American athlete of Olympic life in Sochi

Are you wondering what is actually happening in the Olympic Village? Finish if hotel rooms, double toilets are there actually camcorder and showers? Do not believe the journalists, TV and Russian bloggers? So who will talk about the Olympics this better than the athletes themselves?

How they live and what they eat for breakfast? What are the relationships among athletes from different countries? How was the opening ceremony of the Games on behind the scenes? Meet - the most juicy details of the Sochi 2014!

Will be about 40 photos, author Noah Hoffman
Text translated Alexander Belenky.
Source: macos.livejournal.com/890087.html





Further tells Noah ... These are some articles from the blog of the American skier November Hoffman.

Road to Sochi



We made it! Oh, it's been a long day. Woke up at five in the morning in Munich, already 5:30 we took the bus and eight flew a charter flight to Sochi. It was a special flight Olympic Committee. On the plane were skiers, snowboarders, ski jumpers and skaters. All hodgepodge of athletes. Registration went smoothly because we passed all our luggage yet last night.



Charter plane carried German Airlines. Plane normal, we could sit where they wanted, it was a busy little more than half.

Flight time - about three hours. We flew through Austria, Hungary and Romania before crossing the Black Sea and landed in Sochi. First landscape looked like the central state, fields and fields. Then we noticed the salt marshes. Too, like America, western Utah. And when crossing the Black Sea, I could not believe my eyes: the whole surface of the water was occupied by ships!

From the minute we were on the Russian territory, accompanies us everywhere Olympic advertising: signs everywhere, a lot of them.



Last year was a very difficult and long held customs. We were worried, but now everything was incredibly easy. Dozens of booths, all work, it did not take much time. As expected, there are a lot of police at every turn. Volunteers all around, and they superprivetlivye. They are easily identified by the bright blue jackets.

The first bus took us to the coastal village. We unloaded all the luggage to go through the inspection area.

Each piece must pass through the X-ray machine. However, the only thing that has not missed inside, I heard there was a bottle of wine in a bag one of the athletes. Hmm, we were never told that we can not carry the wine to the village, I think that the problem was due to a glass bottle.

The next bus took us to the mountains. Number of built last year is staggering. With

We passed through a checkpoint in the coastal village and then drove a bus through other more checkpoints, and finally rested in the new PPC right at the center of Laura, near the lifts. Everything looks very safe.



A lovely evening in the mountains! The sun was setting just behind the mountain, when we went up to it. Gondolas raised us up with a lot of snow in the Sochi none at all.

Improvement compared with a year proshloym visible to the naked eye and impressive. Roads that were solid mud porridge in the last year, now look like roads.

Most of the houses of the Olympic village did not exist 12 months ago.



Our building is adjacent to the Swedish and Czech complexes. We have no flags or labels on our house.

When we entered the room, there was already expecting gifts.



A minute later, after arriving at the door knocked employee anti-doping control. Andy Newell had to give a sample for the test.



But what was inside packages with gifts.



The room is small but functional. I live with a neighbor, Andy. He is also a skier.



Rooms block type, there is a common living room and kitchen. Since we live in a block Simi Hamilton and Eric Byornsen (pictured)



Day 1

Firstly, thank you for the incredible support and words of encouragement. I continue to receive numerous emails, facebook messages and comments in this blog. I feel that I have many friends and supporters who are worried about me and want to achieve my goals in these games.

Life in the Olympic Village - an incredible experience. Interestingly, the Olympic Committee of Sochi strictly observe the rules of the IOC on the advertising of non-Olympic companies. All brands which are not sealed with partners Olimiady even stove in our room.



Most of the first day in the building had no electricity. Perhaps in otkyuchenii was our fault because we experimented yesterday with a heater in the evening he was working very loudly.

US Olympic Committee does not recommend drinking water in the village because they have not been able to verify its quality. It seems a little ridiculous, because we travel throughout the year and the most different drink water, and drank in Sochi, at last year's tests.

Nevertheless, we feel very foolish if we drink water from the tap, and then get sick, and this despite the fact that we have been warned! So we follow the rules and buy bottled. Unfortunately, accumulates a lot of bottles. I am ashamed that I have to pollute the environment, but I do not know what to do with it.



