Settling In

So I’ve been in Rome a week. Thanks to my parents and cousins I’ve been able to get a lot done.
Over the years I’ve been to Italy many times, but this is the first time my father has had to show me so much of his old neighborhood. For the most part, I’ve learned where to go for all my daily necessities. Since I won’t have a car out here, I’ve had to learn the public transportation system (more on that in a minute). I can now get to the gym each day and to the center of Rome by myself. I’ll learn the rest as I go.
In this first week I’ve already been to four different gyms. Only one of them has been a gymnastics gym though. Two of my young cousins do gymnastics here and they go to a gym owned by a former Italian Olympian, Carmine Luppino. Randomly, my parents ran into him at the ’07 World Championships and the Beijing Olympics and have become friendly with him. I stopped by the other day to say hello to him and to the kids. It was pretty cool to see how excited the kids were that I was there. It was a thrill for me too!
Aside from working out I’ve also been spending a lot of my time eating. I’m pretty sure I’ve eaten more pasta over this past week than I’ve eaten over the past 10 years...and it’s all been delicious! Last night some of my cousins took me to this little town just outside of Rome, Ariccia, where for about $20 you basically eat until you can’t move. It was pretty amazing. At least ten different appetizers, two pasta dishes, three desserts, and wine. These types of places do not exist in the US...
Tomorrow morning I’m going to my parent’s village, Pietracupa. It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been, but I haven’t been there in five years so I’m excited to get back. I’ll put some pics up this weekend.

Here are a few of my observations of Rome so far...
-If you are used to driving in the US, I wouldn’t recommend driving in Rome...ever. I’m pretty sure that driving laws are all optional in Italy. Red lights, one way streets, no parking zones...they seem to be more suggestions than actual law. My favorite is the way people park their cars. I don’t think there are any official parking spots in the city...ok, let me re-phrase. Everywhere you stop is a potential parking spot. Basically if your car can fit, park...even if it’s in the middle of the street.

-The bus system can also be interesting. First of all, don’t expect to find a bus schedule. Buses just show up. Sometimes not for an hour and sometimes they show up back to back. Yesterday I waited for my 671, and I watched as four of the 170 line went by before my bus came. I can’t really explain the system. Oh, and make sure you are standing in the middle of the street hailing the bus down, because if you are sitting at the bus stop when they drive by, they won’t even stop...that’s happened to me a couple times already.

-Everything you’ve heard about Italian food and meals is true. The food is amazing and they offer you amounts that you couldn’t possibly eat in one sitting. Apparently, when you say you’ve had enough to eat that is code for “Give me three more helpings.” Take out does not really exist, so whenever I’ve been out I’ve felt an obligation to overdue it so I don’t waste food. Not that I’m complaining.

-There is a gelateria (ice cream shop) every fifty feet...maybe less.
-The three hour shutdown of the city (1-4pm) is a beautiful thing. Time spent with family and napping is something we don’t get enough of in the US.
-Probably the best time to go anywhere is when a soccer game is on. Just about everyone in the city religiously watches the games. Most grandmothers could tell you who the coaches of Roma or Milan are, and who the teams play next Sunday...they love their soccer. Fortunately, so do I!!

Bella Roma

So I've started up my blog again...only it's a little different this time. I'm no longer blogging about my training, but rather about my adventures as I travel over the next year. I recently moved to Rome and I've been getting used to my new life abroad. I have duel citizenship with Italy and I still have many relatives that live in Rome. The last week has been great...busy, but great. I've been getting all my paperwork in order(Italian version of social security number, new cell phone number, setting up a bank account, etc.).

I've also been going to a gym each day to work out. Not gymnastics, just cardio and weight type stuff. The gym is called OLYMPIA EUR (EUR is a area of Rome). It's one of the nicest gyms I've ever seen. Along with the normal cardio machines and weights, it also has an awesome spa with a sauna, hot and cold plunge, waterfall baths, and a bunch of other stuff. It might be a little too high class for me...the business card of the gym says "Only for Gorgeous People." HAHA!! I'm surprised they let me in!!

So far the Italian people have been great. They do have some interesting habits though. I'll explain a little more with future later entries, and I'll include some pics. In the meantime, feel free to leave me questions that you'd like answered or even places that you'd like to know more about and I'll do my best to go check them out.

