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Sept.
8, 2004
- It is me one
last time.....
I am finally home from my "Athens experience". I decided I would write one
last installment of my Olympic chronicles. I have told you about all the
great things that I experienced early on at the Games so I guess I can also
share the disappointing events as well.
I felt the lead up to my race went really well and on race morning I was
ready to attack the day. I think I showed this in my swim. I had one of
the best swims of my life, I felt great the whole way never felt out of
control or that the pace was too quick. Any other time I have had the
opportunity to swim with Barb Lindquist and Sheila Taorimina (the best
swimmers in the sport) I have always felt like it was one speed too quick
and would usually drop off near the end of the 1500 meters. Not on that day
the swim was very comfortable, I had a great start and the water was warm
and clear. It felt great!
Onto the bike I had a good transition and worked at about 90% to the first
big hill, this was in order to conserve some energy for the hill. I made it
up the hill alright and continued on down the steep hill where there was a
sharp 90 degree corner. My tire actually slid out from under me a little
here but I regained composure quickly and carried on. I should have made
more of a mental note that the tread was slippery on this pavement. On to
the next climb which was a long and winding hill that rises up beside the
sea. I still felt good and was in about 5th position although the first
small group of girls was quite scattered as the hill had broken everyone
apart. I figured I would keep working consistently and a group would form
around me fairly quickly. We were on our way down the long curvy hill that
we had just climbed, I was approaching a big wide sweeping corner behind
Rina Hill one of the Australian competitors. Just before the corner Rina
tapped on her brakes to slow up going into the corner. We were probably
going at least 50 km/hr and I lightly tapped on my brakes to slow up for the
corner as well. This particular corner you take fairly quickly because it
was quite wide. Anyways when I hit my brakes (ever so slightly) I also hit
a small grease patch and my back tire slid out from under me and I literally
was thrown to the ground and bounced first on my right hip, then my right
shoulder, then my left buttocks got the tail end of it. I was really
shocked. I got back up quickly, took a look at my bike, the brakes were
rubbing but that was it everything else was in working order. I opened up
the front brakes so they wouldn't rub and got back on my bike. I thought ok
I can just let this next pack catch me and I will just hang in with them. I
was able to hang in for a little while but when I got to the big hill I
realized my shoulder was really hurt. I actually started to worry that I
broke something as I was having a hard time doing anything with my right
arm, like pulling on the bars when I was climbing or even resting my arms in
the aero position. I checked my collarbone to see if it was alright and it
was so I just decided that I had to finish the race as best as I could.
A couple years ago at World Championships in Cancun Mexico I crashed and was
unable to finish the race, I remember the feeling of watching the other
competitors finish and I hated the feeling of not being able to feel the
satisfaction of completing the event no matter what place you end up
finishing. With that memory and also the thought that this may be my only
opportunity to compete at an Olympic Games and represent not only Canada, my
friends and family but also all the wonderful people who have supported me
on this journey. I just took it lap by lap on the bike and simply kept the
finish line in my mind. I am happy that I was able to finish but the
disappointment of not being able to see what I could have done on the day is
still stinging.
I have had so many awesome emails from strangers and friends old and new.
They have really meant a lot to me as it is hard at this point for me to
have perspective on why this all happened to me. Reading all these
wonderful emails has really helped me get through this difficult time. It
has even been more difficult accepting my result since leaving the Games
because it is sinking it that it is really over.
Fortunately for me the Canadian team had such a great medical staff and
after I finished they immediately went to work on me to clean out my wounds
and check out my shoulder. One positive aspect of the crash was I got to
meet some really nice, top notch doctors and physiotherapist. My wounds and
shoulder were so painful at first they were nice enough to give me a dose of
morphine that made everything seem a little better for awhile. These
doctors/physio were in Athens to help out and support the Canadian athletes
and were volunteering on average a month of there time. They were
absolutely great. A big thanks to the awesome medical staff!
After my shoulder was checked out it was determined that the bicep tendon
and rotator cuff were sprained and the shoulder was just really bruised
because it took a hard hit. Thank goodness nothing was broken.
