Diary Entry 1st August 2008
(7 days until Opening Ceremony)

WOW…where do I start?

From the beginning:  Monday, 28 July 2008.

It was an early day, myself, Angie Lambert and Melanie Wells rose at 5.30am – we didn’t need to be at the airport until 7am, but we off course needed ample time to straighten hair, apply make up and get in our Olympic travel uniform.  I can’t say that the stripes are a favourite of mine, but why complain when it’s an Olympic uniform.

We spent all day travelling, with a stop over in Hong Kong.  We arrived at Beijing International Airport to a media frenzy, we were the second group of athletes to arrive in Beijing (after the Kayakers) so we got the full force of it – how do you feel? What are your expectations? What is on tonight? What is on tomorrow? When do you get your uniform? It continued like this until we were ushered to our transfer. 

The trip felt like forever because all I wanted to do was get into the Village – the anticipation was killing me and then finally ‘there it was’.  No amount of talking with Ex Olympians could have prepared me for this moment, I was gob smacked.  This enormous village would be my home for the next 4 weeks – everything I needed would be accessed in this place, food, washing services, gyms, entertainment…I had no reason to look elsewhere for it.  It was a sports persons haven!  I have only experienced a Commonwealth Games Village…the Olympic Village is a thousand times bigger and better.

All of the Australian’s are in the same area and without getting too far ahead of myself it’s like everyday is Australia Day (of course minus the drinking and partying…but that will come later).  We’re all so proud of where we have come from, it is so clear in our living space with Ozzy flags draped across door ways, vegemite in our common rooms and the tiny boxing kangaroos which can be seen on everyone’s beds. 

We finally settled into out apartments, Melanie Wells and myself are roomies and quickly got to sleep, as this meant it was closer to our team getting to the warehouse to collect our uniforms.

It took us an hour to get to the warehouse, another trip that felt like forever (but it wasn’t).  I was like a kid in a candy store – I couldn’t touch enough, I couldn’t get my eyes over everything quick enough…I was completely overwhelmed - which if you’ve seen the media you’ll see just how excited I was: 

http://www.foxsports.com.au/beijing_olympics/

I received 3 big bags of uniforms (lucky I only took a couple changes of clothes over with me) training, playing, casual and formal wear.  Spoilt!!!  It was like Christmas all over again.

After we collected our uniforms it was back to the village – to more media commitments, functions, training sessions, meetings, video sessions, photo shoots, village induction – there has been so much to cover in such a short period of time.  My head has been spinning!  I’m quite sure I filled my camera memory stick in one day!!

Shortly after fitting in all of the above – it was high on my list to inspect the Food Hall – no surprise that the Food Hall is the meeting place for many athletes and has an enormous variety of cuisines.  It has to cater for each participating country so the selections are endless.  We of course do need to be careful – we have been advised to stay away from salads simply from a hygiene point of view, we could potentially become very ill and it’s simply not worth the risk. 

I haven’t stopped smiling since I arrived and I know that I’m not alone.  For many Olympic rookies this is what it is all about.  Although I’m completely excited I definitely haven’t lost sight of what I’m here to do and that is to win.  There is no better time than now to recognise this.  It’s business time – and there is no greater stage in the world than the Olympics to show just how driven, committed and strong we are.

Thank you to the team at Trench and the wonderfully talented clients who have followed my journey, I hope I’ve motivated you all in some form to strive for what is important to you.  The journey doesn’t stop here…I have 7 matches left, I hope you’re able to continue with me as we aim high for our fourth Gold Medal.

PS – We’re marching and do we have a surprise for you – it’s the ultimate element of surprise!!!  Stay tuned to Channel 7!!!