Aug. 9, 2008
Photo Gallery From The Opening Ceremonies
Georgia Tech redshirt junior Jen Yee and 2007 graduate Caitlin Lever are members of the Canadian National Softball Team and are in Beijing for the Olympics. Yee has been keeping a blog since January when the Canadians began their training tour around the world. Canada will play in the first pool play game Monday, August 11 at 9:30 PM ET against Chinese Taipei. Check below for Canada’s complete schedule and www.ramblinwreck.com throughout the games for complete updates.
The Olympic Games have finally begun! Last night were opening ceremonies, and walking around that track was the most amazing experience of my life. After a long time waiting all day 6 o’clock rolls around and we’re all ready in our spiffy outfits, which consisted of a white skirt, tank top, and short sleeve wind jacket, always keeping mind of the heat. Although you wouldn’t know by how much we sweat last night.
At 6 they bussed all of us to the gymnastics building beside the bird’s nest (track). This is where all the countries waited until it was their turn to walk. Canada was number 63 based on the Chinese alphabet. So we waited there for about an hour until it was time to go. It was a pretty long process to get into the stadium but as we got closer the anticipation mounted more and more, until we got into the tunnel. It was so loud, people were cheering, yelling, and just so excited waiting to be presented. Our team even sang two renditions of “O Canada” in the tunnel with our flag bearer waving the flag so proud. That was the best part of opening ceremonies in my opinion.
But the whole event was awesome, don’t get me wrong. I have never been in a stadium so big, and it was packed. I couldn’t stop looking at the crowd in awe and tripped on the track about 3 times in the process. After we did our lap we gathered in the middle of the track and waited until the rest of the world walked in. The athletes don’t get to see what you all saw on tv but the fireworks we did see were pretty cool. That and the lighting of the torch was so creatively done with the guy suspended to the roof of the track to do a lap and light the giant torch over the bird’s nest.
We don’t start playing until the 12th so we’ll spend our time practicing until then. Everyday there’s a 2 hour slot for practice so that’s what we’ve been doing with our time. There’s really not much to do in the village, and we don’t have time to watch other events, nor is it easy to get tickets. The word on the street is that all of our games are sold out, and looking at the stadium the other day, that place is going to be so loud. They really mean it when they say the you’re on the world stage at the Olympics.
I can’t wait until we start our games, it seems like I’ve been waiting for this forever. I will try to keep you all posted as best I can
Team Canada Olympic Schedule
(all game times converted to Eastern Daylight Time zone)
August 11th: Game 1 – Chinese Taipei vs. Canada (9:30 p.m.)
August 13th: Game 8 – Canada vs. Netherlands (7:30 a.m.)
August 14th: Game 10 – Canada vs. United States (12:00 a.m.)
August 14th: Game 13 – China vs. Canada (9:30 p.m.)
August 16th: Game 20 – Venezuela vs. Canada (7:30 a.m.)
August 17th: Game 23 – Australia vs. Canada (5:00 a.m.)
August 18th: Game 27 – Canada vs. Japan (5:00 a.m.)
August 19th: Game 29 – Seed 1 vs. Seed 2 (9:30 p.m.)
August 20th: Game 30 – Seed 3 vs. Seed 4 (12:00 a.m.)
August 20th: Game 31 – Bronze Medal Game – Winner Game 30 vs. Loser Game 29 (5:00 a.m.)
August 21st: Game 32 – Gold Medal Game – Winner Game 31 vs. Winner Game 29 (6:30 a.m.)