The rest of the Games experience:
After watching the men's race the following day where Simon Whitfield placed
a respectful 11th place, Carol Montgomery and I returned to the village. It
was great to be back in the village because I could get daily medical
treatment i.e. bandages changed and physio on my shoulder. It was also
great to hang out with other athletes and get a chance to go and watch some
of the other sports. I watched the women's mountain biking where
Marie-Helene Premont took home silver and Alison Sydor placed 4th. That
same day I did a live interview with CBC's Terry Liebel, Alison Sydor, and
Angela Whyte, a young hurdler from Edmonton who placed 6th in the final of
the 100 meter hurdles. It was a weird interview as I found that Terry
Liebel asked very different questions and was trying to lead you to answers
that I felt she wanted you to hear. She also made me feel old and like a
veteran, which I don't really feel like considering this is my first
Olympics and only 4th year competing on the World Cup Triathlon circuit.
Anyways it was another great opportunity to chat with Alison Sydor and also
meet Angela Whyte who was also very cool young Canadian Athlete.
For the most part all the Canadian Athletes I met were extremely nice and
down to earth. That same evening I attended the stadium to watch an
exciting evening of track and field. The stadium was amazing and I saw
athletes compete that I have been watching on TV and in the news for years.
Some of the highlights included, Marion Jones in the long jump and 4x 100
meter relay, Paula Radcliff in the women's 10 km.
The last few days of the Olympics I took in some of the local sites such as
the Acropolis and downtown Athens with my family. I also had my sister and
husband Aaron visit the Athlete's village which was great for them to have
an opportunity to see how it all worked on the inside. I spent some time
with my family at Canada House which is a place for Canadian family and
friends to hang out during the Games. On the last day we all suited up in
our Canadian gear for a last time and headed to the Stadium for the closing
ceremonies. I had a lot of fun trying to chase other countries athletes
around to trade team gear with. I managed to get some nice Spanish stuff
and also some great gear from New Zealand. I also got a hat from the
Chinese team that said Beijing 2008. So the 2008 Olympics are already on my
mind!
A few other athletes that are worth mentioning that I met and actually got
my picture taken with are Pieter van den Hoogenband, winner of the 100 meter
free. I ran into him one morning on my way out of the village. It seemed
like he was returning with some friends after a long night out on the town
apparently the Sports Illustrated party was that evening. I snagged a quick
photo with him. I also got pictures taken with Inge De Bruijn, winner of
the 50 free. In terms of Canadians I had my picture taken with the most
successful Canadian and the Flag Bearer for the closing ceremonies Adam van
Koeverden, the canoe/kayaker that won Gold and Bronze, I got to see his
medals up close, they were really nice.
The past week or so I have spent vacationing, first on the Greek Island of
Syrus with my family and then I went shopping in Hamburg Germany where
unfortunately I couldn't race because my shoulder was still very sore. The
Hamburg world Cup is one of the most exciting races going because it takes
place downtown and the crowds are amazing. I enjoyed watching and helped
out a little with the online commentating. I will definitely be back next
year to do the race.
I leave you with a quote on all a lot of Olympic memorabilia:
The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking
part.
- The essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.
- Baron de
Coubertin
Thanks so much for all your support it has made this experience even more
worthwhile.
Take Care,
Jill
August
23, 2004
Here is a
quick update of what I have been up to in the last week:
I arrived in France with my coach Brendon and training partner Sam,
unfortunately still no bike. My bike had been tracked down but was still in
transit to meet me and didn't quite catch up before I left for France. I
decided to borrow a bike in Pau, France and leave mine in Athens so as not
to have to face this situation again on the way back to Athens from Pau.
The bike I borrowed was Helen Solomon's training (2003 winner of Ironman
France) bike so it was fine the only complaint I had was that here rear
cassette was a 11-19. I am use to a 12-27.
