TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Comforts Of Home For U.S. Athletes

ADVERTISEMENT

By JULIET MACUR

New York Times News Service

Published: August 6, 2008

BEIJING - With the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games just a few days away, the athletes' village here is filling up, and fast.

U.S. athletes in need of some normalcy can escape to their very own oasis: Beijing Normal University.

About a 15-minute drive from the village, on a quiet campus with tall trees, the U.S. Olympic Committee has created what it calls a high-performance center. Athletes can train, eat and play in a place that looks and feels like home.

"The Olympics is such an emotional thing, so it's great to have a place where you can come to relax and breathe a little," said Taraje Williams-Murray, a judo athlete from the Bronx. "The only thing they don't have is Western toilets. That's been interesting."

The Olympic committee spent more than $3 million to set up and maintain the high-performance center, which has everything an Olympic athlete may need to prepare for the games. At the peak, about 500 staff members will be working here.

As far as USOC officials know, the U.S. team is the only Olympic team to have a facility like this in Beijing.

"We thought it was important to let the athletes be someplace where they can prepare the way they are used to, so they can have the proper mind-set to perform at their best," said Steve Roush, the chief of sport performance for the Olympic committee. "We'll know Aug. 24, when the games end, if it worked."

The facility is not just for training. Several athletes were hanging out Monday in a lounge with dark lighting and comfortable red couches. Games like Trivial Pursuit, Jenga and Scattergories were set up on tables.

A fencer and two men's volleyball players played Uno while the movie "Knocked Up" played on a big-screen television. Three more fencers and a gymnast played a video game in which they sang songs by Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden, and played electronic guitars and drums. They jammed for more than hour.

"Having a place like this takes a lot of the pressure off," said volleyball player David Lee, from Alpine, Calif., on his way to becoming Uno champion.

This is the third time the U.S. Olympic Committee, based in Colorado Springs, has had a private training site at an Olympics.

The first was in 2000 in Sydney, Australia, where the United States spent about $225,000 to rent a rustic warehouse with a few boxing bags, some weights, cardiovascular machines and video equipment.

At the Athens games, the committee spent less than $2 million for a headquarters at the American College of Greece.

But this facility is the best yet, the athletes say.

Sadam Ali, a boxer from Brooklyn, said he liked it because the Americans did not have athletes from "other countries looking over our shoulders."

While personal coaches, training partners and massage therapists are barred from official Olympic sites because they do not have Olympic credentials, they are free to come and go here. They stay at a hotel on campus.

The university opened a recreation center just in time for the U.S. squad to take over. At Olympic training sites, teams must share facilities. But not here. Each team also has its own training area.

In the wrestling room, a huge sauna for weight loss sits next to the mats. The USOC shipped it here in one of its 18 sea containers. Nearby, there is a gym outfitted by 24 Hour Fitness, which sent equipment and 24 of its trainers.

The athletes eat in another building, and the food is scrumptious, the athletes said.

"Having a place like this really gives us an advantage," Williams-Murray, the judo athlete, said. "Really, we have no excuses for not going out there and winning a gold medal."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT