2008 Olympics Updates

Relaxed and ready is the mood in the ParalympicsGB camp on Thursday in the athletes’ village.

With the start of the Beijing Paralympics just a couple of days away, final preparations are being made - and there is an air of confidence around the team.

The likes of four-time Paralympian Jody Cundy are old hands at Paralympic villages, but for wheelchair basketball player Helen Freeman it is a whole new experience.

18-year-old Freeman (above left), from Watford, is the youngest member of the women’s team. She has been training hard for her Paralympic experience while studying for her A-levels.

A place at Reading University, studying Biochemistry, awaits Freeman when she gets back to London later this month - but she wants to make the most of her first Games.

“It has been an amazing experience so far. I now just want to get out there and play,” she told BBC Sport.

“I’ve been excited for months and now I can’t wait for it all to start.

“It was a bit of a culture shock at first to see so many disabled people together in the village, but after a few days I’ve got used to it and there is a special atmosphere around.

“The food hall is the biggest I’ve ever seen. It’s like a school canteen but on an extreme scale. I reckon it’s about the size of two football pitches!”

Freeman’s team-mate Ann Wild, who plays alongside her at club level and will be playing in her fifth Games, has been offering hints on the temptations in the food hall - like eating grilled meats, and avoiding fast food.

“It’s good to be able to get help from people like Ann, who has so much experience and it’s all good advice,” she said.

And with comfortable beds, so much food that there are tough choices to be made, and every facility on your doorstep, what does Helen appreciate most?

“The kettle - that’s been most important in the apartment I’m in,” she replied.

“There’s been plenty of tea drunk - my team-mate Helen Turner normally plays mother and makes it, but we’ve all enjoyed it.”

Freeman, Turner and the rest of the 206-strong team are now gearing up for Saturday’s opening ceremony.

Then Sunday sees the start of action in basketball, boccia, cycling, equestrian, five-a-side football, judo, shooting, swimming and table tennis.

Chief executive and chef de mission Phil Lane described this 2008 crop as the best prepared athletes he’d ever seen, and the team are delighted with facilities on offer at the athletes’ village.

Lane explained: “It’s the first time we have gone straight into a facility used by a GB Olympic team, and we worked with the British Olympic Association to share as much equipment as we could. The hard work has paid off.

“Our athletes have sofas, chairs, tables, televisions and DVD players in their apartments as the Olympians did, to give them home comforts and a place they can call their own.

“In Athens we had just one spare bed - not even a spare room. Here we have room so if people need their own space for whatever reason, it is available to them.”

The vast majority of the British team are already here in the village - the equestrian riders and sailors will join them after their events in Hong Kong and Qingdao.

Now the Olympics are over it is full steam ahead for the Paralympics and the nerves are starting to kick in a bit more.

We headed off to Macau on Saturday for our pre-Games training camp which is an important part of our final preparations and will help us to adjust to the conditions we will experience in Beijing.

It takes a lot of time for me to acclimatise, as it does for a lot of cerebral palsy athletes, so it is nice to get over there early and not feel tired when it comes to the competition.

When we were building up to Athens four years ago we spent some time at a holding camp in Cyprus but it wasn’t for too long because we didn’t have to get used to a time difference.

Going first to Macau and then to Beijing means we will be away from home for about a month and it gives you a good chance to get used to everyone on the team.

For some of the others on the team it will be their first big trip abroad. Some are very young and it will be a new experience for them. I know what I was like when I went to Sydney in 2000. I was 15 and I was used to my mum doing everything and it took me a while to get used to the team set-up.

It helps us that we have a good support team behind us, not only our coaches but also people like our nurse Lynne, who is there when you need a hug!

To be honest, I don’t really like being away for so long, but the hotel in Macau is so nice with lovely big beds and that it makes it easier. When it comes to leaving and going to the athletes’ village, it will be hard to drag myself away from the luxury!

In Macau I’m sharing with another swimmer Rachael Latham. We sometimes train together in Manchester and although Beijing will be her first Games, she will hold her own!