The training in France was great it was nice to get away from all the
distractions at the village (ie coke machine, other interesting people to
watch and too much socializing). I was staying with the New Zealand
triathlon team in Pau which included Sam Warriner (she has been in Penticton
training with me all summer), Hamish Carter, the current world champion
Bevan Docherty and Nathan Richmond. These athletes are all racing in the
triathlon representing NZ and they are a great group of people. I had a lot
of fun. I think I learned quite a few new english words, even though we
speak the same language they have quite a few different expressions which
caught me off guard a couple of times. Nothing else too exciting happened
in France, I went bowling, and shopping and rested a lot oh ya and I got to
speak French un petit peu.
I arrived back in Athens on Sat. evening and we immediately headed out to
our accommodation near the race course. We are not returning to the village
until after the race. Aaron and my sister and friend Janet were already
here so it was great to see familiar faces. Aaron put my bike together
right away.
Sunday and Monday I have spent time familiarizing myself with the course
again as I raced here last year and not too much has changed. The
transition area has changed and they have built this amazing grandstand in
front of the transition area and ocean swim. Neil Harvey the swim coach at
the National triathlon training centre is here helping us out by fine-tuning
our stroke rates and stroke mechanics. The ironic thing about Neil is he
was actually my age group swim coach back in 1989 - 1991 when I lived in
Peterborough Ont. On Monday it was just me and him at the pool and when I
was swimming I had this really neat moment when this whole situation felt
really familiar because 12 years ago he was doing the same thing for me,
following me up and down the pool. Later that evening I mentioned to him
that it seemed liked old times, the 2 of us working together that morning at
the pool, and he said he had the exact same feeling. I think it is great in
life when things come full circle.
Last night we had our race briefing and pontoon start selection. There were
lots of nerves in the air and it was great to see all the competitors in
their country uniforms. I selected my start position and I am far left,
second from the end. I have either Sheila Taormina or Barb Linquist beside
me, they are the fastest swimmers in the sport so hopefully I will catch a
great draft. After the briefing Triathlon Canada hosted a nice dinner at
this scenic location above the course and over looking the bay. It was
beautiful and a great opportunity for our team to veg out and catch up with
friends and family and close supporters.
So today we had a chance to ride the course one last time while it was
closed of to cars. My bike felt like a dream compared to the heavy clunker
I was riding in France, I went up that nasty hill (18% grade) a couple
times and the truth is.. it hurts. and there is no way around it. But
fortunately it hurts for everyone and it will be a great challenge on race
day.
Tomorrow morning we are having a easy swim workout at the pool which happens
to be right on the ocean (kind of like "Kitsalano pool in Vancouver) and
some of the Canadian swimmers who have finished their competition are coming
to swim with us. Rick Say, Mark Johnston, Riley James, Jennifer Fratersi
and Brittany Reimer are all making a special trip out here (about 40 minutes
from the village) and are going to show us some of their top secret swimming
secrets (or so I hope). Other than that I will have a quick run on the
course and than lay low and rest up for the 25th!. All the best to everyone
back home competing in Ironman on the weekend. Don't stay up too late
watching the Olympics (you can always watch my race the next day)!
Take Care,
Jill
August 15, 2004 7:01 AM
Hi everyone!
Well I decided to write a quick update in order to share some of my
experience with you all. Thanks so much for all the nice emails, I read
them and re-read them for more inspiration.
I spent a real quick 2 days in the Olympic village. Carol Montgomery and I
arrived from the Athens airport at the athletes village at 1:30 AM on Friday
morning. Unfortunately for me I was already missing my bike, it got lost
en-route, but my wheels and cloth made it! We had to get our accreditation
done which meant we had to have our picture taken for our id tags at 130 AM
after traveling for 16 hrs. My picture actually didn't turn out too bad
considering what time it was and how tired I felt. We were then bused to
our room (that is how big the village is) and then fell asleep immediately.
