Olympic Trials Day 1

Been a long wait, but we’re finally haze grey and underway. 

(That’s Navy slang for all you landlubbers).

First meal in the dining hall, another official sees my Navy shirt. Turns out his son is an Annapolis 1/c (senior) and Trident Scholar (very, very smart). The official is also the photographer for the only known picture that makes me look badass: he popped this sucker at the 2016 Trials without my knowledge. The reflection of the track is what makes it, not my furrowed brow or GQ-worthy stubble.

Tremendous swag haul. 6 shirts, rain gear, hat, sneaks, a partridge in a pear tree. 

At the rental house…..Roommate #1; Joanie, an Olympic finalist in 1984. And Roommate #2: RJ, an Olympic Trials medalist from 1996. He drives up from San Diego (in one day)…the man has a heavy right foot.

Ron decorates our crash pad the right way. 

Roger, a fellow umpire, does Christian ministry trips to China, and at one point overseas is restrained, arrested, locked up, kicked out. He keeps going back for more. Good dude. 

College classmates Duncan and Chris attend their second Trials in a row. Last time, Chris somehow recognizes me from afar 30 years after graduation. 

The best American high jump coach may well be former NFL QB Randall Cunningham; his daughter Vashti is near the top of the heap in the vertical jumps.

My lunch tray runneth over….

But I ate half the pizza and all the vegetables. 

Nice medal swag. 

I look for Ron and Joanie in the stands. Hmmmmm….they’re leaving. Odd, since we have more running races coming up. Later, when moving from one assignment to another, I get massive heckling from the upper deck; they relocate for a better view and cast aspersions my way. I expect nothing less. 

They move just in time to see a massive WORLD RECORD in the men’s shot put! ‘Massive’ is a good word: while most winners jog a victory lap, the shot putters walk. Runner up Joe Kovacs is wider than he is tall. 

Men’s 10,000m final; at the starting line, i realize Grant Fisher looks like he’s 12, and 195 year old Lopez Lomong has quads that look like a roadmap of vascularity. Late in the race, Lopez pulls up with cramps…he rolls up his shirt to show not a six pack but an entire case of ridiculously ripped abs. 

With a mile to go, there are 16 guys still in the hunt. That means a ripping finish, and it is. Three first timers make the team. 

Wow, I feel bad for Ben True; probably his last chance for an Olympic Team, and he’s 4th. Again. 

On the way out, the hospitality tent is getting rid of their inventory. You don’t have to ask me twice.

Later, RJ runs into the new world record holder Ryan Crouser and proclaims him legit. I cannot confirm whether they had an arm-wrestling contest. 

Good start to the Trials! More tomorrow.