First Day of Training

We began our first real day of training on Monday morning, heading to the Velodrome across town around 9 a.m. Day one meant mostly learning how to operate the system that our flash quotes will be available on, the INFO system designed by Infostrada for these specific Olympic Games. The INFO system will be available to visiting journalists covering every sports at the Olympics and offer history of sports, past event winners and athlete biographies along with other important items of information.

We also met our Venue Reporters, who will be instrumental in helping us get the best quotes we can get out of the athletes. Amy, from Australia, actually plays for the Australian national baseball team when she isn't covering cycling, while Ernst, from the Netherlands, is also a bicycling expert. Amy took us out to the track again t give us a more in depth look at the specifics of track cycling and the importance of different markings on the track, and we also learned that there is one official that's only job is to stand and point at the leader in a points race as they spin around him on the track. Odd.

We also received our uniforms that we will be wearing for work for the rest of our time here. I don't have a picture of the whole set laid out yet, but I'll put one up when I get one. The uniforms left no part of the body out, as we receive Adidas shoes, socks, several shirts, two pairs of pants, a hat, a water bottle, a poncho, and the best part, a fanny pack so we can all live out our Hulk Hogan fantasies. The only problem that has arisen is the fact that the guys receive baseball hats, with the brim in the front, while the girls have received safari style hats, with the brim all around. Several of the girls have approached me about switching, but even if the hat fit me, I wouldn't take that offer.

We were also told that if we had anything that said Nike on it, we couldn't wear that to work any longer. At first this gave me pause, but it's no different than the times I've been told to finish a drink before going out onto the court covering a basketball game. Leroy mentioned another time that all drinks had to be in a Dasani cup before stepping onto the court, so this isn't something that is new. Also, if you were paying the kind of money that a full Olympic sponsorship I think would cost, I'm sure you'd want it the same way.