Saturday, Aug. 23

Here I am sitting in the USA athlete lounge checking email and getting ready to go see volleyball at 12:30. I just saw an American women's 1500 meter runner in here -we met on the bus last night coming back from track and field. She has her finals tonight around seven. She is a Duke alum!

I am still in shock from our victory. I believed in my heart that we could do it, and we did. However, the real gravity of this experience, being at the Olympics and winning a gold medal, does not sink in all at once. The impact expresses itself in ways different than you might expect. Obviously there are the congratulations from friends and family. I think most of the girls on the team have each gotten hundreds of congratulatory emails, and it is really cool to hear from all the supporters. That is one of the things I told my team before the final: to remember the complete support of people in all parts of the USA. Whole states and hometowns are behind us, rooting for us. And I think we used that energy and excitement to help propel us down the course ahead of Romania!

The Chinese locals Love Love Love medals, and they do not really care who you are or if they have seen you before - if they see your medal then you are an instant celebrity! I took mine out at the Synchronized Swimming event the other day just very discreetly to show my sister’s friend and all of the sudden people started taking pictures and wanting autographs. One person was like "swimming?" and I said “No, rowing!” But it is really cool to have the community that excited about everyone.

At the track and field event last night the Chinese citizens did not just cheer for the Chinese but for everyone. They cheered for victories and for the near misses. It was amazing how most people seemed to be truly touched and excited for everyone, for the incredibility of the Olympics. I was sitting with my teammate Elle at “athletics” which is what they call track and field, and we were only four rows from the field, we got in with our athlete credentials, and we both got chills as we saw victories and felt the power of the Olympics. It was a great experience.

The best was to cheer for other Americans. Bryan Clay was the champion in the decathlon, and although he was up by a ridiculous amount in points going into the 1500 meter run I still cheered for him every time he ran around the track at the back of the pack. He finished last in the run, but since he was up by 500 point he still won. When he ran his victory lap Elle and I got right up close and gave him a huge cheer and when he saw fellow Americans and athletes he gave us a special nod. Now my goal is to find him in the village and congratulate him.

This truly has been the experience of a lifetime, and there are so many other amazing things that have happened, but I can’t write them all now. Before, I did not understand why everyone said the Olympics are different from world championships, but they are.

Oh and our race! So much has happened since that race. Afterward our coach asked us:

"You guys remember what I said about the Olympics being just another race?”

“Yeah,” we said.

“That was a lie,” he said. “It’s totally different."

And he was right. I really had to keep it in perspective and trick my body into thinking it was a regular race at the starting line for the final to keep my nerves at bay, but afterward it was clear the magnitude of what we had just achieved. The first U.S. rowing women to win gold since 1984, and the first time ever since the race has been bumped up from 1000 to 2000 meters.

Thanks to everyone in Greensboro and around the country who have helped me from my days at Wiley Elementary and the city swim meets through the amazing support wishes just a few days ago. I really appreciate Greensboro for being a great place to grow up, and I seriously can’t wait to come home in a few days. It has been too long. Thanks again to everyone who has helped me along the way!