Fifth Fastest in the World

I forgot to mention in my last post that Margot's boat came in fifth. It's hard to look at this picture. 

I was going to look up statistics on the other boats in terms of how long they had rowed together, previous international and Olympic competitions, etc. but was too tired today to do it.

And Margot corrected me. Her line up in her boat was determined less than two months ago. So, I think it's pretty freaking awesome that they did so well and let the other boats know they were contenders. They did beat Great Britain in Lucerne to take the silver medal at Worlds in May (the same lineup).

I'm kind of glad that she has another week in Beijing. Meeting athletes from other countries (as well as her own) and discussing the experiences they had both in winning and not winning medals is bound to help her deal with the "agony of defeat," a good description even if it has been overused.

Plus, I hope she has some FUN seeing the sites and enjoying the fellowship.

On the flight back, we sat behind a very personable young man who is a journalist and has a Web site: olympicsorbust.com.
He had been pulled back to the US because of censorship and the difficulty/impossibility of writing some of the things that they experienced (he and the other fellows he was touring with) in China. The site is a hoot if you want to check it out. Tyler was the one on the plane with us. He said this site/his travel, etc. was sponsored by a joint partnership with NBC and Dream Works. Maybe he said MTV not NBC : )