Making things (Beijing) Normal for U.S. Olympians

Making things (Beijing) Normal for U.S. Olympians

After a 90-minute practice in stifling Sunday morning humidity, Kate Markgraf was soothing her overheated paws by jogging barefoot through the lush grass on the soccer field. And teammate Heather O'Reilly managed to cool her heels -- but little else, since she gave up after two tries at immersion -- in one of the 35-gallon trash cans the U.S. Olympic women's soccer team had turned into ice baths next to the field at Beijing Normal University.

It was the soccer team's lone workout at BNU before they took off Sunday afternoon for Qinhuangdao, where they open competition Aug. 6 against Norway. They had spent three days living on the campus that will be the home away from the home away from home -- the Olympic Village -- for many U.S. athletes during the Beijing Games.

The Beijing Normal experience is one of the things the U.S. Olympic Committee hopes will give its athletes a leg up on the competition.

Most members of the 2008 U.S. Olympic team will spend some time on the campus where the USOC has rented housing and facilities. The USOC's goal, according to Steve Roush, its chief of sport performance, was to provide its athletes more training time than they can get in the official training sites as well as access to support staff (such as personal coaches and sports medicine personnel) who do not have Olympic credentials, which are limited.

The women's soccer players and the U.S. boxing team also stayed briefly at BNU, because the Olympic Village did not open until Sunday. No other U.S. athletes are expected to live on campus during the Games. The USOC will run a shuttle bus between Beijing Normal and the Olympic Village, a 20-minute drive.

"This gives them access to a nearby facility where we control the training schedule and access to the non-accredited coaches and other individuals many of them have been accustomed to," Roush said.

The USOC signed a contract with Beijing Normal in February 2007. For the next 16 months, Roush agonized over whether the university's new rec center would be completed in time for U.S. athletes to use it.

It was providing training space for volleyball, wrestling, table tennis, taekwondo, judo, fencing, softball (a batting cage), weightlifting and basketball (the NBA stars expect to practice there). The men's water polo team will use the pool, and all the athletes have access to the extensive fitness center installed and run by 24-Hour Fitness, a USOC sponsor.

There is more: a track (refurbished with some of the USOC's rental fee), a soccer field, tennis courts and a field for archery.

About 500 USOC staff members and related personnel will be living on the campus of the 106-year-old university. The few students on campus are those in Beijing Normal's international programs.

"Beijing Normal has been a great partner," Roush said. "It already has exceeded what we set it out to do. I think when the word of mouth spreads among athletes, people are going to be quick to take advantage of what we are offering them."

They would be wise to hot foot it right over.