Today signifies the end of my Olympic adventure. This one at least. If I have ever felt the effects of finishing
strong it has been after the last week I endured here. Obviously it has made it really difficult to
write from a time aspect but my mind feels fried as well. Typically I do a good job of soaking
everything in really well and closing everything up. I am finding it difficult to give any of my
efforts emotion but maybe that's another way to look at it. The fact that I've exhausted myself reminds
me exactly how great of an ending it was.
This experience is far beyond anything I have experienced in my
life. It has been the best learning
experience for me in all regards whether it be what I learned about myself, the
Games, people, culture, the city, etc.
The five and half weeks cannot be described in words. I could use words like inspirational,
sensational, and phenomenonal but they wouldn't do it justice. There was so much between the lines. What my eyes have seen has been the greatest
spectacle on the planet but the feeling of being so close to so much of it is
inspiring and motivating. Coming into
this experience my expectations were that the Olympics were the summit of the
highest mountain but now that it is done I feel like it goes far beyond that
and I'm now on the moon! Work, events,
and pleasure have taken me all over London and I've seen a huge portion of this
remarkable city giving host to an athletic competition among 205 countries. So while I've spent more than a month seeing
London, I feel like I've seen the world.
There is truth to that because the city represented the world through
not only the athletes but the millions of fans flocking here. I've met many new people from all over the
world and had some of the most fun I've ever experienced watching others . What I will take away from this experience
most is going to be the people. The
people I've worked with to create such a great team has been a pure joy and
honor. Everyone was so helpful with every task that rose up.
They were a perfect piece of the bigger team, Team USA. I was able to strengthen many friendships and
make many more, some so great I know
they will be lifelong despite being from different parts of the world. I look forward to future interactions with
them all. I really want to send out a
big THANK YOU to everyone who was a part of every move at these Games and to
every person that has helped get me to this point as well (that includes every
good person that’s been some part of this lifelong journey). I could never be more proud to be part of
Team USA than I was at these games. The
expectations coming in were high but there were plenty of doubts. The country once again showed that amazing
spirit that bands us all together and won the medal standings in every
category. It was just as amazing seeing
new friends from the host country have their most successful Olympics in over a
hundred years because it was so awesome to see the inspiration it gave the
country. Is there a better example of
the powerful impact the Olympic Games can have.
It's a mind blowing 2 weeks of seeing the impossible become possible and
pure dedication and perseverance pushing people to the greatest heights. It unites the world in one place at one
time. A world united is something you
only see in apocalyptic movies any other time.
The energy is electric and you can't help but join in on the party. This adventure concludes today and I begin a
new one with just me and my backpack, yet there is absolutely no way to compare
them. I look forward to the next one but
this Olympic Tale will forever be something special. Thank you London for giving me the privilege
of being part of it and for being an unbelievable host! One last time…this is Chad signing off.....
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