The meet started today and I have so much to talk about, but no time to write it. Last night, we went to the "Welcome Night". It was a really big deal, but we didn't know it beforehand. Only three Americans went to it (Me, Andy (a filmer with me), and Mike Hazel (a javelin thrower). We had a great time. I have video to prove it, but the camera was in the wrong format and I can't capture is until I get back to Utah. There were some enormous wireframe puppets with six people controlling each one. I'll get the video of that up sometime. There was an orchestra, a few German bands, and the last song was Aha singing Take on Me. The singer is a lot older now, but he can still hit that high note, just not for as long. We got to go through a celebrity tunnel kind of thing with fans lining the sides outside a fence. A few cheered for USA as we went through, but I'm guessing they were a bit disappointed to not see some more well-known representatives.
The meet went well for some yesterday and not for others. We did get our first gold medal from Christian Cantwell in the shot. The sad thing is that we should have had at least one more medal in that. Most of the men qualified for upcoming finals. The sprinters all did well and all our 400m women and 400m hurdle men moved on. Jenny Barringer qualified for finals in the steeple. It's been fun to see her do so well since she has had a great season this year. When I've chatted with her on the bus and at some meals, she is really a genuine person that it's easy to be happy for when she does well. Things didn't go well for Betty Wade. She started off great in the heptathlon, but then fouled all of her shot throws. So, she will get no points in that, when everyone else is getting about 700 or more.
Tomorrow is the men's steeplechase qualifying. We have three people entered and Josh McAdams is one of them. I'm hoping for the best. It is a tough race to make finals in though. I think Josh is ready though. When I get more time, I'll add photos and maybe some video too.
I just found time to add some photos.
The picutres are all from the Welcome Night at the Brandenburg Gate. The one with all the people is an introduction of former World Champions. The African second from the end is Frank Fredericks. He was a teammate of mine when I was a freshman at BYU. He went on to win four Olympic silver medals. The giant puppet is a wireframe thing that had six people controlling it. He did a slow motion long jump that was really fun to watch. The last picture is the IAAF president. I'm not sure why I bothered to take it, but he is very important in governing track and field internationally. He is from Nigeria.
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