I am less than one week from heading to Milan, and sometimes the stress / excitement will keep me up at night, or wake me up. The other night I was awake at 3am and thinking about past Olympics and how all of those experiences may help me with the next one. As part of that, I started thinking about the best and worst from each Olympic games. I thought it would be interesting to put those down on paper (or here on the blog) for me to think about and to share with you all.
Here is my overview of each Olympics since 2008:
Favorite Venue: The Water Cube
Transportation: Excellent bus service (but heavy crowds)
Housing: Really bad hotel - with beds that were as soft as concrete
Weather: Hot, and I mean REALLY hot and humid!
Best part: My first Olympics and the excitement of being there
Worst part: The heat and humidity
Key Memory: Seeing Michael Phelps swim for the first time
Favorite Venue: Rogers Arena (Ice hockey)
Transportation: Very good - and I could walk to the Ice Hockey Venue
Housing: Rented apartment - cramped but comfortable
Weather: Excellent
Best part: First time working with USA Hockey
Worst part: Due to previous commitments, I had to leave before the Gold Medal hockey game
Key Memory: Experiencing my first Winter Olympics
London
Favorite Venue: Equestrian in Greenwich
Transportation: Excellent bus service to all venues!
Housing: Really nice shared apartment in Canary Wharf
Weather: Excellent (except in the hot underground subway tubes)
Best part: Photographing my first Gold Medal game for the women of USA Water Polo
Worst part: Not sure I had one :)
Key Memory: Feeling the pressure of shooting the Gold Medal game and succeeding
Sochi
Favorite Venue: The Bolshoy Ice Dome (and having the second ice arena 50 feet away)
Transportation: Very good and always on time
Housing: Terrible place with no Internet access
Weather: Warmer than expected. I had to have my friend (NHL player) bring me more t-shirts.
Best part: Getting good shots and then getting out of Russia
Worst part: Dealing with a VERY unorganized housing department
Key Memory: Watching the women of USA hockey blow a lead at the end of the game and losing the Gold
Favorite Venue: All of them were great
Transportation: Excellent and always on time (and the first time having WiFi on all buses)
Housing: Great press hotel that was very close to the Olympic Park (and my friend and lead contact at USA Water Polo happened to be staying there too)
Weather: Warm but not too bad
Best part: Another Gold Medal for the USA women's water polo team
Worst part: The green water in the swimming pools
Key Memory: Photographing another Gold Medal game and enjoying this one a little more
PyeongChang
Favorite Venue: The figure skating and speed skating venue
Transportation: Very good bus service
Housing: Small but good
Weather: VERY cold! I think it was 5 degree F at the Opening Ceremony
Best part: The women os USA Hockey winning the Gold over Canada (retribution from Sochi)
Worst part: Having my roommate lose my shooting sleeve and the stress of that whole ordeal
Key Memory: The sleeve incident!!
Tokyo
Favorite Venue: Kabuki Theatre (just because of the history of the place)
Transportation: Terrible! The buses were never on time or did not show up at all.
Housing: I was in the smallest hotel room ever!
Weather: Brutally hot!!!
Best part: The fact that they even had the Olympics after a year delay (towards the end of the pandemic)
Worst part: Having to Covid test every day and worry about being quarantined for 2 weeks.
Key Memory: Capturing a third Gold Medal for the women of USA Water Polo (and partying with them on the pool deck afterwards)
Key Memory: Capturing a third Gold Medal for the women of USA Water Polo (and partying with them on the pool deck afterwards)
Paris
Favorite Venue: Hands down - the Beach Volleyball venue at the Eiffel Tower - BEST VENUE EVER!
Transportation: We had to use public transportation and that was tough for hauling all the equipment.
Housing: Nice little hotel. The area was not great, but the people were nice and the room was good.
Weather: Really nice weather with only a few really hot days
Best part: Having the venues in Paris and watching Simone Biles do her thing
Worst part: No Gold Medal games to cover for USA Water Polo
Key Memory: Being high up in the stands at Beach Volleyball, in front of the Eiffel Tower at sunset (at a perfect 74 degrees F) and loving every second of that! I even put the camera down for a little bit and enjoyed the moment, which is rare!
I know how lucky I am to be able to do this, and pinch myself every time I get the opportunity. In less than a week I will be in Milan, and I can start building memories of yet another Olympics. I am really excited about that!
The next blog post, which will likely be the last one before flying out, will show you all of the photography gear I will be bringing to Milan. I know that everyone loves that one!
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