We will then be sharing an apartment in the village with two of our coaches Lars (our head coach) and Billy.

Rachael and I are both a bit messy and I know at home my fiancé Rik despairs of me and is always tidying up behind me, but I prefer to think of it as organised chaos.

My packing went surprisingly well. It doesn’t get better the more often you do it and I always hope I won’t forget anything but Rik flies out to Beijing a week later to take part in the cycling competition so he can always take it over.

We have our team kit, so that’s easy to remember, but I have taken some of my own clothes for our last night party and I also have a couple of pairs of my own shorts and some t-shirts if I have a day off.

My allowance was split between two bags so if one goes missing it isn’t too bad, but I did take some spare underwear and a toothbrush and a hairbrush in my hand luggage in case of emergencies! Last year we went to Macau and five of the team’s suitcases went missing on the Manchester to London leg, so those whose bags weren’t there had to go for a week without clothes.

Over the last couple of weeks all of us on the swimming team have been getting really excited watching the Olympic swimming events at the Water Cube.

For Michael Phelps to win eight golds was amazing, but I didn’t like the fact that the swim programme was changed to suit American television.

I’m not a morning swimmer and I’m glad that our heats will be in the morning and the finals in the evening, which is what we are used to.

Natalie Jones was speaking to Elizabeth Hudson

Athlete’s Village, Beijing

I’ve left it a few days partly because I have been busy in the village food hall piling on the pounds!

But mostly because I wanted to gather my thoughts and not rush into writing anything too quickly.

I suppose I should get right down to business and let you know how I feel about my performance and the 81kg weight category.

Everyone who knows me will know that I am absolutely gutted not to come away from these Games with a medal.

All my final preparations had gone well and I was relaxed and confident on the morning of the competition.

My first fight was tight and scrappy against an Argentinean who I have fought in training but never in competition. I knew that he was an aggressive gripper and a dangerous first-round fight who has some very explosive throwing ability.

The plan was to keep it tight, get into the match and then try to dominate once I was set in the fight. I did all of the above and although I never like to win by such a close margin I was happy to get the first one in the bag and move on.

My second fight against Attaff of Morocco was again going to be difficult; he is a strong awkward opponent who I narrowly defeated in Paris for bronze earlier in the year. Again I was unspectacular but did enough to make it to the quarter-final and another fight with Roman Gontyuk.

The Ukrainian was reigning Olympic silver medallist and is renowned for his big scoring ability and massive counter attacks but also for a lack of condition towards the end of a hard fight.

I had lost to him in Armenia late last year by a small score but had beaten him by waza ari and yuko in the 2007 Super World Cup in Moscow and the plan was to do the same as before, push the pace but not do anything stupid in the early part of the fight to give him the opportunity to score big with a counter.

Unfortunately as the Scottish poet Rabbie Burns said: “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men Gang aft a-gley (”even the best plans can go wrong” for all those south of the border!), and just as I felt Gontyuk was beginning to tire he scored a yuko which changed the complexion of the match.

I had to chase the score and thinking back (I have not watched any footage of any of my fights so this is all my personal recollections of the matches) I probably spent around 90 seconds of a crucial spell mid-fight reverting to fighting at his pace. This cost me and by the time I started to push the pressure it was too late.

My dreams of being Olympic champion were in tatters.

I had to pick myself up for the repechage though and knew that there was still a long way and a lot of hard work to go if I was to be on that rostrum.

After beating Valles of Columbia I was to face Tiago Camillo of Brazil, the reigning world champion in the final of the repechage. Tiago is a master technician and tactician and I just couldn’t safely get two hands on him for long enough to develop my own techniques.

When I went down a waza ari to his left uchi mata I knew I had to throw everything at him but again he was elusive enough to stay out of danger and I could only manage to pull back a yuko in penalties.

My big chance came with an ashi waza close to the end when I was trying to pile on the pressure - I caught him clean but lost control of the top half of the body and he turned out.

My competition was over and I walked off the mat and out of the arena knowing that the lights had gone out on my Beijing Olympic dream.

