suzypowell's blog

Training in Dalian

Wow! It is hard to believe I have been training in China for over a week. The Chinese are treating us very well, and our team has lots of amenities and activities to pass time in between training sessions. At our team hotel we have a super cool athlete’s lounge complete with a Nintendo Wii, ping-pong table, games, wireless internet, and a bowling alley! The lounge is a fun place to hang out with teammates or talk a little trash during a heated game of dominos.

Dalian is located on the Yellow Sea, so it is very warm and humid here. The skies have been clear and sunny with only one day of heavy fog/smog. The team hotel over looks the ocean where there is a vibrant aqua-farming industry. As you look out on the bay, it is covered with nets, little boats and people busy at work; we are not allowed to swim in the water.  We are allowed to swim in the hotel pool, which I did today to the audience of several Chinese attendants and security, talk about a fish bowl.

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After three straight days of travel and Olympic Team processing, I am finally settled in at the track and field team training camp in Dalian, China. I am not allowed to tell you where I am staying, but the accommodations are beautiful and we are being treated very well by the Chinese. As you can imagine, security is very tight. Our team is being treated with the same level of security as if the President of the United States was in town. Any time we are on the road, going to practice, airports, really anything we do, the traffic is stopped far in advance and literally hundreds of security people escort us through...amazing!

Team processing in San Jose was incredible as well. You would think after three Olympic Teams I would not be shocked by the amount of gifts and gear we receive, but it still blows me away. From rings to leather jackets, cell phones to shoes, we get thousands of dollars of gear. Any family or friends reading this should know they have some gifts coming when I return!