Ciao,
Dave

Back Home

I am finally back in Colorado Springs after a long day of traveling. Thankfully, it was a relatively painless flight with no major delays or lost baggage (which seems to happen to me quite often!). My last few days in Beijing were fantastic. I went to another USA Men's Basketball game against Germany (I also went to USA-China, which was the most watched sporting event in history), had a traditional Peking Duck dinner with the entire USA Gymnastics delegation, continued to enjoy the Beijing night life, and watched USA Gymnastics rack up some more medals during finals. On the men's side, we were able to get one more medal, a silver on high bar, with one of the most incredible performances I have ever seen. It easily could have been a gold medal and I think that a majority of the crowd, including some Chinese fans, thought so too. With that last medal USAG ended up tallying a total of ten medals, which is one more than Athens. I think it is the most medals for USAG in a non-boycotted Olympic Games. I guess you could say we had a successful Olympics!
Overall I'll probably look back at my Olympic experience as a defining moment in my life. Learning how to deal with an tough and unexpected situation can teach you a lot about the person you are, and the person you are to become. It is more apparent to me than ever that it is so important to make the best of the situation you are given, and to make sure you are constantly learning even in a less than ideal situation. I did learn a lot about myself in Beijing, and I am going to take those experiences and apply what I learned to other aspects of my life.
So now I am back in Colorado and I am waiting to decide my next move. As of right now I don't know whether or not I will be doing to the Post Olympic Tour. I would love to be a part of it, but I have not been asked so we will see what happens. If I don't do the tour then I will probably take a vacation back home and try to enjoy the rest of the summer in Jersey. I need to spend some down time with my friends and family back home and I am very much looking forward to seeing everyone.

The Past Few Days

It's been an exciting past few days. I've gotten to watch all of the gymnastics events as well as some other sports. Women's AA was incredible! Finally hearing the National Anthem gave me the chills. Our girls did a great job and it was a well deserved one-two finish.
Having gone to Stanford, I have quite a few friends and old classmates who are competing here. I have wanted to get to some other events to watch and support them. I was able to watch men's volleyball the other day and I went to men's waterpolo yesterday. They both won their matches and the waterpolo team beat the #1 team in the world, Croatia, which was a great win for them. I lived in the same fraternity with some of the guys on both teams, and to be here all together at the Olympics is kind of cool. Hopefully, I'll get to see some more over the next few days.
Other than that, I been trying to enjoy myself as much as possible. I've been to a bunch of cool parties and met athletes from all over the world. I plan on watching all of event finals over the next few days and hopefully watching an event in the Birds Nest. I want to watch something in that stadium before I leave.
Ok, one last thing. Last night I went with my parents to dinner...this was no ordinary dinner. We ate at this outdoor market where they have some CRAZY stuff. Everything comes on skewers, so it's easy to pick and choose different things and sample a bunch of stuff. As you come up to this market, it's mobbed with people and has a very interesting variety of smells. Every breathe you take seems to be something different with the smells ranging from mouthwatering, to new and interesting, to down right nasty. I am pretty adventurous when it comes to trying new things so I wanted to see how far I could go. I started with some easy stuff (dumplings, lamb, shrimp) and worked my way up. Next, chicken hearts...they were actually really good. Then baby octopus...I love sushi and so this one wasn't that much of a stretch. A little chewy, but still good. Next up, snake...a lot more chewy than I was expecting, but ok. Definitely a new texture for me. Lastly, silk worm...I figured I probably won't have a chance to try one of these again so why not. They are BIG and instead of thinking about what I was eating I just threw it in my mouth and tried to finish quickly. The hard shell was getting stuck in my teeth and the insides tasted like dirt. Not the most pleasant thing to eat and I probably won't eat another one in my life, but I can say that I at least tried a silk worm. That was as far as I could take it. There were some other things out that were way beyond me, and I don't even think the locals were willing to eat that stuff. It was an amazing experience and I was glad to have some Chinese street food!
I also wanted to say thank you to all the people who have posted comments and sent me messages over the past week. Your words have meant a lot to me and I have read all of them many times. If you guys have any questions for me, just post them and I'll answer as many as I can. Thanks again.

What a Day!!

