Gary Hall Jr.: Live from Beijing

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My hotel is brand new. It seems half the buildings in Beijing are new, but this hotel is BRAND new. The soft opening was about two weeks ago. The carpet is new. Today I walked out of my room and I saw a Chinese woman on her hands and knees shaving the carpet.

I got on the elevator. I went downstairs. I got off the elevator. Then I got back on the elevator and went back upstairs. I walked down the hall and stood looking at this woman shaving the carpet.

You know how you get those little fuzz balls on new carpet? With an instrument that looked like a normal-sized shaving razor this woman was rubbing the carpet to pull up the fuzz balls. This is a huge hotel, with lots of carpet.

That’s like mowing three football fields with a pair of nail clippers.

I watched for a few minutes then I went back downstairs and got my coffee.

The route that my Chinese driver takes from my hotel to Beijing’s National Aquatics Center (the Water Cube) is different from the way I return, and both routes change daily.

With half the amount of cars on the road there is still a lot of traffic.

Traffic really is terrible when President Bush and his family decide to watch swimming.

I can make it from one end of Beijing to the other in a taxi for about $17.

In Miami the flow of traffic can be compared to the movement of a pack of bird-brained, caffeinated chickens. Here, it’s the same, except maybe a little less caffeine. Then throw in a bunch of buses that are trying to run over the chickens.

The Water Cube’s architecture is stunning.

The swimming has been more stunning. If there were a world record for world records being broken, this year would be a world record.

Our expectations of a swim team that has traditionally provided a lot of Olympic medals for the United States were high. Our expectations were VERY high and they’ve been out swum.

Michael Phelps secured his role for Tarzan, demonstrating his yelling ability after the 4x100 freestyle relay. Now he just has to memorize the “Me Tarzan, you Jane” line and he’ll have an Oscar to go with the eight gold medals he’ll soon have.

The only question that remains in my mind is if Phelps will have eight world records to go with his eight gold medals.

Not only is Michael Phelps doing it, he’s making it look easy. It has been exciting to be sure and more excitement is on the way.

Now I’m going back to the hotel to see how far that woman has gone on shaving the carpet.

-- Gary Hall. Jr.

Gary Hall Jr. became a three-time Olympian after being diagnosed with Type I diabetes. He is an ambassador for Inspired by Diabetes, a global campaign that encourages people touched by diabetes to share their stories with others around the world. The program is a collaboration between Eli Lilly and Co. and the International Diabetes Federation’s (IDF) Unite for Diabetes initiative. In the U.S., the American Diabetes Assn. is the program’s national advocate. For more information, visit inspiredbydiabetes.com