Silver

Yes! Yes! and Yes! That is all I can say.....FINALLY! Finally we got what we deserve, A MEDAL. I do not care if it was brown with flies on it, as long as it was a medal. We worked so hard, went through so much and came through when it counted. We were the underdogs going into the Quarterfinals against the Italians, down 2-1, yet won a 5 game nail biter. Then, went up against the Cubans in the Semifinals who had beaten us 3-0 pretty badly just a week before. I guess you can say we returned the favor when it counted.

Then came the Finals. Against undefeated Brazil who had not lost a match nor game the entire Olympics. No matter what, we were going to medal, but we wanted that Gold. Though we fell short, we did manage to take a game off of them, something no other team had done.

So much hype is put into a Gold Medal. When you fall short it seems like you have failed, you didn’t win the Gold so you have won nothing.

Yes, we wanted to raise our flag higher than all three flags. Yes, we wanted to hear our Star Spangled Banner. Yes, we wanted a Gold Medal placed around our necks.

But we simply got second place.

Yes. Second.

But our flag got raised second highest. We got Beautiful Silver Medals placed around our necks. We stood tall on a medal stand that had not seen Americans for 20 years. We are now among only 24 American Volleyball players to ever accomplish such a feat.

I got to stand there with my sisters, my friends, my family and celebrate a moment that few people will ever experience.

Yes we lost to Brazil.

But we won a Silver Medal.

...and to us Silver is “as good as Gold.”

Sooooo, after we returned to American soil, all of the Olympic Medalist were invited to Chicago to film Oprah’s season premier. It was so great!

We stayed at the Hilton in downtown Chicago and rode on Chicago Double Decker buses, into Millenium Park, where we were greeted by hundreds of screaming fans.

We then filmed the show, got to meet Oprah, took pictures with her and then all went our separate ways.

It was great to see, talk and hang out with other Olympic medalists. I also got to give Oprah a big hug that was pretty dope.

Since Volleyball is one of the only sports that goes from start ‘til finish in the Olympics, there was no time to go and sight see or see other events. We were fortunate to have televisions in our common area so that we could watch all other sports going on during our off time.

I did get to experience the Great Wall. It was beautiful and such an amazing thing to actually see with my own eyes. I could not believe that each one of those bricks was hand laid by Chinese people. Incredible.

We took a lift up, walked a portion of the wall, returned and then got to toboggan down. It was so fun!

Although this was the only “sight seeing” I was able to do, it was totally worth it.

The Great Wall

This is Joan, our team “Mom”

As Good As Gold

I

Volleyball

Well, that is all for now. I am taking some time off, traveling around, seeing friends and family. It has been a little hectic recently but when it all calms down I am looking forward to relaxing at home for a while. I am taking my life day by day so I have no idea what the next blog will consist of.....Until next time....