It's official

OK, so I've known for a couple days and the shock is wearing off. The press release hit today.
http://www.usrowing.org/News_Media/PressReleases/detail.aspx?nws_lKey=538

I made the Olympic team. This is my first time actually making the team proper. In 2004 I traveled but was an alternate and didn't get to race....

Our plan is to leave the states at the end of July to fly to Austria for a tune-up race in an eight-man boat. Then four of us will travel directly to Beijing about two weeks before the Olympic racing starts on or about the 11th of August.

More soon, sorry for the short post. But needless to say, I am very, very excited.

Also, here's the article from my hometown newspaper...

http://www.marinij.com/sports/ci_9709845

You Tube vanity search

Still no news... but I did some random clips on You Tube. In my hours spent mindlessly killing time between practices, I went onto you tube and searched my name to see if anything come up. I found of couple random videos from when I raced at Worlds in 2002 and 2003. It was funny because the 2003 clip I've never seen and I don't remember at all (not surprising since it looks like I have a lot of adrenaline going)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMdYqjXmoj8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcYbRtXUAlk

Just for some background, I rowed the lightweight men's pair in 2002 and 2003 at the World Championships. We were the first US crew ever to make the medal final in this specific event in '02 at the Worlds in Spain (thanks to succesful desperation sprint in the semifinal), and then became the first and so far only US crew to medal in the event at the 2003 Worlds in Italy.

"Your muscles are like a bad steak..."

So some of my little contact with the outside world is via my physical therapist, Mark, who is awesome and has been working on all of us for about five years now. He has a term for me because I set a new standard for tight muscles -he refers to people as flexible, moderate, tight - and 'Altman tight'. I've never been known for my ability to stretch...

Anyway, today when he was working on my legs and kneading some knots out, he likened me to a 'bad steak' - sinewy, tight and tough with no fat. I thought it was hilarious... but then, since I'm not doing or talking to anyone about anything but rowing, I'd probaly find anything funny.

• Your coach (Korzo) was wandering around the racecourse, I told him I was working on you and getting you healthy again. He said, "Good, get him back in working order. Altman - that kid scares me." (This line became a running joke, since Korzo talks in a barely understanable Polish accent).
• I saw Tiger Woods winning the US Open with a torn ACL and a broken fibula - that is one willful kid. I didn't realize Altmans came in different sports...
• I feel like Sisyphus when I work on you - I push a boulder up a hill in getting your body working again, then it comes rolling back down the hill when you go out and thrash it again and come crawling back in here in worse shape than when you left.
• Your new coach came and asked why you are coming to see me, he seemed kind of worried that you might have a defect. I told him not to worry about it, he's just an old man.... (guess that I'm washed up and over the hill at 32).

Still no lineup...

So we are 10 days away from the official naming date, and we are still rotating through line-ups. It's a little stressful because none of us of the eight remaining athletes knows if we are actually going to race at the Olympics... but at this point it's actually gotten fun because we are heading out to practice in various combinations and racing everyday, which is kind of exciting. We know we have to be mentally up and ready to race for every practice, which is hard to do but also makes life simple. Between practices, we are doing basically nothing but recovering - which means watching pointless TV (today I've already logged in Office Space and Ricky Bobby). It's tough, but fun. And things for the summer will be sorted out in a little over a week.

Will post some news when we've got it. Think fast thoughts for me, please...

Back from Switzerland

Racing is done, I'm back in NJ. We actually had a good regatta given our level of preparation - our coach is being very careful to not let us peak too soon. We finished 8th, or second in the B final, which is about what we expected would be a pretty solid performance. We had three races (heat, semifinal and 'petite'/'B' final) and each one got better. Attached a picture of our mad tight finish in the B level final, it's just a few strokes before the line and we are just about dead level with Aussies and the Dutch. Australia nipped us by a tenth of a second to win the B final and we got the Netherlands by about two tenths.

http://tinyurl.com/4j6dj7

Gotta run, but I'll try to come up with some more commentary this week. We are right back into selection and the boat won't be finalized until June 25.