My friends Rachel, Simone (her boyfriend) and I lucked upon some tickets for fencing. Simone is Italian and was the only one in our trio that really knew about all the technical rules in Western Fencing and who was competing. He declared early on that his fellow country (wo)men would take the Gold. I honestly did not care I was just excited about going to an Olympic event.
We took the new subway line 10, which was free for Olympic ticket holders, and transferred to line 8. Security is so tight here that we had to go through a check point before we were even allowed to get on line 8. And even after you go through the medal detector you still have to be checked with that wand thing. And we also learned that if you do not have a ticket, you ain't getting on line 8 or near the Olympic Village. "No ticket, Bu Can Can (No looking)". Being the proud Italian that he is, Simone tied the Italian flag around his neck and looked like Superman flying through the subway. If we were any place else, I would have been embarrassed beyond belief but trust me when I tell you he was tame compared to what other people were wearing.
We were proud of ourselves because we thought that we would be on time. But as luck would have it the English map that the lovely official volunteers had given Rachel and Simone was wrong. Now here is the funny or typical Chinese part about it, when they went to one of the thousands of Olympic Volunteer booths, there were stacks of Olympic maps written in Chinese and hardly any maps in English. And the ones in English were printed wrong. So we had to get back on the subway and go back to another stop. Little did we know that this little mishap would pay off later.
The first map sent us to a stop that was a way from the Famous Bird's Nest and Aquatic Center, so we had decided try and go there after the competition. Well, turns out where we had to go was two buildings away from the these two buildings. I have climbed the Great Wall 6 times in my life, swarm with sharks, walked along a suspended bridge in the middle of a "jungle" in Ghana but I have to tell you the Bird's Nest and the Aquatic Center are two of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Wow! Being at the Olympic Village was literally like being in a different country, it was very surreal.
Rachel and I could not stop giggling because we just could not believe we were at an Olympic competition. Neither one of us had even considered going prior to the Opening Ceremonies. Honestly, I was so tired of all of the drama and construction, I was actually disappointed that I was stuck in Beijing for the Olympics (While, I have never smoked crack, I have been breathing in Beijing air for the past three years so please forgive me). And when we stepped into the area that they were having the competition, it was amazing.
All of main lights were turned off and only spot lights followed the fencers. There were four matches going on at once. Our tickets were great, fifth row and as luck would have it all of the people that we watched were from countries that we wanted to see. The only exception was the Japanese fencer. I cheered as much for China as I did for the US. I also got into cheering on the French and Italians. As soon as the matches were over all of the lights came on and initially it was a shock but you get used to it.
While, I don't pretend to know a lot about Western Fencing, I did enjoy watching every minute of it. I have had more experience watching Kendo ( Japanese fencing) and now I can't say which one I prefer they both are amazing to watch despite their differences. Now here comes the coolest thing.
As Simone, is trying to explain who is playing the next round, I notice a name from the US team that looks familiar, Erinn Smart. Erinn Smart is an African American woman from Brooklyn that competed in the 2004 Athens Olympics with her brother Keeth. I remember reading about them in either Essence or Ebony a long time ago. OMG, I am going to get to see her compete, was the first thing that popped into my head. When she came out, a group of Black folks behind us immediately stood up with signs that had her name on it and they were chanting go Erinn. The Chinese lady next to me asked me who she was and I told her and then she started to say Jia You Erinn ( which means Go Erinn! Go Erinn!). She is amazing and kicked her British opponent's butt.
When the Italians began to compete, my "how to curse like a sailor in Italian" lessons began. I have known Simone for three years and besides Prego and Arezzo( his home town), I have not learned much Italian from him. But now, I am ready to curse out any Italian that pisses me off.
Erinn competed again and once again it was amazing to watch. Unfortunately, she was beaten by an french woman, Marejean. Ironically during their match a group of french spectators snuck down to the seats behind us and cheered their fellow country woman on. So, I also had a refresher course in French curse words. They kept chanting Allez Coco (which is her nickname). The Chinese spectators began to chant it as well. Rachel and I along with her other supports tried our best to yell, "Let's go Erinn!" but we were no match for the French and the Chinese.
We stayed until the final preliminaries were over and were starving because we had not eaten anything since breakfast except the stale popcorn at the venue. As we were getting ready to leave, Erinn Smart along with another person on the US team, were walking towards us. Now, I have met a few famous people before and usually shy away from asking for pictures or autographs, BUT (again it might have been the smog I have been breathing in for the past three years) this time I asked and she said sure. I spoke to her briefly and found out that she will compete one more time in the team match and that her brother competes tomorrow.
As we were leaving and Simone's "I am the Italian Super Man" cape was billowing in the air, a French woman approached him and asked him if he would be interested in tickets for tonight's medal finals. We quickly did a 360 and followed her back into the stadium to get the tickets. As we got closer to her friends I noticed a group of Westerners sitting together. The woman told them that we were interested in buying the tickets. One of them said in French that the woman should not sell them to Simone because he was Italian. I guess she was pissed that no French person was going to go for a medal in this competition. One of the people in the group looked very familiar to me and with out thinking ( again it is the smog), I yelled out "Allez Coco", it was the French woman who beat Erinn. Well, that won the anti-Italian woman over and she sold us the tickets. Coco also took a picture with me.
We had a couple of hours to kill, so Rachel and I ran to the tailors (that's another story) and Simone stayed at the Olympic Village. While we were on the train back ( you don't have to go through security to leave but you do have to pass by Mc Donald's to get to the train station. Note: this is the only Mickey D's in Beijing that serves salads). While on the train I noticed that there was a man with a "Parent of Olympic Swimmer" shirt on. He was holding the most beautiful bouquet of flowers. Turns out he was the father of the Auzzie who had just won the Bronze Medal in a men's swimming match. I can't remember his son's name it is Patty Mc-something. He will be competing tomorrow again. What was so sweet about all of this was that the bouquet that he was holding were the ceremonial flowers that they give the medalist and he was going to give it to the people that he was staying with. He also mentioned that all of the 5am drives to practice with his son were worth every minute.
Our seats for the match were row 11 but center. We were right behind a group of Koreans ( the silver medalist and only non-Italian in the finals) and surrounded by Italians. I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by two Roman hunks to my left and one in the front. Fortunately, they spoke English so I did not have to embarrass myself with my new Italian vocabulary. Unfortunately, the two to my right were not hot and drunk off their butts. And they proved that if you act a fool, you will get air time on TV. If you see two Italian men with red, white and green wigs with the Italian flag painted on their faces and holding the Italian flag that says "I'm All In", I sat next to them.
Seeing Vezzali win the gold was so amazing. Her coach carried her off the platform and ran with her on his shoulders around the stadium. The energy and excitement in the arena was awesome. I tried my best to get as close as I could to take a picture of them on the platform but being short only gets you so far.
Later, the three of us walked around the Olympic Village. It was so beautiful at night. Afterwards we went to get massages at my favorite place, Bodhi.
Well, I am going to the tennis competition tomorrow. Stayed tuned for that updated.
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