Coach Williams: Blogging in Beijing

Aug. 4, 2008

NORMAN, Okla. -- Throughout the 2008 Summer Olympics, SoonerSports.com will keep fans up to date with blogs from former Sooner Jonathan Horton and head men's gymnastics coach Mark Williams from Beijing.

Today's account comes from Coach Williams as he talks about the team's travel and looks back at Horton's career as a Sooner and his current Olympic status.

Stay tuned later in the week for an entry from Horton as the U.S. Men's Gymnastics team prepares for the Opening Ceremonies on Aug. 8 and the first day of competition on Aug. 9.

Photo Gallery | Horton - Bound for Beijing Central

BEIJING, China (Monday, Aug. 4)

Last Tuesday morning, at 5:00 a.m., Jonathan Horton and I were on our way to the airport to embark on our trip to China for the Olympic games. As we drove in the predawn darkness, I couldn't help but think about the journey that had gotten us to this place in time.

As a freshman in 2004, Jonathan expressed to me his desire to train and compete for the 2008 USA Olympic team. After helping lead the Oklahoma men's gymnastics team to three NCAA national championships and many individual collegiate awards, he was now on the brink of fulfilling his goal.

The current season began with our regular collegiate season from January-April. During this time, Jonathan slowly reworked several of his routine constructions with new difficulty. As he prepared for the Visa Championships in May, three events had new routines from the 2007 World Championships. Once the competition at the Visa Championships was complete, Jon was second in the all around after the two days of competition. In June, he finished at the top of the standings after the two-day meet of the Olympic Trials. Immediately after the competition he was named to the team along with Paul Hamm. A day later, Joey Hagerty, Kevin Tan, Justin Spring and Morgan Hamm were also named to the team.

In July, the team had a ten-day training camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. The newly formed Olympic team would have several days of training, two days of competition and many meetings to prepare for Beijing. Again, Jon did well throughout that process and we returned from camp feeling ready.

The day before our departure, news flashed quickly around the world the Paul Hamm had withdrawn from the Olympic team. Though a shock to just about everyone, I know that Paul didn't feel totally ready after breaking his hand in May and dealing with a recent shoulder injury. Our alternate, Raj Bhavsar, replaced Paul on the team and we were set to go to China.

Our early trip to the airport began on July 29th where we traveled to San Jose, CA for the USOC Olympic processing.
This turned out to be a lot of fun since we were given all the Olympic apparel, luggage, pins, team ring, shoes and everything for Opening Ceremonies, training and competing.

The next day, last Wednesday, we were on board the plane to China, a twelve-hour flight. By this time the whole team was together in San Francisco and ready for our departure.

We arrived in Beijing a bit sleep deprived and sore but excited about getting started with our workouts. After some confusion about visa entry forms and finding our bus, we eventually made it away from the airport. Jon and the guys headed for the Olympic village and I left with some of the other personal coaches for Beijing Norman University where we would be staying.

Friday, August 1st, we worked out twice in an auxiliary training gym. The equipment was up on a podium that would be similar to the event venue. Jon worked out the tightness he had developed from traveling and tested out all the events. On the way to the gym, I had my first view of the Olympic village. The landscaping was magnificent with lots of trees, flowers and greenery. The athlete's housing was also brand new.

In between workouts, I ran a couple miles around the track at the university and lifted weights at the USOC strength facility. Because there had been a rainstorm in Beijing the day we arrived, we were told the air quality was better than it had been in months. Though it was hot and humid, the pollution levels were very low. The Chinese government had in fact closed down factories, limited motor vehicle usage for odd and even days and put a halt to construction sites. As a result, the smog levels so far were not as bad as predicted.

Saturday we had our first chance to see the competition venue. It was very impressive looking and a fitting atmosphere for this world stage. We had training in the gym next to the arena in the warm-up gym. It too was very nice with three separate gyms and all the equipment up on the podium. Jon did great adjusting to everything and felt better physically than he had since leaving Oklahoma.

Late that afternoon, several of the coaches took taxis to the silk market in downtown Beijing. The market was nothing like I had every experienced. Six floors of vendors hawking merchandise from tailored business suits to inexpensive pearls. Just about everything you could think of was for sale and none of it had price tags. There were wall-to-wall booths with clothing, shoes, electronics, watches, bags, glasses and Chinese trinkets. The sales personnel aggressively encouraged your attention and offered you the lowest prices and the best deals. The art of negotiating a price for each item offered became almost a game among the many Olympians who were visiting the shops. Some of the coaches in our group made some good deals for clothing and souvenirs.

Sunday we had a similar workout schedule. Going to the practice gym, the personal coaches including myself had trouble getting into the venue prior to our practice. Security has been tight throughout the city near anything involving the Olympics. Often the rules for entering and leaving checkpoints have changed from day to day. When this happens, it takes more verification from higher ranking officials and generally more delays to get the right information. These little glitches have not affected our training but we've had to stay flexible about our schedule.

Today is Monday and the haze has returned to the city. I can no longer see the mountains surrounding Beijing. In fact it is hard to see beyond a couple blocks. I now see what they have been talking about concerning pollution alerts.

We'll be having a hard workout this afternoon as our final preparation for the Wednesday training in the actual competition arena. On podium day, as we call it, the guys will have their only opportunity to workout on the equipment used for the meet. The plan will be to do everything needed to get comfortable for the real thing. Our team preliminary meet begins the day after the Opening Ceremonies that is on Saturday, August 9th. We are in the first of three sessions and we'll need to finish in the top 8 to advance to the team finals.

So we're close to getting things started. The anticipation builds with each day. We're seeing more and more athletes arriving everyday. The stadium hosted a practice to the opening ceremonies the other day with spectacular fireworks. It won't be long now until we're in the middle of the Olympic event Jon dreamed of since he was just starting gymnastics. Amazing Awaits!

-- Coach Williams

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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