A Capitol Fourth (Part 1)

A couple weeks ago, Cecil, my media relations guy (no really, I don’t know his proper title) called me up and asked if I wanted to go to Washington DC on the 4th of July. The organizers for the celebration on the steps of the US Capital wanted some Olympians to be on stage for the show in a tribute to the US Olympic Team. While to me, being in DC on the 4th would be like being in New Orleans for Marti Gras for most people, I told him I probably should stay home and train. The next morning when my alarm clock went off, I suddenly realized I had totally blown it. As soon my morning swim was over, I called Cecil and told him I wanted to participate if at all possible. Going to the Olympics is cool, but who in their right mind would turn down the opportunity to be part of the national celebration on the 4th of July?

Fortunately, my window of opportunity had not expired and the event organizers were happy to have me participate. About a week ago, they bought my ticket, booked my hotel, and I was ready to go.

Cami decided to come out with me and we arrived early this morning. Today, there were introductions and a rehearsal at 2:00. Scott Hamilton is doing the announcing and we met him in the hotel lobby. He was very down to earth, and was spending the bulk of his energy chasing after his son.

I also ran into Dominic Grazioli, an Olympic shotgun shooter, who is also an Air Force Academy graduate. We had never met, but had a good time talking during the course of the afternoon.

The first practice show went slowly. We spent a lot of time in our ready area, but that gave me a chance to talk to Scott Hamilton a bit. I remember watching Scott skate when I was younger, so it was a real honor to be able to sit down and have lunch with him. Like most of the Olympic greats I have met, Scott turned out to be both a great athlete and great person.

After the first practice, we had a few hours off so Cami and I decided to check out the Smithsonian exhibit on the US Olympic Team. It took a while to walk across the Mall to see the small exhibit, but it was worth it. From the Smithsonian, we returned to the hotel for some rest before the evening dress rehearsal.

The second practice and dress rehearsal started at 7:15. Our hotel is just down the road from the Capitol, but we took a van anyway. After sitting around for a while, I decided to check out the show. Tyler Hicks and Johnny and the News were performing so it was a pretty good show. There were tens of thousands of people watching the dress rehearsal, but hundreds of thousands are supposed to show up for the real thing (I heard that it’s somewhere around 400,000).

After our rehearsal, the other athletes and I spent a while signing autographs and taking pictures with kids at the rehearsal. It was great to see so many kids excited about the Olympics and cheering us on.

Tomorrow will be the real deal. The producers are concerned about the weather, but the show is going on either way. As it turns out, I have an aunt and uncle in town who are going to come down to watch the show. I have not seen them in years and they have never met Cami, so that will also be a high point for tomorrow.

Cami is taking pictures and video, so I’ll try to put them up shortly on my website. If you want to watch the show, tune into PBS the evening of the 4th and we will be on!

For those of you viewing this blog on USA Today, you can view photos later at www.elibremer.com.