Other Happenings in Olympic Land

I’ve had a lot of other activity to keep me busy here in Canada leading into these Games, so here is a pictorial of what I’ve been up to!

We held our traditional press conference with the elected U.S. flag bearer for the Opening Ceremony, Mark Grimette (middle). This presser certainly didn’t have the intrigue and enchantment of Lopez Lomong’s press conference in 2008, but Mark was incredibly gracious and honored and enjoyable. Also pictured are U.S. Chef de Mission (French term for Team Leader) Mike Plant (right) and my boss Patrick (emceeing on the left).

We also held our traditional U.S. delegation press conference, which addressed everything from the medal chances for the U.S. Team to ambush marketing tactics of non-Olympic sponsors to discussions with the IOC over revenue negotiations.

I made it to the Athlete Village to tour the International and Residential Zones, and it was one of the few sunny days here – absolutely beautiful!

We had a press event to open the Procter & Gamble Family Home. P&G is a USOC sponsor that is hosting all of the athletes and their families at a beautiful hospitality home in downtown Vancouver where everything is free – food and drinks, laundry services, masseuses, Internet lounges, TV feeds to all of the Olympic events, game rooms (the Pringles snack lounge), video games, you name it!

The Today Show’s Natalie Morales emceed, and joining the suits were figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi and the mother of hockey player Julie Chu. P&G also announced their Olympic activation campaign, called “Thanks Mom.” You’ll probably see some of their tear-jerker commercials during the Games, and on top of that, they provided the mothers of all 216 U.S. Olympic athletes with $3,500 in order to help them pay their way to the Games to watch their children’s dreams come true. It’s been touching to hear the reactions and appreciation these families have expressed upon hearing of the program, especially those who weren’t planning on coming at all until they received the support.

I hope to make it back to the P&G Family Home later in the Games and will tell you more about it then.

We’ve also had some activity at USA House. Here is MTV’s News Reporter Sway interviewing skeleton slider Katie Uhleander. You can watch the clip here: www.mtv.com/news/articles/1631799/20100212/story.jhtml.

We held a press event with USOC partner Allstate at USA House. They sponsor the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, so at USA House they’re carrying out a pretty creative Olympics campaign. They have a chalk artist who is working on a living art exhibit on a number of the walls of the house for the next two weeks, adding renditions of winter athletes in the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame as she goes. And then every few days we’re have an “unveiling” with one or more of the athletes on the wall.

This first event featured skier Picabo Street and speedskater Dan Jansen.

The Governator has also made some appearances at USA House, including making friends with U.S. gymnast Shawn Johnson (above) and shopping in the Team USA store…

And finally, we invite Olympic alumni to the house to enjoy the services and hospitality, and here is a group of them that came together to watch the Opening Ceremony.

Here we had some figure skaters, bobsledders, lugers, team handball players, gymnasts, and others I’m not sure about. I’ve gotten to work with Olympians from years past more for these Games and it’s been a treat. They all are happy to give back to the Olympic Movement and leave an impact for those coming after them.

I got a call from Picabo today because she didn’t need $40 of cab money I gave her earlier in the week, and wants to make sure the USOC gets it back. That’s conscientious!