August 15 Janet Culp

Last night I got back from Korea, and today was an absolutely perfect day to have off back in the Olympic village. The sun was shining, it wasn't too terribly warm, and there were really exciting events to watch! I started the day with a trip to the water cube--not to swim but to watch some swimming finals. I saw the men's 200 m back, the women's 200 m breast, and a couple semi-final events before I headed back to the village to explore. I am so happy for our US swimmers who are doing so well!!

The village is so huge. When I'm walking from my room to the "caf" everyday, I hardly realize that it is really like a small city's downtown! I went into the international zone for the first time, which has, among other things, a book store, a souvenier store, and a couple of cafe's run by Olympic sponsers. Every time I go in an Olympic store I have to stop myself from buying one of every thing inside...even the most tackiest of products is appealing when it has "Beijing 2008" on it! I managed to leave with only a couple items though, which I'll likely never use.

In the afternoon I took it easy. I watched various events on the TV in our room that has a live-feed of any event going on. Some cycling finals were going on as well as a softball game and water polo game. I took a short nap, and found some time to organize and move into my room, which I really havn't had time to properly do since I got here the first time. Anyone who knows me knows that I like being organized, and so it was a big relief to get that done! It was also nice today just taking my time eating lunch and dinner, enjoying the company of my team-mates and meeting other US athletes who stopped by to chat.

Tomorrow it's back to work at the pool...duet competition starts on Monday and teams start 4 days after that. I am so anxious and excited to start! I feel ready to go and show our stuff to the world!

From the Olympic Village,

2008 US Olympic Team member Janet Culp