Pictures from RedSports.sg came with this commentary-
Singapore Island Country Club, Sunday, 27 July, 2008 - Anyone would have been upset if he had turned up for a swim at the pool on a hot day only to find out that it was closed to its members. Yet, no one seemed to mind that the Singapore Island Country Club pool was off limits during the peak recreational period from 4 to 6pm last Sunday.
It was good enough for all those there for that once in a lifetime opportunity to watch the US Olympic Swim Team going though their paces as they prepared for the Olympic Games in Beijing in a fortnight’s time. Before us were some of the world’s very best swimmers, history-makers and record-breakers building up to take their place on the victors podium in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games
Strangely though, the pink-coloured swim attire at these training sessions looked pleasantly attractive on these well-sculpted bodies. Perhaps more so than the grey Speedos that will replace them when these athletes compete for medals. On closer inspection, the design features a dragon motif, in keeping with the China theme.
CBS's Early Show producer blogged about her Beijing experience and meeting Ricky-
Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008
Today I got to wear my first gold medal. Yep - wear it! A real one. It was a great reward at the end of a long and crazy day of booking for The Early Show.
As a booking producer for The Early Show here in Beijing, my job is to line up athletes (preferably the medal-winning variety) for live interviews. This may sound easy, but it really isn’t. And it’s a process that I started long before arriving in Beijing. For the past three months, I’ve been establishing working relationships with all the press representatives for each sport in the Olympics. I have to walk a fine line between being in touch and being a nuisance. The press representative walks a fine line between promoting their athletes and protecting them. It’s an interesting balance to say the least.
For a week I’ve been reaching out to USA Swimming. Each day we are hoping that they will make a medal winner available. (What about Phelps, you ask? Nice try. With finals nearly every day for 9 days, he will only do media outside of the Water Cube venue once he is completely done with competition.) Today all of those friendly phone calls paid off. Ricky Berens - who won gold earlier in the day as part of the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle relay, would be available for an interview. After the Today Show, that is. That’s fine - you can’t outbook the Today Show in this scenario. What you can do, however, is pick up Ricky (and his press rep, and his parents, and his sister) at the Olympic Green immediately following his NBC appearance and hightail him a half-mile down the road to The Early Show studio to have him on the air as quickly as possible. And that’s exactly what we did.
I won’t go into the gory details of the logistics of moving everyone around Beijing, calling the control room in New York to make sure it was a go, calling an intern from the car to hold the slow elevator for us in the lobby. But we made it work. Keep in mind that we also had two other guests at the top of the show - gold medalist Cullen Jones and former Olympian Gary Hall. They both needed transportation and escorts to get to and from our studio as well.
All of the guests were fantastic, but Ricky and his family were particularly lovely. I couldn’t tell who was more excited about gold - Ricky, his family, or me! As I stood in our makeshift control room with the Berens, they just couldn’t stop chuckling over the fact that their 20-year-old son was doing national interviews live from Beijing with a gold medal around his neck!
Speaking of that gold medal … Ricky let me wear it, and I have the picture to prove it. It was awesome! In my busy state, I nearly forgot to take it off and give it back to him - but I don’t think Mr. Berens would have let me get away with that.
Columbia, Missouri's KOMU 8 Reporter Mark Welsh blogged about meeting Ricky after his appearance on the Today Show-
Tonight, fate intervened in my life.
Tonight, I decided I wanted to go watch Swimming at the Water Cube, but accidentally ran into Brian William's assistant instead. I explained that I report for KOMU (an NBC affiliate) and asked her if she could get me a ticket to the Today Show. She had one in her hand and told me I could have it and to have fun. It just so happened other Mizzou students were there, so I met up with Sarah and Paige and we waited for almost two hours for the show to start.
I wanted to share one experience that I had at the Today Show this evening, but first a bit of background. I went to South Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte, N.C. At the time, my high school had an outstanding swimmer. His name was Ricky Berens. Everyone in Charlotte knows Ricky's name, he's a great guy and has an amazing reputation as a swimmer. Anyways, Ricky graduated the year after me and I found out he went to U-Texas at Austin and pursued swimming.
Well today, Ricky and the Team USA 200-meter freestyle relay team set a World Record and won Gold Medals at the Water Cube. I was working at the Field Hockey venue and had a chance to catch a glimpse of the race...needless to say, I was screaming at the screen! The Chinese people around me thought I was crazy for yelling that "I know him! I went to high school with him! I know his sister too!"
I can't explain how excited I am for Ricky and his family!
Well, if you watched the Today Show this morning, you saw Matt Lauer interview Ricky. I couldn't believe, of all days, I was there the day Ricky was interviewed! As soon as he appeared on the set, I wasn't sure if I would say hi since it's been almost 4 years since I last saw him. I decided to go and say hi, even if I would awkwardly explain that we went to high school, in case he didn't recognize me. As I walked over to the set, Team USA supporters chanted his name, took pictures and requested autographs. When I managed to get over to his area, I yelled out "RICKY!". Luckily, and to my relief, he remembered me. Not only did he recognize me, he knew who I was! He came over and I congratulated him over and over again, and said how proud I am to say I know him. We chatted for a bit, and I answered "So what exactly are you doing in Beijing?"
After his interview with Matt, Ricky came over one more time and I asked to take a picture with him. You can see the picture above. What you can't see is what happened moments before that picture was taken. Ricky let me HOLD HIS GOLD MEDAL!! I can't even describe how awesome it was! I couldn't believe I had an Olympic Gold Medal in my hands! (Although it was still attached to his neck!) It wasn't too heavy, was embossed with the Olympic logo and had jade set in the other side. It was so awesome, I can't say it enough.
If you couldn't tell, I'm still excited about my adventure over to the Olympic Green today. There are tons of more stories to share, but this is the story about one event that will stick with me for the rest of my life.
I could've decided to stay home and watch events on TV; I could've bought a ticket for the Water Cube; I could've walked past Brian Williams' assistant...but instead, fate intervened.