Exiting the stadium I had to deal with the unusual sight of TV, radio and newspaper journalists desperate to hear how I felt about the day that had ended just seconds beforehand.

I don’t really remember what I said or what I was asked as I think the realisation was only beginning to hit but I imagine I probably said one or all of the following.

That I had not managed to finish any of my fights by ippon which I had done in all my previous major championship successes.

That I was completely and utterly devastated to have lost.

That all my preparation had gone well.

That I am 100% certain that I will continue fighting to London 2012 and that between now and then I will endeavour to do anything possible to make sure I will realise my dream and be on the rostrum there in four years.

If these are indeed what I said then I would stand by them fully. I didn’t score big enough on any of my opponents and fighting in that mediocre way was not enough to put me on the rostrum.

There is no one else to look at, no one else to blame, no one else to take the fall. In this game there is only you on the mat and only you who can perform and put things right. I did not do that and I apologise to those of you who got up at the break of dawn to live that journey with me.

One of the things that I have always said is that if I have prepared as hard as I possibly could and can walk on to that mat knowing that I could not have done more to put myself in a position to strive for that medal then I cannot ask more of myself.

I am proud of the work that I did to get to the Games in the physical and mental shape that I did and I want to say a massive thank you to everyone that helped me to do that. You are too numerous to mention but you all know who you are.

I could not come up with the answers on the day but I hope it was clear for everyone to see that I would die trying.

At this point I would like to say congratulations to Ole Bischoff, Kim Jae Bum, Roman Gontyuk and Tiago Camillo. There is an enormous amount of respect amongst the players in the 81kg category as we all know what it takes to reach the heights at this enormously competitive division.

Ole is truly a gentleman, a fine Olympic champion and a great ambassador for our sport.

Since the finish of the event I have been going through what Matt and I term “the demons”. They are the thoughts that keep you awake at night, the questions that you ask over and over again, the gnawing, growing feeling of emptiness that losing leaves you as a wee present to keep you company over the days and weeks.

My way of dealing with them? There is no way!

There are days like yesterday when everything feels fine only for the demons to hit you and stop you in your tracks. Yesterday it happened in the village gym while I was on the bike. One second I was listening to the music feeling fine, the next I realised I was not even cycling anymore but was just sat with my head stooped over the bike bars.

You just have to move on. Decide what is going to improve you as a judoka, as an athlete and set your mind to making sure you make those things happen.

In the mean time Clarky and I have been busying ourselves trying to at least take some positives from our Olympic experience.

We have been out and about cheering on our fellow Team GB athletes at a number of venues across the city.

We have watched a masterful display by the men’s four at the rowing, cheered on the hockey girls in the pouring rain, screamed at the top of our voices for David Price and Tony Jeffries at the boxing and sat as two of the thousands fans at the magnificent Bird’s Nest Stadium.

I have to say that as a massive sports fan and proud member of Team GB it is an absolute honour to be able to sit and watch each and every one of you competing at the very pinnacle of your sports. I feel truly privileged to be a part of this great team.

Of course huge congratulations go out to all of our medallists. The domination in the pool, on the water and especially in the velodrome has been astounding.

Finally I am sure that people may want me to give comment on the judo team performance as a whole. I think it is obvious that we are devastated not to be bringing you home any medals.

Certainly two seventh places was not what we came here for. However I will leave each individual to let you know how they feel, I cannot speak for them; I can only just about put down on paper how I feel about me.

And with that the demons hit again. It could be a long sleepless night.

Keep cheering on the members of Team GB who are still competing, I know they will appreciate your support.

And keep cheering on your judo team. We need the support now as much as ever. I will never stop giving my all. Do not stop giving yours.

Thank you all for your support over this campaign.

Euan

It’s so hard to describe how it feels as we make the final preparations for Sunday’s final.

We have spent the week working on all the aspects of rowing and our racing that we think could possibly give us more boat speed.

We were pleased with our heat, and it was a good win for us, but we know that the final will be on an entirely different level.

