I went to the Olympics!

Not really, but I did go to the U.S. Olympic Training Center, in Colorado Springs.

http://www.teamusa.org/

I want to say it is an amazing place, but that is kind of obvious. I thought it was interesting that they give free tours. Eighty percent of their funding comes from corporate donations, i.e. Visa, McDonald's, etc, twenty percent from "broadcast rights" and "other private" donations. Since it is not government sponsored, I was surprised how open they were to the public.

The Colorado Springs facility is one of three in the U.S., the other two being in Chula Vista, CA and Lake Placid, NY. In Colorado Springs, they mostly train for indoor summer events, swimming, wrestling, shooting, fencing, etc. They have resident training, as well as short term "camps". Their dining facility has won culinary awards. Most athletes need to eat 8,000-10,000 calories per day, so the dining facility is of utmost importance.

The next picture is the scale of Michael Phelps wingspan, 6'7"!

And here is the wingspan of a "normal" person.

Here is the gym for men's gymnastics. Women's gymnastics does not practice here because you have to be at least 16  years old to train at this facility, and most of the women are not old enough. (To compete in the Olympics, you have to be 16 years old by the end of the Olympic year.) The floor exercise mat doesn't look as big in person, nor does the bar look as tall.

Strength and Conditioning gym. Sounds and looks like torture.

Here is a balance beam to scale.

And here is the swimming pool! They drain it once every three years, and guess when I was there. It holds 110,000 gallons of water. They have to inform the city when they are going to drain it, and drain it slowly (over three days) because it will flood the city. I didn't hear how deep it was, but the temperature of the water is usually 79 to 81 degrees. (The temp of the pool in London was about 77 degrees). There are speakers UNDER the water, so the coaches can yell at you while you are swimming, but also so the syncrinized (sp) swimmers can hear the music. At the far end of the pool, are the starting platforms. They added a new design for London this year, and they cost $5000 each. The bottom is a V shape because that helps alleviate the "drag" that the outer lanes have.

I was absolutely amazed at how far this guy jumped. It looks like about the length of two cars nose-to-nose.

It was an awe-inspring tour! All Olympians are amazing people! We are very lucky to get to witness the Olympics.