Right Place, Right Time

Sochi is buzzing now. Foot traffic is getting crowded with more international team jackets and fans with flags.

After putting in a few hours at Sochi Media Center, where attendees were treated to a visit by a historic Russian Folk Group (among them a designated octogenarian Olympic Torchbearer), on Thursday I trekked over to the Coastal Cluster of venues for my first look at the Olympic Stadium.

A-MAZE-ING!

Another reason for the seaside train ride was to retrieve Day Passes to volunteer at the Coca-Cola Olympic Pin Trading Center inside the Team Russia House, a massive and very cool activity center for fans of all ages and nationalities. While inside, word spread that Olympic silver medalist Maria Sharapova would visit with a crew from NBC to film her experience at the venue. Hello!

Readers of this blog may recall the fortunate series of events leading to Sharapova's Olympic tennis final with Serena Williams at Wimbledon. And who could forget the flag ceremony video captured there?

Since capturing many action shots of both players that day in London, I've looked forward to another opportunity to speak with the Russian tennis star, icon and founder of the candy enterprise named Sugarpova.

How sweet it was to spot Maria flanked with a dozen NBC camera, sound, editing and production team members and a legion of fans with cameras like mine fixed on Sharapova, who professionally worked through her taped interviews (set to air during the Opening Ceremony tomorrow via NBC). She also graciously signed autographs for Olympic volunteers.

Then it happened -- a pin collector (not me, but Pete C., in the photo) shouted out to Sharapova those words only a pinhead can proudly exclaim ... "want to trade a pin?"

Apologetically, Sharapova declined with a smile, stating "Sorry, I don't have any pins to trade" over the heads of the entourage.

Enter Nick Wolaver, a.k.a. Johnny on the Spot, with a hot-off-the-press Olympic blog pin and business card.

Sharapova accepted my pin offer and others' then proceeded to complete the pin trade (for fun, note the person she traded with already is wearing one of my blog pins in the photo).

Sharapova, therefore, held on to the pin this blogger gave to her, and only time will tell whether it may lead her back to this site and/or post. As you may concur from the images below, the tennis great is holding an "Olympic Rings And Other Things" business card and pin during the post-trade NBC filming.

Moments later, at the conclusion of her official NBC taping duties, I showed Sharapova my camera and the action shot photographed in London (shown above, with this post).

She said, "O.K." to a 'selfie' pose beside me, and voila! the serendipitous Olympic Park experience du jour was over.

I'm so appreciative of Sharapova's kind response there is no time to frown that the 'selfie' only has my partial forehead, eyewear and cheek. Besides, I have that photo with the octogenarian Olympic Torchbearer to keep me company.

LOVING the Olympics!

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver are copyright Nicholas Wolaver not to be reproduced without written permission

 

Heavy Medal Arrives In Sochi

On Wednesday at Sochi Media Center, attending reporters and photographers were treated to the VIP arrival of 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic medals -- 1,254 of them, with a combined weight of one ton, to be exact.

Scanning the room filled with dozens of media and P.R. folks, I think this blogger may have been the only U.S. outlet rep in attendance.

The ceremonial special delivery included a press conference including Russian Olympic figure skating champion Aleksei Yagudin and Olympic speedskating champion Svetlana Zhurova who joined Andrey Sidorenko, chairman of ADAMAS, Russia's largest producer of jewelry. ADAMAS CEO Maksim Vainberg also spoke.

Through brief remarks by executives and both Olympians, presented with three videos about the medal design concept and detailed manufacturing process, we learned of several "Olympic firsts" related to the medals.

According to ADAMAS, the Sochi Games presented a first-time challenge of geography between the host city and the capital, necessitating a "unique transportation solution" and "unprecedented security measures." The challenges yielded the new opportunity and concept of taking the medals on a 16 city national tour which helped more than 2.5 million Russians get close to the medals during their circuitous journey to Sochi.

Like the Torch Relay, shall we say there is now a "heavy medal tour" option for future host nations?

The Sochi medals are the first to feature a "high-tenacity transparent polycarbonate insertion"

featuring the Sochi 2014 "patchwork quilt" look of the Games engraved by laser.

There are more medals for Sochi given 12 new competitive events.

ADAMAS is the first jeweler entrusted to create Olympic medals, through which about 2,500 employees contributed to the design, engineering, manufacture, finalization and secure delivery of the medals.

ADAMAS also created and sells dozens of jewelry items such as bracelets, charms, earrings and pendants celebrating Sochi.

Yagudin and Zhurova shared stories of their own Olympic medal experience to provide perspective on what a Sochi Olympic medal may mean to its future owner.

"I did not take off my medal; I wore it for one week and a half except to shower," said Yagudin of the Salt Lake 2002 experience.

Zhurova, winner of gold at Torino 2006 (her fourth Olympics), accompanied the 2014 medals as a tour ambassador.

She said the new medals had a different meaning for each person she met.

"Everyone who saw the medals and touched it had a special idea of who might later win it," said Zhurova. "Perhaps the IOC will let the tour process occur again [for future Olympiads]."

A live feed showed the ADAMAS couriers arrive with special containers and security who carried some of the medals into the press center.

The executives and Olympians took turns showcasing the gold, silver and bronze for cameras.

"This gold one might look good for a hockey team," said Zhurova. "A Russian team."

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver; video by ADAMAS

 

Brasil's Bobsleigh Team

Spotted a few Olympians en route to Sochi. While checking in for the last leg of the Russian journey, the Brazil Bobsleigh Team (including a men's and women's sled team) appeared in queue at Frankfurt airport.

