Dreams DO come true!

Its 4am in China, but I wanted to shoot everyone a quick message to say THANK YOU for all amazing support!!! WE DID IT TODAY!  Unbelievable! I keep pinching myself to make sure that I didn’t just dream the fact that we won an Olympic Silver Medal!  I have never cried tears of joy until today. 

I can’t even begin to describe what it felt like to clinch our medal and especially in the dramatic fashion with which it occurred.  Our captain Keeth Smart led us back twice from deficits, first against the reigning World Champion Hungarians and then against the world powerhouse Russia.  When Keeth scored the final touch to send us to the gold medal round I tried to run to the stage to hug him, but I actually feinted!  I blacked out for 3-5 seconds and when I regained myself my teammate Jason Rogers was jumping on top of me not realizing that I was actually passed out and not just celebrating on the floor! 

 

After that, we all seriously cried for like 5 minutes.  We had come so close in Athens to winning a medal and we actually faced the exact same teams with the exact same situation 44-44 except this time we won!   Seeing the American flag raised at the Olympic Games by our team is truly one of the thrills of my life.

Since we won our medal I haven’t had a chance to catch my breath.  I never thought I would be unable to sign everyone autographs until today! We just had to stop, there were too many people.  We have already done a pair of press conferences with more to come tomorrow.   

You’ll be seeing a lot more of us soon coming to a television near you!  So many people watched live on the internet!  US Fencing overall captured 6 Olympic Medals, the most we had ever won before was two and no Men’s saber team in history has even won a medal until today!   This Olympic Games is bringing so much exposure to fencing its amazing! Right now, after swimming, we are the USA’s #2 medal winners! 

Alright, time for bed! BIG DAY TOMORROW!  We have a bunch of press conferences and parties to attend! THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE SUPPPORT!!!! GO TEAM USA!!

My First Event Is Over!

I took the strip today for the first time in my career to compete at the Olympics! Unfortunately, I lost in the second round in my first match to a tough opponent, Boris Sanson from France and finished 22nd overall.  I jumped out to early 7-3 before he closed out the first period up 8-7. From there I rallied again to take an 11-10 lead before he made the final run to take the bout 15-12.  Overall, I was happy with the way I competed, but obviously I hoped for a better result.  It was pretty amazing to fence in front of thousands of people and I really fed off the energy.  I felt really good throughout the bout and was nervous, but not any more than during a regular competition.  Once the referee said “fence” I felt right at home and in my element on the fencing strip.   Sports (and life) are so interesting sometimes. Today, I had great stuff on the strip and lost and other times I have fenced worse and won…that’s the way it goes sometimes!  From this bout, I take a lot of confidence because I know I can face the pressure of the Olympic Games and still fence my usual way and I’m very pumped to fence again in the team event.   My teammate Keeth Smart made the quarter-finals and lost a heartbreaking match to Julien Pillet of France 15-13.  We fence again on August 17 (Aug. 16 in the USA) for the team event

On another note, if medals were given out for support groups of Olympians then you all would have the gold!  I just want to say THANK YOU again to everyone for their support. It really means a lot to me to hear from you all and I take the support with me when I take the strip here in Beijing.  A special thanks as well to my friends and family who traveled to Beijing to watch me compete at great expense!

OPENING CEREMONIES!

Hi From China!

THE OLYMPICS HAVE BEGUN! I just got back to my room in the Village from opening ceremonies after a long and AMAZING day!  I’m pretty tired from standing for over 8 hours, but I just wanted to send back some pictures from the opening ceremonies and I think they can tell most of the story! Thank you again to everyone for the amazing words of encouragement!

Really quick re-cap of Opening Ceremonies!

At 5pm we started assembling in the Village in our USA area.   It was awesome to see the whole team together in the opening ceremony outfits.  We walked to busses and first went to the fencing venue where George W. Bush addressed us and went around taking pictures and greeting every team and athlete! He is an amazing fan of the Olympics!  We were there for a couple of hours and I got a chance to take a ton of cool pictures with other athletes, especially the NBA guys.  They were really gracious about taking photographs and talking to everyone.  We then headed to the Gymnastics stadium where we gathered with the rest of the athletes from the world to await our long walk to the opening ceremonies.  We waited some more and then they started to call out each country to start walking towards the Birds Nest where the opening ceremony was being held.

There were people lining the streets everywhere to cheer us on!  Ironically, we actually missed most of the ceremony since we were either walking or assembling!  The walk moved very slowly through the streets of Beijing and everyone was sweating like crazy from the heat.  From there we entered the stadium to the roar of the 100,000 plus people.  Walking in behind our American flag was one of the most amazing experiences and the flag bearer we elected has an amazing story you should check out!  We got back to the Village about 1:30am and the party is definitely on in Beijing!  Now its time for us to go do our thing on the playing fields!

The parts of the show we saw were spectacular and I’m sure you will enjoy them tonight on NBC at 8pm! J Not sure if you will see me since there are so many US athletes, but maybe you’ll catch a glimpse!