The motto of the Sochi-2014: Hot. Cool. Your. I do not quite understand what that means, but cute.



My coach Zach Caldwell does not live in the village with us, but in the morning we met and went on the road, which will viewers to see the ski race. On the way was steep and long climb, and everywhere hung motivational signs.



The organizing committee is incredibly attentive to detail and able to solve problems. This note was placed near the stairs of our locker room.



And, of course, the guys from the security nailed rubber sills.



In the dining room today I scored Asian food. It was delicious. Nutritionist US Olympic Committee has recommended us to eat one type of food for each reception, not all large portions. Do not mix with Asian Mexican, a burger with pasta and so on. This strategy is needed in order not to score themselves different tastes, and feel fresh. I never thought about this before, but I think it's cool. Perhaps now I will be in the cupboards and buffets also take one dish.



The dining room has awesome views of the Caucasus Mountains!



In the village are three types of accommodation. Here chalet, where the girls live.



Apartment complexes, where we live.



And this hotel. I was not there yet, but I think he's great, because there lives a team of Norwegians and Russian receiving team.



Day 2

Last night, we gathered at the disco, to make filming a clip for our Olipiady 2014. I did not know that there direvne disco until called and said that they were waiting for me there. We were the only ones in the lobby to the disco, so the DJ can be repeated many times our song. It was pretty fun.



In the morning, at breakfast, you can read the latest news from the newspaper "Olympic Village Daily»



I like a variety of foods. Pancakes (which in the US we call crepes) were delicious!



This morning I was one of the first athletes on the track, so that the trails were great. So I went out early, the coach was able to engage personally with me, not with other athletes.



On the way back I went to a few shops in the village. This post office. Need to send a few postcards while I'm here.



Grocery store.



One of the pieces of cool - a keychain in the form of a bottle of Coke. He was among the gifts that were waiting for our arrival in the room.



In the village around machines with soda. All you need to do is attach your charm to the machine, make a choice and get everything you want for free.



The entire US team on biathlon lives in the house next door with our girls. Annelia Cook (center), Liz Stephen (left) and Kikian.



So, okay, I just touched upon his bed, look! All brand new and is prepared for the Games. A curtain of the same color as the garment volunteers.



It's great that everything in our house is adapted for people with disabilities. Of course, there will also be held Paralympic Games.



35 ...



The shower in our room is amazing! I love the rain shower, and really impressed with the fact that they are in Russia!



Tried new pants by Nike. Looking at this picture, I must say, in fact, they do not look as bad as I imagined. Pants warm and comfortable.



It seems a bit odd that the Olympic Village is the place for smoking. In fairness - I have not seen athletes who have benefited from this site.



After lunch I went to ski with coach Zach. I trained at the speed of the first al this season.



Day 4. Opening Ceremony

It has been an incredible 24 hours! Time flies. By the time I finished writing the last post, I had ten minutes to dress for the opening ceremony. Frantic pace. Fortunately, the time of collection was scheduled earlier than we actually had to leave: it could have time to latecomers. Yes, they know that the speed - a problem for some of us :)



We walked from our house to take the cable car up and go down, it's faster. We waited at the bottom of a huge queue of buses.

And that seemed to Olympic Park. I was very excited to see him. The top of all arenas covered LED lights that change their color. This is absolutely awesome!



Athletes from each country had its own waiting area. We, respectively, were American. Since our delegation is huge, and then we were given enough space to accommodate the entire crowd. We were the first group of Americans, so that the room seemed a bit empty.



When we went to the Olympic stadium, we saw before us a whole arena. Behind the scenes there were some props for the show :)



Access to the public was not like anything I've done before in his life. But I did not feel anything special in terms of pathos "to represent my country" and other clichés. It was just very cool. I felt like I was floating along with other athletes and millions of people were looking at us. That's incredible.



The last thing we saw was the introduction of the mascots Sochi 2014. I really liked that the floor of the stadium was a huge screen.



We left early, as it was necessary to get up in the morning for the first race. But I was amazed that so many people are leaving the opening ceremony along with nami.V 11:30 I was lying in bed.

Before going to bed drew attention to the following. I think I just now beginning to realize that almost everything that we see here - made especially for the Olympics.

Original records of Noah and his other posts about the Olympics, you can read here: noahhoffman.com



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