Blog TU Olympics

It has always been my dream to be in the Olympics. And like many Olympic hopefuls, when something like the Olympics came my way I just had to jump at the chance. This sporting opportunity came in the form of the Tibet University track and field competition and like I said I jumped at the chance. The school office even called me in because I had signed up for too many events. After narrowing down my events from long jump, triple jump, 100 m dash, 400 m relay javelin and discus to the 100m, 400m relay and javelin (limited to three events), I began training. With only a month and a half or so to go before the opening ceremonies (god I love saying that) I had to get serious especially with the javelin because I had never done it before. So after enrolling my friend as a coach (she had done it before in high school and was afraid I was going to kill someone without here help) we hit the field to start working on technique. When I say field I actually mean side field enclosed mostly by buildings in order to really not kill anyone. Safety first! The first day of throwing went well but man! was my shoulder I sore. It took like four days before it felt normal again and that's when I hit the side field again. It took one more session with my not so inspired coach and then I was practicing on my own. The big break through came when I finally checked the big field out and got the chance to throw all out. It turned out that guys were throwing javelins on the field. Needless the say they were throwing them in maybe the most dangerous way imaginable, but they were throwing them. This experience inspired my "never turn your back on a javelin" facebook post. One person would throw it 30m and someone would be standing like 50m away. The 50m guy would then run and pick it up then just threw the javelin back. Not carry it back (why do that when throwing it back is so much more fun) but fully throw it back as if we weren't standing 50m from him. And even when they did carry a javelin over (the few time they did) it was like these guys would rather toss the javelin 20 feet then hand it to you. And I just couldn't deal with it so I practiced on my own until most of the other guys left (more fearing for the health of my javelin then my own life). But finally it was just me alone with the field, the runway, and my javelin "trim." Yes, I named my javelin and her name is "trim" which means "cloud" in Tibetan. I named her this because she is white with a hint of light light blue.

The opening ceremony was really fun and official. As we entered the stadium we were introduced by the announcer and met by a cheering crowd of 1000 students. Representing our school was very endearing and we sat among the other school departments proudly dressed in matching shirts and hats.The opening ceremony was as good or better than the opening ceremony rehearsal the day before (as should be expected and yes we had a rehearsal, very professional with flag raising and everything). There were performances by cheerleader like flower holding running suit wearing girls/ dancers, a performance from the dance department and then a closing by the schools tradition dancing group. All very fun, high energy and impressive. Our flag barrier was my 6 foot five plus German friend and my javelin coach actually was the sign holder dawning traditional Tibetan dress (a chu pa).We had to sit in the sun for an hour or so (something real Olympians don't have to deal with I'm sure) but we all survived and stayed hydrated in the Tibetan sun. But good thing we didn't have to compete until later. My first race was at 11:30am so I had at least 3 hours after the opening ceremony to prepare myself for my 1st 100m race ever. Little did I know it would be a sprint I would never forget.

Now I thought the running training (which was mostly longer and endurance oriented) tht I had been doing to prepare would suffice for the 100m, but I was terribly terribly wrong. On race day I thought I would place in the top five but out of the 8 guys in my race I was dead last. Someone the other day said "oh you weren't last but the first to be last." I liked the ring of it and from then on refer to it as such. The race was like this, everyone else was running at normal speed or faster and I was running in slow motion. My friend (or a person I know) who watched the race said it looked like I was "standing still" as my opponents passed me. Needless to say unless I'm racing teachers next year, I will be trying my luck at the long jump instead of the 110m (intentionally miss types as 110m). Well it felt like 110m to me.It was fun though and I got a decent amount of cheers as I crossed the finish line. The difference between the next runner and I was close so the end of the race was a bit exciting as I was gaining on him. My dove tail dive didn't get me a head of him but it was fun to do. I'd never had the chance to dove tail dive in order to try and finish faster then the guy or gal in front of me. The closest thing is swimming but you kind of are dove tailing the whole time while your swim so it isn't really a big deal to do it at the end to get that last surge in hopes of getting past your opponent by just enough.

Though I failed to bring the gold and glory at the 100m to the Foreign students department (chi gyal lop lin), I had two events left in front of me and I planned to make a slash (yes I'm continuing the swimming imagery, sometimes continuity is good). With the 4 x 100m relay and the javelin to go I started to focus on what I needed to do for the Javelin because I realized this was the one event I had some chance of doing well (not winning) in. So after the running events and during the week I planned out a training routine based on my past soreness experiences in order to limit future soreness for game day. I would just do enough technique work or strength work to be ready for Sunday mornings stick throwing competition.