Turns out the team coach Cristiano Paes and his fiancée Heather Patterson train several Sochi-bound Team Brasil athletes in Calgary, and Sochi will be Paes' second Games as coach and third overall (he competed in Salt Lake).

Also met some Korean TV journalists and a broadcaster from Slovenia who will be on the flight to Russia.

It is so on!

Photo by Nicholas Wolaver

Simon Says ...

While researching Sochi Olympic venues, I came across a fun comparison of the Bolshoy Ice Dome with the 1970s Milton Bradley electronic game Simon. LOL!

Given the building's LED-topped canopy -- useful for creating an electronic image of most any illustration -- my mind eventually wandered to the Mike Myers SNL character who sang "Well, you know, my name is Simon, and I like to do drawings!"

I don't yet have tickets to an event inside the "Major Ice Palace" (the literal translation of its Russian name) but aim to find one -- this Olympic venue is the coolest thing since Beijing's Water Cube!

Image via Imgur

To Russia, With Glove(s)

With client projects and holiday deadlines galore, November and December were a wash for free time to blog. Crud!

Lots of big Olympic news headlines of late, notably the selection of initial Team USA competitors and some final preparations for Sochi 2014.

Of course, troubling headlines are also on the brain given recent events in Central Russia.

During Christmas break, time at last arrived to finalize travel plans for the Winter Olympics.

"Are you going to Sochi?" is finally answered: YES!

For those who remain interested, it's not too late to book passage to Russia. Accommodations are available on several cruise ships set to dock at Sochi Port and Adler (with thanks to Tom Burke for the pointers on reservations). Also found an actual hotel available via Hotels.com, though I will be biting my nails until checking-in on 3 Feb that the hotel is there and open for business.

The cruise ship agency includes with their fee the required host documents needed for inclusion in the Russian tourist visa application process (more on that in a few paragraphs).

Flights are not cheap. Fortunately, after banking tens of thousands of SkyMiles, I'll get half-way to Sochi on Delta Air Lines' dime. The second half of the journey will be via Aeroflot from Germany, one of three nations with direct flights to Sochi available for the Games (it pleased me to avoid long layovers and out-of-the-way connecting flights via Moscow). Yahoo! Travel was helpful to locate these direct flight options.

And individual Sochi Olympic tickets remain available via CoSport -- it will be fun to visit Krasnaya Polyana for ski jump (the one ticket purchased so far). Locating a single Opening Ceremony ticket is on my wish list, but the Sochi ticketing process (which includes a new layer of security via the Spectator Pass process -- Meh) will prevent last minute wheeling and dealing like in Beijing.

Now, about that tourist visa for Russia Federation. Whew! I've put in a dozen hours and still the process is a work in progress. There are plenty of (nearly too many) checklist items to keep in mind, and that's just to get the paperwork in an envelope to the embassy (in my case, to a company that helps process the applications). I think only the visa application for China was more detailed, but it will be worth the time investment when arriving at the host city.

With just over 30 days to go, the time is now to get things booked without delay. Here's hoping others who are finalizing their plans will comment and share pointers.

During the booking process, I reflected many times that just 25 years ago a visit to Russia was likened to flying to the moon. It will be great fun to learn the culture in person, and I do wish to visit St. Petersburg, Moscow and other Russia Federation destinations in the future. Sochi will be a good place to start the Russia travel experience.

See you there!

Image via RussiaMap.org

Coming Soon: High Flying Adored

If you didn't yet hear that women's ski jump competition gets its Olympic debut in Sochi, you will.

Count on it.

The P.R. machine for Women's Ski Jumping USA is hitting its stride, and the Salt Lake Tribune's July 6 headline "Women's ski jump team prepping for Olympic media onslaught" was and remains apt.

At the recent Team USA Olympic Media Summit in Park City, Utah, where the women's team lives and trains, dozens of sports and entertainment reporters -- and even a few Olympic bloggers -- flocked to meet the Sochi Olympic hopefuls who are medal stand favorites going into the Games. At times, journalists huddled in rows three or four deep to pose questions, with photographers and TV cameras encircling each young woman.

All the attention is well-deserved. At the media summit, Sarah Hendrickson, Jessica Jerome and Lindsey Van explained their version of events leading to women's ski jump gaining Olympic competition status. It took, after all, several years, legal battles, IOC lobbying and an abundance of perseverance to create the five-ringed opportunity for Team USA and international competitors to jump in Russia during 2014.

To my bewildered eyes, the English language version of the Sochi.ru website still does not (at less than 100 days to the Games) include Women's Ski Jump in the official description of the 2014 ski jump competition.

However, the schedule section does note February 11 as the big day for women's jumping for joy (and gold).

I aim to be among the 7,500+ spectators in the RusSki Gorki venue. From a peek at the Sochi.ru interactive map (screen grab shown), the viewing stands and the jumps are nestled among the tracks for bobsled, luge and skeleton competition, much like the set-up in Park City for 2002. Globally, women's ski jump athlete qualification -- which involves number crunching of FIS World

Cup and Grand Prix results -- continues through January 19, according to the Team USA Media Guide. Here in the USA, the athletes are selected through rankings and results of competitions held Nov. 15 to Jan. 19, with one spot TBD on Dec. 29 at the Olympic Trials.

By my count via the FIS ski jump athlete pages, there are 22 nations who may field women's ski jump entrants from three continents: North America (Canada, USA), Europe (Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, The Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, Poland) and Asia (China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea and Russia).

May the best woman ski faster, lunge higher and land stronger in the Sochi ski jump competition.

Images via Sochi.ru, WSJ-USA and Newscom