Paris Olympics: Vol. I

The first couple of days in France

It’s been a whirlwind last 60 hours.

I left New York City on a 6:30p flight Monday night and landed at Charles de Gaulle shortly before 8a local time on Tuesday. I got my credential validated at the airport, made a pitstop at the studio of a world-renowned photographer (more on that later), and headed to the Main Press Centre where there are work areas, help desks, and gear checkout desks for Canon, Nikon, and Sony.¹ I picked up my photo vest, asked a bunch of questions, foisted my terrible French upon too many poor volunteers, and familiarized myself with the facilities for future reference.

The final approach to Paris from the my plane. The beautifully empty line to get my credential validated at the airport. The ridiculous amount of luggage I bring with me when I travel. An absurd ad in the subway; downright insulting, really.

After that, I made my way to the Gare Saint-Lazare to catch the first leg of my train trip to Normandy to pay a visit to the USA Wrestling acclimation camp where all the coaches, the training staff, and the athletes are spending the time before their competition days, fine-tuning and relaxing before August 5-11 when they’ll all be competing. Here’s a fantastic and fanciful schedule drawn up by Arizona State athletic trainer Jess Battilochi that lists everyone’s individual schedule (note all times are AZT):

Go like it on Twitter!

Once I got to Houlgate, I hopped over to visit the beach down the street and then got some rest.

This morning, I walked up to the Centre Sportif de Normandie, an excellent campus, where the acclimation camp is being held. I spent all day photographing workouts, meals, and social activities.

Here are a bunch of those images.

The Vibe

The overwhelmingly prevailing energy was fun. Sarah Hildebrandt, the 50kg women’s freestyle Olympian, emphatically declared that she wanted this weight cut to be full of “whimsy.” She was lifting weights, listening to Taylor Swift, and making jokes with her brother, Drew, who is here as her training partner. That vibe is omnipresent amongst the entire contingent. Everyone is excited and ready to go.

Drew picking Sarah up at the end of her lift.

Helen Maroulis (57kg) walking into the practice hall.

Kayla Miracle (62kg) laughing at a joke she made while talking with Kyra Barry…

Who clearly has the best nails of the Games.

Katie Gomez, who is here as Dom Parrish’s (53kg) training partner.

USA Wrestling Women’s Freestyle Team Head Coach Terry Steiner during the morning practice.

Athletic trainer Shelby Hoppis peers out from the massage/training room inside the training hall.

Alex Facundo laughs while rolling with Kyle Dake (74kg), for whom he is here as a training partner.

Nittany Lion Wrestling Club coaches Cody Sanderson and Jake Varner watch as Facundo and Dake wrestle.

Amit Elor (68kg) laughs during her evening workout.

Elor’s personal coach, Sara McMann—a 2004 Olympic silver medalist herself—shows her best show horse gallop and jump while Macey Kilty, Elor’s training partner, watches on.

The end of the day is spent relaxing and hanging out, such as playing games, like Payton Jacobson, the 87kg men’s Greco-Roman Olympian, is here.

Amanda Martinez, the workout partner for Kayla Miracle, reveals that she has drawn the “You are the Chameleon” card during the evening session of the board game, fittingly entitled, The Chameleon.

The Campus

The Centre is a gorgeous, wooded campus with streams and bridges and a comfortable array of facilities. There are massive workout halls, weight rooms, saunas, recovery tubs, a cafeteria, and more. It’s very well-outfitted and very welcoming.

The wrestling hall, where six full mats have been laid out.

The main weight room.

One of several bridges over streams connecting different areas of the campus.

A lone giant redwood tree reaches for the sky in a particular section of the campus. (I need to find out more about this. Drew Hildebrandt, a Ranger the National Park Service, pointed it out to me, but I didn’t find time to ask anyone about it.)

One of the congregational areas amidst the paths and roads.

A walking path.

A meeting of Hoosiers. Drew Hildebrandt, Sarah Hildebrandt, and Nick Lee (65kg men’s freestyle training partner) sit outside the dormitory and talk at the end of the day. All hail from Indiana. Drew and Lee were teammates for one year at Penn State.

Focus

And of course, there was a lot of focus and getting down to the business at hand: making final preparations for the Olympic Games.

Zain Retherford (65kg, men’s freestyle) wrestles with Nick Lee. The wrestling room opened up along one wall straight into the woods, allowing for lots of fresh air to circulate through the training hall.

Aaron Brooks (86kg, men’s freestyle) makes an attack from his knees during his workout in the morning session.

Team Chaplin, Jose Campo, mops and dries areas of the mat throughout practice. “Always looking for a way to serve,” he told me.

Faith is a major element of the lives of many of the wrestlers. Here, about 20 join together for a Bible study session after dinner, outside the cafeteria.

Amit Elor looks back to her coaches while warming up in a neck bridge for her second practice of the day.

Macey Kilty listens to feedback during Elor’s evening workout session.

Orry Elor, Amit’s older brother, records part of practice.

And then, even amid the focus, there are opportunities for fun and enjoyment.

USA Wrestling Men’s Freestyle Head Coach Bill Zadick strikes a pose while observing the morning practice session.

USA Wrestling Manager of Men’s Freestyle Programs Joe Russell also strikes a pose.

One Final Note of Frivolity

Canadian photographer Bill Bain (BainPhotos.com) graciously lent me his 8-15mm lens, which is a fisheye, ultra-wide zoom that allows for some really mind-bending opportunities. For those of you who are fans of the “.5” iPhone photos² - this is a .5 amped up to like a .1. It’s cartoonish. So I played around with it and found some fun ways to use it.

Personal coach Spenser Mango demonstrates a picture-perfect wrestling stance.

Benji Peak, the training partner for Payton Jacobson, does his best to one-up Mango.

Richard Immel, USA Wrestlings Sr. Manager of Communications and the Press Officer for the Games.

Massage Therapist Amy Murry re-enacts for me the taking of a polaroid of Cody Bickley, the Director of National Teams/Team Manager, since I saw them from across the room and didn’t get over there in time to catch the actual moment.

Kayla Miracle at rest.

Kyler Larkin, the training partner for Helen Maroulis, works a gut wrench against his father, Eric, during an afternoon workout session.

Mason Parris (125kg, men’s freestyle) models some of the gear all the Olympians received.

Fin

And that’s all for this first installment of reporting from the Paris Olympic. I will be sharing more as the Games progress. Thanks for reading!

1. There’s an extremely valuable system where you can borrow gear to cover the Olympics. They have all the latest and greatest cameras and lenses and they loan them out to help us cover the Games to the best of our abilities. I even got to play around with Canon’s newest-announced-but-not-yet-released camera bodies, the R1 and the R5 Mark II. I was told not to publish photos of them, they’re so new and guarded. And when I asked what my chances were of getting one on loan, the desk agent laughed: “None.” (Here’s an article with photos of the gear that’s available. It’s ridiculous.)

2. Here’s an explanation. I learned about them from Columbia University women’s wrestling club member Sarine Mardirosian, who is the foremost expert I know on all things Gen Z.