I put ear plugs in to make sure to sleep in as long as possible. To my
surprise I didn't even wake up until Paul R (our team manager) came knocking
at our door at 10:35 AM in the morning to get us up in order to get out team
gear. We definitely needed our team outfits if we wanted to walk in the
opening ceremonies. So I got out of bed still half asleep and proceeded to
the outfitting building. We got lots of nice Roots clothing and some other
cool toys. We were given a cell phone from Bell mobility to use while we
are at the games with 500 free minutes anywhere, also we were given a
digital camera and the best thing of all is this Coke Cola key chain magnet
that you use to activate any coke machine to get whatever Coke product you
want at any machine which are all over the village. There was lots of other
stuff but these 3 things were in my mind the best!
Afterwards Carol and I went to the cafeteria to check out all the food. There is a lot of options, almost too many. It makes eating almost
difficult to have to decide from so many choices. I was making fun of the
Mc Donalds line up when I first entered the cafeteria. But after I saw a
person walking around with this awesome looking chicken salad and I
proceeded to ask him where he got it and you guessed it, he got it at
McDonalds! So I may have to go to the McDonalds line up one day when I
return to the village.
In the cafeteria there were lots of athletes, I saw the USA gymnastics team,
which I had followed on NBC at their Olympic trials. I must say they are
tiny, they look small on TV but they are all the same size so it really
doesn't give you a good perspective about how small they really are until
you see them up close. It is the same with the basketball players for
example Yao Ming from china his knees are at about the height of my waist.
He is so tall. I have made up a game called what sport is that athlete
competing in? It is fun to check out all the different body types and
eating habits and try and figure out what sport they are in. The gymnasts
are easy to spot they are small and also have very small plates of fruit and
salad. The weightlifters have full plates of everything they can put on
their plate.
Other interesting people that I have seen, Ato Boldon, sprinter from
Trinidad, Federov, tennis player who recently won Wimbledon.
The best story of all is yesterday morning after the opening ceremonies
Carol and I were sitting at the cafeteria eating our breakfast. We were
sitting beside a bunch of Germans. The one fellow sitting beside us had two
huge bowls of oatmeal and he proceeded to pour orange juice in his oatmeal
which I made fun of. So we started talking with him. He said he couldn't
find the milk and didn't feel like walking all over the cafeteria looking
for it. I then proceeded to ask him for one of his containers of honey
(which he had 6 of) so that I wouldn't have to walk all over the cafeteria
to get more for my toast. By chatting with him a little more we found out
he was racing in the road race that day. I asked him (kind of jokingly) if
he had just finished the Tour de France and he said yes. He had done it 7
times, only last year he didn't finish because he had food poisoning. I
asked him how it went this year and he said very well. So obviously I
started to wonder who I was talking to and as we got up to leave I managed
to spot his accreditation and to our surprise we were having breakfast with
Jens Voigt! Can you imagine..... that was really cool he was very nice and
down to earth.
Anyways I was walking away pretty excited when I spotted Jan Ullrich. He
also is a lot smaller than he looks on TV, it just goes to show you how
small all those other cyclists are because he looks like a big guy on TV
compared to other tour cyclist. My biggest regret so far is not getting my
picture taken with Jens or Jan but I didn't want to impose on their time as
they were racing that day even though other people were asking Jan for a
photo with themselves.
I did get my picture taken with Daniel Ignali, he is very friendly.
The opening ceremonies were spectacular. All the athletes were sitting in
the gymnastics stadium next door to the Olympic stadium watching the
ceremony on a big screen until it was our turn to walk in. Walking in the
stadium was great it almost seemed surreal like you were on a well lighted
movie set. It was great to see Canadians in the crowd. It was also great
to check out all the other outfits. I like our Roots stuff but I felt that
our outfits were too casual for the parade. I almost felt like I was
walking in my pajamas ....... at least I was comfortable. I really liked
the Kiwi's outfit they were casual comfortable but still classy. They were
lots of really exotic and dressy suits, I think we should dress up a little
more next time. I guess our outfits reflected our laid back Canadian style
but I still think we can do a little better.
Well I am now in France catching up on sleep and doing a few key workouts
before I head back next Sat. for the race. I can already tell you the
baguettes in France are terrific!
I hope this update isn't too boring.. I will try to be shorter next time.
Please forward it to anyone that you might think will be interested.
I will be in touch,
Jill
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