The games are on! GO TEAM USA!   -Tim

The Olympics Start Tomorrow!

Hi from Beijing!

 

First, thank you to everyone for all the amazing sentiments, well wishes and support!  I can’t tell you how much it means and I hope you enjoy the updates and know that I’m thinking of everyone back home and gaining strength from your good vibes!  Tomorrow we have a short practice and then we’ll be getting suited up to walk in opening ceremonies! Getting chills just thinking about it! Thanks again! GO TEAM USA! J

 

Great Wall!

After three days of intense practice, my teammates and I took a day off today and headed to the Great Wall of China with our coaches.  Our visit there was probably the best part of this trip so far and the wall is truly one of the most amazing things I have ever seen!  When we were there, we took a ski lift up a mountain and then walked along a long stretch of it with amazing views of the countryside.  There were a lot of other athletes and tourists visiting as well.  It was really hot and humid and we were essentially climbing stairs for about a mile to get to the highest guard tower, but once we reached the peak it was exhilarating.  My teammates and I really had one of those pinch yourself moments when you just appreciate being alive and knowing that you are sharing something unique with a special group of people.  To get down, they had gondolas that went on a track that curved around the mountainside.  It was like taking a sled ride down an entire mountain! Scary and fun all at the same time!

 

Press Conference and Venue Tour

Also during the day, we had our fencing team press conference attended by about fifteen media outlets.   Another sign of fencings growth was that this was definitely better attended than the Athens press conference.  It was held at the Intercontinental Hotel and its where all athletes have been going for interviews and where some of the 30,000 media are staying.  Following our press conference was Roger Federer, but unfortunately we couldn’t stay since we had to go tour our competition venue! Today, we also got our draws…I have a bye to the round of 32 where I will fence Sanson of France to make top-16.  Unfortunately, my teammates Jason Rogers and Keeth Smart will draw each other in the round of 32.

 

Cool Find: I found a place today where you can get free haircuts in the village!

2 Days Until Opening Ceremonies!

Settling In

We’ve been in Beijing for four days now and we are getting into a nice routine and the time-zone adjustment is going pretty well.  I have been sleeping pretty regularly, but generally feel super exhausted at night. Not sure if it’s because of the poor air quality or if we are just still very jet lagged. On our “typical” day we wake up around 8am, eat breakfast in the village and then head over to United States training facility at Beijing Normal University where we practice from 10-1pm.  Afterwards, I have been doing short work outs and then working with the physical trainers to aid my recovery with massage, icing and other stuff.   We then generally hang out at the training facility afterwards, they have games and movies for us and Beijing Normal and it’s a lot less hectic than the village.  Tomorrow we are going to have an off-day and we have a press conference in the morning, will be touring our competition venue and then are going to go see the Great Wall. Should be fun!

So, what’s it like to be an Olympian at the Olympics?  I haven’t spent a dime yet since we get all our food, transportation, laundry, calls and a bunch of other stuff for free.  There are internet lounges, game rooms, an amazing staff of USOC and IOC people making sure we have a great stay and people fussing over us everywhere we go. Being a US Olympian is a particularly amazing experience since we have our own training facility at BNU with American imported foods and chefs.  Other random cool stuff, every place we go we seem to get a gift of some sort and the Village is just an amazing place to see so many top athletes from so many different places!

 

Interesting/surreal moments

Checking my email in the lounge while watching US Olympic swimmer Dara Torres go through her 2 hour stretching and massage routine with 2 people working on her non-stop…Checking out Phelps, Paul Gasol, Rafeal Nadal and other Athletes in the cafeteria (the dining room is one big people watching fest)…watching one of our weight lifters Kendrick Farris lifting ridiculous amounts of weight while I do 20lb bicep curls….having the entire NBA team sit down with us at dinner (they ALL eat McDonalds!), getting to chat with a few of them and then watching the mayhem as they are surrounded by hundreds of people trying to take picture…sitting at a table by myself with only Phelps and not realizing who it was…

 

Mark Your Calendars!

Friday, 8pm Opening Ceremonies at 8pm on NBC!

Saturday, 7pm “My First Time” will air in New York and Los Angeles on NBC

- A show featuring my life the past month as I trained worked at Teach For America and just generally lead my life.

Aug. 12 and 17: My competition days!

6 Days Until Opening Ceremonies!

Olympic Team Processing

This marathon of a day began when my alarm rang at 4am.  I showered and headed downstairs to my awaiting parents who were taking me to the airport for my 7am flight to San Francisco.  I slept for most of the flight and then as we touched down in San Francisco I felt this tremendous giddy energy that the Olympics are really here!  As soon as we left the plane there were Olympic volunteers waiting for us with signs marked with the Olympic rings.  People in the airport were wishing us good luck as they could clearly see from our bright American flag fencing bags and our awaiting escorts that we were Olympians bound for Beijing! 

