Matt’s second report from Beijing is all about his trip to the opening ceremonies and the thrill of marching in behind the US flag bearer Lopez Lomong. Read Matt’s first report from Beijing as his team prepares for the games.

Opening Ceremonies met all of the high expectations I had. People said it was amazing, and it truly is overwhelming. Ted Nash (participating in his 11th Olympics (Gold ’60, Bronze ’64) and was 3rd in the voting to be the US flag bearer), and I walked around the village for a while and got to know the place. Pretty cool, but we didn’t have the meal package with our credential so the free all you can eat McDonald’s didn’t happen. They are turning the village into upper middle class condos after the Olympics, and everything is very nice. Ted knows everyone and we got to meet the head of the USOC, Jim Scheer, as well as Peter Ueberroth.

After getting dressed up in our Ralph Lauren, we, the US team, headed out to wait for the busses. Lots of hurry up and wait, but trying to move 600 or so people around takes time. After a short bus ride through the Olympic Green, we all offloaded into the Fencing hall and were grouped by sport. They didn’t have a spot for rowing and we took advantage by moving right next to the podium with the presidential seal. We met a bunch of athletes and coaches while waiting, including softball, baseball, water polo, swimming (no Michael Phelps as they were racing the next day), etc.

Then the Men’s basketball team appeared and the various and organized sports swarmed them for pictures. I went over and said hello to Coach K, Jim Boeheim and D’Antoni, the coaching staff, who are all great coaches, but didn’t get nearly the attention as the team. When the Bush’s showed up 10 minutes later, the crowd was much more respectful. George 41 came our way first and shook our hands, but looked much older than on TV. I went over and said “Hi” to the first lady and daughter Barbara. Ted and I were the last to meet the President and we were rushed through photos. He was courteous, isn’t running much anymore but mountain biking, and also was late for the Opening.

We then walked over to the Gymnastics arena and joined the rest of the countries in waiting to be called to the stadium. I happened to be behind the basketball team with Jason Kidd and Dwayne Wade and I think everyone in China knows these guys by the shouts for them and the photos being taken. They had TVs in the arena, but they did not show the ceremony except for about 10 minutes of the hour and a half we were there, so anyone watching saw more than us. It was exciting to see Greece get called and then about an hour later see them marching into the stadium while we were sitting there.

I had been warned to use the facilities before heading to the stadium and as it was coming to be the US turn to go, did so, and came out just in time to see our sign starting to head downstairs. I grabbed Ted and we fell in behind and ended up in the 2nd row, behind two of our shorter steeple chasers and Lopez Lomong the flag bearer. Very lucky with the 6’5” 260 lb. discus and hammer throwers to my left it was easy to keep our position. The walk over was hot, and after putting us in 10 lanes across, we marched through the tunnel. Waited for a minute under the stadium and then out onto the stadium floor that was flooded with light, people, the heads of state and was much bigger than I had imagined.

The chants of USA got us all going, and it was a great walk. The floor itself allowed us to mix and match with other athletes but was hot. By the end I could wring the sweat out of my blazer. China of course got the most attention. Yao Ming is head and shoulders above the rest of the athletes and is the most popular person in China, even though Kobe Bryant and Michael Phelps might give him a run. We were there for the rest of the ceremonies, the official opening and spectacular torch lighting, which was taken to another level with the extremely realistic looking running around the top of the stadium.

The rest of the night was just trying to get back to the hotel. It took a while to get back to the village to pick up our stuff. There were no cabs to be found and we walked for about a mile in the uncomfortable shoes and another one barefoot until stepping in front of a cab for the 3 a.m. return to the hotel.

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