Headed over to the Olympic Hockey Stadium to watch the gold medal match between China and the Netherlands.



The last time I had really watched field hockey was in college and it just wasn’t the same level. We had a decent team at Carolina, but in the Olympics the athletes are so much better, plus the atmosphere is really great. The fans for both sides kept up pretty constant cheering. The Dutch were singing and chanting the entire match.

The field is also so green and pristine looking. It almost looks as if it were painted the green color. When they take swipes at the ball you can see the water spray up off of the field, which just adds to the flavor.

Another thing that was cool is that I had acquired an upgrade card that gives me extra access to the venues. I haven’t had a chance to really use the card since the fencing events, so I used it for the hockey match. My normal media credential gets me into the stands in the media seats. Those seats aren’t too shabby - they are close to the competition and have good sightlines plus there is access to the media shuttle bus back to the main media center (and from there to the hotel).

This other credential allowed me to get into the Olympic Family area - think of it as the VIP lounge. I was able to sit in the stands near the Dutch families watching the game and then head up into the lounge for free food and beer, plus large screen TVs set up in there for watching the game or any of the other Olympic events that were going on at the same time. If you’re going to have a beer, you have to do it in the lounge, so it’s a good thing the TVs were in there.

Watched the game, went in and got a beer during halftime where we watched the Jamacan women’s relay team flub the handoff (along with Great Britain). The Russian team won the women’s 4×100 relay in one of the slowest times in recent memory. The number of missed handoffs in the relays was amazing. It claimed the two US relay teams and then claimed two more women’s teams in the finals.

One thing that the faint of heart need to know - there were mascots.

You can alson see a movie here:

Halftime’s over, finish the beer, go sit in the stands.

I’m about 3 rows up from the field and watching this is great. Every now and then one of the Chinese players will try to flip the ball up in the air to get over the Netherland’s defense, but without much luck. Over the course of the second half the Dutch just wear the Chinese down. Towards the end of the 2nd half the Chinese commit a penalty which gives Netherlands the hockey equivalent of a corner kick. (Called a “short corner” or “penalty corner”) Netherlands converts and they are up 1-0. A little while later Netherlands goes up 2-0 and then starts playing a “four corners” ball control game. China is forced to run after them, but can’t manage to get anything going. Time runs out and the Netherlands wins the gold medal.

After the match, I have a separate misadventure with the volunteers unable to put together the fact that I have a media credential and that the media bus pick up point is about 50 meters from the bottom of one specific staircase in the venue. They insist that I go out another exit which turns out to be the spectator exit and almost, but not exactly, the opposite of where I need to be.

Several confused but grimly stern Chinese security guards stifle my attempts at reason until an American volunteer from Mizzou helps me through the checkpoint and gets me to where I should have been all along.