 

From the airport we headed to San Jose State University where we did our team processing.  Teams have been coming through all week and will continue through next week.  We were joined by the women’s field hockey team and several members of Track and Field.  At the university we were given credentials, meal cards and greeted by happy and excited USOC staff members who would escort us through a busy day of processing.  We eat a quick lunch and then began the check-in process which included going from room to room to be sized for Olympic rings, leather jackets, filling out medical forms as well as about 2 hours with a shopping cart getting tons of apparel from the Olympic sponsors Ralph Lauren and Nike.  We got our medal and opening ceremonies uniforms and they both look amazing along with about 20+ t-shirts, 3 pairs of shoes, 5+ pairs of shorts, a number of pants and other items.  It was clothing overload!  After that, we had a one-hour meeting to discuss some of the details for our upcoming trip and then we spent another hour re-packing.  Since we had received so much new stuff, each of us was allowed to send a box home at no charge so we spent some time thinking about what we would need and wouldn’t in Beijing.   We were on our feet non-stop for close to 12-hours so I was very tired by the end, but it was a good tired!

 

Tomorrow, we will be up at 7am and then headed to the airport for our flight to Beijing!

 

You can check out pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2058578&l=559b3&id=9804644

 

I’m Off! (7 Days Until Opening Ceremonies!

First Stop: Team Processing in San Francisco

My bags are packed, my good byes have been made and it’s time to hit the road!  Olympians from around the country have been descending upon San Francisco this week for team processing and Friday is our turn!  We will be getting our Olympic gear, rings and credentials and then leaving for Beijing on Saturday! There are only so many times in your life when you know you’re about to begin a journey that will challenge, inspire and change you.  I have no idea what lies ahead for me, but I’m excited at the prospect of finding out!   

 

Since I’m starting out I spent a little time thinking about how to best approach the next few weeks.  It seems that the Olympics can be a dream or a nightmare depending on how the way you experience it. Some people can spend the rest of their lives reveling in its glory or wincing at an opportunity missed never appreciating how much they have accomplished just by being there.  It’s the biggest stage and so there are big victories to achieve, but also the biggest fear of failures to face. My mindset for these games are to approach them as any other competition, but to acknowledge that there are going to be many things to face that I have perhaps never faced before. I am human and so I will, of course, have thoughts of failure as any athlete will have from Phelps to Lebron James, but I feel confident that this fear will not paralyze me and I am very proactive about visualizing success each day.  I only have more ground to gain on this journey!  HERE WE GO!

 

Training WNBC News Anchor Chuck Scarborough To Fence

It’s always interesting to meet people you have watched on television and he is someone that I can remember watching since I was in high school.  He was so utterly gracious and open to learning the sport.  Unlike other times when reporters have come in and just wanted a quick story, he really set aside several hours to get into it and wanted to know all about fencings intricacies.  We spent close to 3 hours doing footwork, blade work, playing some fencing games and then bouting with each other.  He picked it up really well and for someone who is in his sixties, he is really in great shape!  He said his goal was to score a point and he managed to do just that when we fenced. 

 

I’m pretty sure he walked away with a new appreciation of our sport and just how hard it can be.  While I was showing him the basics, it was actually a great reminder to me of just how many things are really happening while you are fencing and I learned today as well. After fencing for so many years, I had forgotten how many things you have to do since they have become so second nature to me.   You have to have the correct footwork, balance in place while you move, your blade and arm have to work separately while your feet move you, you need to be paying attention to where your opponent is and what he is doing and also thinking abut your own moves.    

 

I left him probably a little sore, but luckily he didn’t have to broadcast later that day so he can recover.  I can say without a doubt that Chuck Scarborough is a great guy.   I hope this piece will continue to bring new interest to our sport and that people will stop by our Manhattan Fencing Center on 39^th Street and check out our great sport.

 

You can check out the stills from our day at the following link: http://www.nbcolympics.com/wnbc/photos/galleryid=162556.html

 

The full piece should be running in a few weeks.

 

Watch me at the Olympics!  (USA Times Below)

 

Opening Ceremonies:

Aug 8: 8pm-12 (NBC)

 

Men’s Saber Individual – Mon Aug 11 to Tue Aug 12 (Station TBD/Streaming Live Internet)
10:00pm-1:45am Round of 64 through quarterfinals
7:00am Semifinals
7:50am Bronze Medal Match
8:10am Gold Medal Match

 

Men’s Saber Team – Sat Aug 16 to Sun Aug 17 (Station TBD/Streaming Live Internet)
9:30pm Quarterfinals
10:40pm Losers bracket
11:40pm Semifinals
12:50am 5th place and 7th place matches
6:00am Bronze Medal Match
7:00am Gold Medal Match

 

Television/Internet:

This Olympic games will be the most broadcasted Olympics in History.  NBC has not yet released what events will be appearing where, but you can watch us on nbcolympics.com/fencing streaming live and if you check on this site as well they will post the station that will cover it.