Friday evening, we had the 4 x 100m relay and it was fun but there was no gold nor glory. After discussing who would run for what leg and deciding which hand we would be handing the baton with ("just don't drop it!") I ended up with the 4th and final leg. This could be known as both the final leg or glory leg but if you are dead last it could be also known as the leg of shame? Sadly but not so depressingly we finished last but did get a lot of cheers from the stands. Consequently, I got to watch the American teacher win the 4x 100m teacher relay right after our race. This was both fun to watch and depressing due to the lack of gold and glory on the foreign students side. However, I did look good with my 70's/ 80's athlete look and some Chinese students as well as the Tibet TV station interviewed me about my experiences. There is always the media side of glory too I guess. I can't help but think of the interest pieces that the Olympics always has, e.g. young boy or girl growing up in a small town with only PB and J and 10 brothers and sisters, all who didn't make it for some moving reason until this one sibling fighting diversity and impossible obstacles came to the Olympics to represent his/her country (yes, I love the Olympics and have watched an enormous amount of terrible coverage with Bob Costas, and funny enough I did not watch even one minute of the Beijing Olympics, seriously. So this in a way was my 2008 summer Olympics but in Tibet).

For some reason I don't remember the next day of competition on Saturday. I know I was there all day (because it was required) and I watched the finals of a lot of races I was part of but it's just a blur now. I think it was because I was mentally preparing for my debue as a javelin thrower (Javeliner? Javelinist?). However, I do remember I did some maintenance work that evening to stay ready for the big event on Sunday morning. As I went to bed I was both nervous and excited like a night before a performance.

I got up early and even my coach was up at the right time. We headed to the field at around 8:30 am on the public bus with my javelin Trim. Although you may think bringing a nine foot spear on a public bus may cause some sort of scene this wasn't too surprising for the driver nor the other passengers as we continued on the 15 min bus ride to new campus. Now all the events where taking place on new Tibet University campus and it is quite beautiful with all it's new architecture (even if it isn't all unfinished). The music building is in the shape of a piano keyboard. And the buildings that house the pool (even thought there is no water) and gym as well as the field are amazing. One big disappointment for me was that the javelin field was not nice and new and high tech. Because the new field was Astroturf javelin throwing was both not allowed and impossible to do in the new stadium. I think Javelin was the only event not held in the stadium. And the place where it was held was kind of rediculus. The javelin "field" was actually the dirt field next to the basketball courts that seconded as a soccer field and which may or may not have had grass on it (I'm thinking the latter because the campus is so new and the lack of grass so uniform). The worst part was that the javelin couldn't stick in the ground because the dirt was so hard. In comparison to old campus' field which was probably built in the 80's, which has a terrible track and everything else, except a nice javelin runway and at least the javelin sticks in the uneven grass. Practicing and warming up before the event I just tried to prepare myself for an event I really had no idea how to compete in or how it was structured.

There ended up being three rounds with a total of 6 throws. But of course I didn't know this until the competition began because no one new and some that knew something told me one usually only gets 5 throws. But this didn't really matter because at the time I threw my last javelin for the day I wasn't aware of it anyway (more about this later). There were around 50 contestants and after the first round people were cut immediately from the pool.I thankfully threw one long enough to make it to the next round. Oh and funny thing was, the competition was run in Chinese so my director and a staff member switching off translating what the officials were saying, even the numbers I was number 774), because I only known Tibetan. This made for some comedy ever time I was "called" up. Usually you can just remember the guy in front of you but since that kept changing with every round I wasn't that lucky for it to be so simple. But in the later rounds it did stay the same. Like I said, in the first round I got to only throw it once and then the cut was made. In the second round I got to throw it two times and in the third round I got to through it three times. The thing was is I didn't know I had only six throws (or somehowI forgot in the thick of things) and I didn't know there was only three rounds. So as I threw my last javelin I thought there was one more round and thus didn't know it was my last. From the second to the final round I had these two tall Tibetan throwers in front of me. And they were really good. They wore cleats and one was a little fat but this maybe helped him get some extra distance. Before the fat one's final throw (who actually ended up winning the event), he had a quick smoke. This was both strange and amusing. But he did throw the javelin the farthest. I think my farthest throw was in the second round, the second of two throws and I ended up placing 4th behind the two Tibetans and one Chinese student. The fat guys throw was 46 m and some change and I threw 36 m and change. The school record was around 50 m so they asked him if he wanted to try again to break it. He said yes and attempted to break the record but didn't. I also wanted to try but both my coach held me back and I don't think it would have been allowed anyway.

With the final event of my 2011 Tibet University Olympics experience finished and done, I stayed on the dirt "field" and threw the javelin a dozen more times achieving some kind of satisfaction and a little more length on my throws. The closing ceremonies were not as glamorous as the opening ones and I collected my prize for 4th place in the javelin (which ended up being around 4 us dollars or 26 Yuan). Originally, I was given 31 Yuan as a 4th place prize winner but in a split second it was quickly downgraded and corrected to only 26. Next year (if it is possible), I will most definitely compete in the javelin once again and maybe try my hand at the long jump. My your dreams be of gold and Olympic rings!