October 5, 2007

9:38 p.m. in Shanghai (8:38 a.m. in Texas)

Wow - the time is flying by here!  We're now deep in the action with the competition in full swing.  When they're not busy competing, they are busy enjoying themselves by touring the town and spending time at Olympic Town (Athlete Village, Healthy Athletes and Sports Experience).

In Olympic Town, we ran into the SOTX powerlifters: JR Hernandez of Round Rock, Bobby Lord of Webster and Jordan Svehlak of Round Rock, with SOTX staff member (and Team USA Additional Staff for powerlifiting), Sue Galkantas.  They are doing well and look forward to their scheduled competition times next Tuesday and Wednesday.

While walking around the area, we happened to wander into the stadium where Closing Ceremonies will be held.  There, they were in the midst of rehearsal, so it was exciting to catch a glimpse of what's in store for us.

With the venues so spread out, it is difficult to get around.  Traffic has posed a great challenge but we are determined to see it all!  Tomorrow will be a big day for athletics competition at Shanghai Stadium.  Our three Texas athletes - Mark Cannon of Ponder, Paul Holland of Shady Shores and Jacqui Smith of Missouri City - will all be competing in the morning (and we will be there to take photos and cheer them on!).  We also plan to head to soccer for our Texas team's first game on the field.  The next few days we'll start bringing in some medals as the final rounds of competition in sports begin.  We're going for gold!