Beijing Highlights and Olympic Events

As I finished competing on the 12th of August i had lots of time to get out and see other Olympic events. I went to see Men's Gymnastics, I went to cheer on Ben Wilden in the Trampolining, Women's Waterpolo - Australia Vs China, Synchronised Swimming and Athletics - to see the Men's 100m Final! It was great to get out and see other events and soak up the Olympics.

As I finished competition early on, I was also lucky enough to get out and see the sights of Beijing. Channel 7 took Melissa, Scott, Sharleen and me to the Great Wall of China. It was a beautiful day in Beijing and it was very crowded on the wall. We caught the chairlift up and the toboggan ride down.

Yahoo 7 took me to the Beijing Zoo, it was lovely to see pandas and the very cute golden monkeys. Click on the link to watch my visit to the Beijing Zoo with the Fanatic from Yahoo 7.

http://au.sports.yahoo.com/olympics/video/-/fanatic/fanatic-in-beijing/?autoplay_id=9361421&p=2

I caught the bus with lots of other Aussie medallists to do a channel 9 show at the Heavenly Temple. It was a rainy day but still great to see the beautiful buildings of the Heavenly Temple. Its me in the golf cart with Liesl Jones and Anna Meares, and out the front of the Heavenly Temple with Emma Moffat - who got bronze in the Triathlon.

The day after winning the Silver medal i did lots and lots of media, including an early start of 4am, so i could do Sunrise and the Today show. The best fun was doing the Hamish and Andy show! I got to play tunes on my silver medal with a chopstick and my new name was 'tube home basket'

Women's 10m Platform Synchronised - Silver Medal

On the 12th of August, Melissa Wu and I competed in the Women’s 10m platform Synchro. There were 8 countries competing – Australia, Canada, China, DPR Korea, Germany, Great Britain, Mexico, USA. Melissa and I were the last pair to dive. Melissa and i had a great event, not really missing a dive and always having great synchro. We finished in second place behind the Chinese, who won with 363.54 points, we scored 335.16, and Mexico was in 3rd place with 330.06 points. I had a great time competing, it was fun not to mention nerve-wracking.

After the medal ceremony we had lots of media, then it was off to the press conference. Lastly I had to do a drug test. Once that was all done i was able to catch up with my dad Wayne and big sister Sian out the front of the Water Cube.

Women’s 3m Synchronised – 5th Place

On the 10th of August, Sharleen Stratton and I competed in the Women’s 3m Synchro. There were 8 countries competing – Australia, China, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, USA and Ukraine. It was the first diving event of the Olympics, and Sharleen and I were team number 1.
We dove pretty well, not missing a dive, unfortunately we finishing in 5th place. First was China, then Russia in second, Germany in third then USA. There were only a few points separating 3rd to 5th so that was frustrating and disappointing.

At the Olympics

At arrived in Beijing on the 4th of August, it was great to finally be there after a very long build up. We got into the village at 1:30am, and it was straight off to bed. The Aussies are living in building D8, and us divers are on the 6th floor, some how I got a room to myself which was lucky. The Village was awesome, it looked great, and there was so much to do.

The next day we caught the bus to get our uniforms, it was like Christmas morning - only better. We got lots and lots of uniform which all looks fantastic! We all couldn't wait to go through it all and try it all on. We also got plently of suitcases and bags to take it all home in.

The dining hall at the village is a sight to behold. It even has a map out the front, cause it really is that big! The dining hall had everything, you name it, they had it. There was even a Mc Donalds, and everything is free!

On the 6th of August we all went out to the Main Press Centre to have our press conference, I did a few interviews which was fun!

In our apartment we had the five diving girls: Sharleen, Alex, Mel, Chantelle and me, also in our apartment was Australia'a only Penthathlete Angie Darby. We thought it would be nice to decorate our room, espeically as we had lovely art work from primary school students back in Australia.

Photos from in and around the Village