I actually wrote the last post a few days ago but didn’t get it posted.

My shoulder is feeling a little better today. i may get to do some stuff on the mat today. I still can’t use the muscles for a 100% contraction so i can’t do any of my offence while standing or on the ground. I will be happy if I can get back the feel of pushing on my feet a little bit this morning. Murray got here last night. he didn’t have his accreditation when he landed and it took him 4 hours to get from the airport to the village. he was a little tired last night. however, as usual for him, he has already explored more of the village than i have. by tonight he will know it all like the back of his hand. then to the rest of Beijing – he may not have enough time for that. apparently it takes 90 minutes to get to the city center via subway from the village. being stuffed in a subway like a sardine in this heat would be like torture. i may try and find a better way to go explore there.

The village is interesting because it is like going to the zoo where you see all kinds of strange sizes and shapes. the athletes are all exceptional in some way. some are huge. some are really skinny and really tall. the female gymnasts are so short they almost look like midgets yet some of them are quite packed. a few of the American girls have legs that wouldn’t be out of place on a large male wrestler. I asked how they got like that and the American trainer said they were dropped on their head as babies and as such were immune to the pain of training 15 hours per days since they were 3.

The Australian female rowers are all around 6 feet tall, blond and look like models who spend their days training instead of trying on clothes. they are easy on the eyes. they also make up the largest part of the Australian team which is over 400 athletes. i think this is almost twice as much as Canada sent. there is apparently something to be said for putting  effort into developing summer sport athletes.