There is no way of knowing how the race will develop and unfold, so all we can do is prepare ourselves the best we can and take everything we have, all our strengths - old and new - and all our passion to the start line.

This is my second Olympic final, but I’m not sure that makes it any easier.

I know what is coming up, I know that I am going to feel ill to the pits of my stomach, that my mind will be playing games with me, the voices shouting from temple to temple louder than my head can possibly contain.

Often I feel that getting myself to the start line in the right state of mind is the hardest part of it all.

But between now and when nerves really start to kick in, all I can do is prepare my response to the questions I am going to be asking myself, and go over and over again in my head just how I am going to row, how I am going to make the first two strokes of the race.

There is a very fine line between doing all the preparation that I need to do, and doing too much.

We will have to be relaxed and focused when we race, not anxious or tense.

Once you get to the Olympics, everyone is physically and technically exceptional - no one gets a head start.

There is no advantage given for past form, it is all about the moment. I’m just doing my very best to make our moment the best it can possibly be.

After four days of being in the Olympic Village, I’m finally starting to get to know my way around.

This place is massive, it’s like a small town and it’s bigger than the village I come from in Cumbria.

It’s been a good few days though mingling with the other athletes and being recognised by Lleyton Hewitt.

But with my competition starting tomorrow, it’s time for final preparations.

That means not going to the opening ceremony for starters.

I’m not that bothered as I’ll chill out and watch a bit of it on the television back at the flat with the other five archers.

We are all in the same apartment - the boys are one side, the girls the other and I’m the tidy one of the men, while Larry Godfrey’s room is like a pigsty.

All the Brits are in the same area of the village and we are in four tower blocks - the cyclists are close by and I get a hello from Chris Hoy in the mornings - he seems like a lovely bloke.

I’ve also seen Hewitt, who I met while training at the Australian Institute of Sport earlier in the year - he nodded and said “g’day”, which was nice.

I started out at the GB training camp in Macau which was a good few days getting over the jet lag, doing a bit of training and meeting some of the hockey players and boxers, but thankfully we left before the typhoon struck.

And since we’ve been in Beijing, there’s been a couple of functions we’ve had to attend, which were great.

Last night we were all suited and booted to go the British Embassy - it was great to be in the same room as people like Sir Matthew Pinsent and Princess Anne.

And we’ve had a motivational meeting with Simon Clegg, the British Olympic Association chief executive, and elite performance director Sir Clive Woodward, who talked about focusing on what we want to be remembered for at the Olympics.

And I’m as ready as I possibly can be - there is nothing different I could’ve done in my preparations to improve myself and the same goes for Larry and Simon Terry - the team is stronger than it has ever been.

The women’s team event gets underway first and we follow straight after.

I’ll get up in the morning, have a late breakfast and a bit of dinner before heading off to the archery field - which is looking in great condition. We were here a year ago for an event and I swear the grass is looking greener than back then.

We had a quiet practice session there this morning and there are obviously a few more banners up and security is a bit tighter, but it looks in great nick.

After dinner, we’ll head down to the field where we get a 45-minute warm-up session on the targets and a 15-minute breather before the competition starts.

The first round is the ranking one where we get to shoot 72 arrows and that will take a couple of hours.

The women are back on the Sunday for their knockout rounds and their medals will be decided then, whereas we get the day off and are back on Monday.

I doubt we’ll go see the women on the Sunday - if needed we will, but I’ll probably relax in the morning and then go see my mum and dad in the afternoon.

Actually, I need to phone my dad to see if he’s coming to the qualifying round tomorrow - he and my mum have tickets for the finals days - but I need to tell him to keep out the way if he does come tomorrow as the last thing I need is him popping his head up to say hello and suprising me!

Tuesday is a day off before Wednesday’s qualifying for the individual event - the finals day for that is Friday, so I’m doing nothing for the next week but focussing on my performance.

You can watch the action from 0500 BST on Saturday and I’ll hopefully be back next Friday to let you know how the week went from my perspective.

Alan Wills was talking to BBC Sport’s Peter Scrivener.