WOW!! That was definitely one of the most memorable days of my life. I really can't put into words what Team Finals was like yesterday...but I'll try. I knew this team was capable of a great performance, and what ended up happening was something very special. As I watched the competition from the stands, I was in awe of the display USA Team put on. They competed inspired and it seemed like they were in a collective zone. I remember thinking, around the end of the third event, that this was our day and that we were going to do something great. As we finished the competition on pommel horse and secured the bronze medal, it became a very emotional moment for me. At the time I didn't realize that NBC had a camera on me, but I found out later on that I was crying on TV. I honestly couldn't hold back the tears at that moment. It was the culmination of what I had trained for my entire life, and I wanted to be on that floor sharing in that moment with those guys. I got down on the floor and I told each guy how impressed and proud I was of what they accomplished. Those bronze medals are beautiful, and in a lot of ways that medal is as good as gold for us. As an alternate I didn't get a medal, but I did share in their celebration and I felt as much a part of that team as they did.
Afterwards, it became a crazy day of media events. We went from a press conference, to a show on Oxygen about the Olympics, to Access Hollywood, to being live on the Today Show. I also did a video interview for Today.com which was fun. After we finished we headed to the USA House where the USOC had a party for us. Many members of the USOC and IOC Board of Directors were there. It was an real honor to meet them. All of our families came too, so it was great to have everyone together after such a big night.
I can't say enough about how grateful I am to be part of this incredible team. They have allowed me to share in there success and really feel like am part of this medal performance. In my heart I feel very much a part of this team, but to know that they feel the same way makes it even better. We are all very close and for the rest of our lives we will have a bond that most people will never understand. Many people doubted that we could do anything significant at these Games, and last night we showed what can happen when you believe in yourself and your teammates, and not what negative people have to say. I have no doubt that this will lead to many future medals for the US over the years as we continue do what others might not be able to...and that's make an individual sport like gymnastics, a sport that is team oriented. The team is what matters first...always.

Team Prelims

I just got back from the third session of Team Prelims. Watching from the stands was tough today. I wanted to be on that floor so bad. I found myself smirking a bit, because I kept picturing myself competing. I might not have competed today, but I was out there with those guys in spirit for sure.
It was a long day of watching gymnastics, but it was exciting. Not only the gymnastics, but the energy around the Olympic Green really pumped me up. We competed in the first session, and we rocked. We hit 93% of our routines tonight which is fantastic! I was so proud of how they stepped up tonight and showed that this team is capable of putting on a great performance. The other sessions had some incredible gymnastics (especially China), but overall I think we looked like one of the best teams out there. We are sitting in sixth right now going into finals, but we performed much better then some of the teams ahead of us. I really believe that competing in the first session hurt our scores a bit, and on Tuesday we will move ahead of some of those teams. We also qualified two guys into all around finals and another two in event finals. Overall it was a successful day for Team USA and we are going to build on what we did tonight. Watch out for us on Tuesday because we are going to surprise a lot of people...again.

Other Notes on Beijing:
1). The Olympic Green and the complexes are AMAZING! They are some of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen and they seem to be endless. Every time I go around a corner there is another breathtaking venue.
2). It is so hot outside! We have to walk quite a bit to get around the Olympic Green, and I was drenched in sweat walking from the train stop to the National Indoor Stadium. I was not expecting it to be this hot...or have to walk this much.
3). COOLEST PART OF MY TRIP SO FAR!!!!-Yesteday I was working out at the 24Hour facility here where I am staying. About 20 other teams work out here as well, one of them being the USA Men's Basketball Team. While I was riding the bike, some of the trainers told me the basketball team was about to come in so I thought I would have to leave while they worked out. I could not believe it but they let me stay and five minutes later walks in the men's basketball team. WOW...IT WAS AWESOME! They were all really cool guys and they were impressed with some of my gymnastics exercises. A couple of them tried some of my core workout, and couldn't do any of it. It was funny watching these 6'10 guys trying to do leg lifts! Hopefully, I'll get to see them again over the next few weeks, but I will never forget yesterday's workout.

8/8/08

This date has been etched in my mind for a very long time. It is the start of the Olympic Games, but at the same time it is an end for me. It is the end of the preparation part of what will probably be the biggest goal I will ever attempt to achieve in my life. As an alternate, I have come up just a bit short of accomplishing this goal, but it has still been an incredible journey. Over past few weeks, we have endured a few injuries to the team that were very unfortunate. In the wake of those injuries I have continued to prepare in case my name was called to replace someone. Both times I was passed over, the most recent one coming last night. To be very honest, it has been a very emotional few weeks and I never thought my Olympic story would be written in this way. I understand that on paper this is how the process is supposed to work, but I never thought we would have to go thorough so much before the competition ever started. Fortunately, we are a deep team and can make up for guys who are lost. I have complete confidence in the team who will be competing tomorrow and I will be in the stands cheering them all the way. We all talk about how we are more than just a team, but a family. We always fight for each other and are willing to do anything to make sure we succeed. I believe in this team with all my heart, and even with all we've been through I still believe we have a good shot at a medal. Over the next few days watch Team USA compete against the best teams in the world and cheer us on. I know you'll be supporting us, and we'll be doing everything we can to bring back a medal for the USA.