This blog, which can also be read here, is written to keep the proud people of Federal Way informed about one of the city’s sons, short track speedskater J.R. Celski and the experience of his parents, Bob and Sue, during the Olympics.

2/17/14

It’s been a busy few days with a lot of activity.

Many are wondering how J.R. is after the fall he took on Saturday in the quarterfinals of the 1000m race. He hit a block that was out of position when he was cranking up to pass back into first place and race to the finish line. When unexpectedly hitting the block, he fell to his knees on the ice and both of them. We were heartbroken that this happened – he was a favorite for a medal and was looking so good. Our biggest concern was whether or not he was OK. Short track is unforgiving with regard to injury to the athletes, and J.R. has had more than his share of them. Luckily, he is fine and didn’t hurt them enough to hinder him in the competition.

On Sunday, we had a family day, all day long. J.R. didn’t practice to rest his sore knees. This was the day that we visited J.R. in the Athlete Village

Like much of the process in making your way to various attractions in the Olympics, coordination to get the passes for the village was done by Sue via email way back in December. She did this coordination as directed, but as part of the process, she never received any kind of written confirmation.

So, with uncertainty, we went to the village having faith that the process worked and we would get in. We went to the processing desk at the entrance of the village, gave them our names, and presto – a pass for each of us was produced. It worked. Once again, success thanks to all of Sue’s hard work long before the start of the Olympics.

We took the train from Adler to the Olympic Park, then boarded another train to the Athletes Village. It was another long walk. The day was cooler and cloudy with periodic drizzle, much like the weather in Federal Way all day long. Quite a change from all the other days

Andrea called J.R. once we were done processing, so J.R. rode his bike to meet us. The athletes village is just an area of many apartment buildings – one for each country participating in the Olympics. Many were decked out with national flags and banners, but not the USA. In my mind this is not due to a lack of pride in the US, but of good operational security so as to not give a target to those who would do harm.

The room was huge, and very Spartan. There was nothing on the walls except for an Olympic flag that J.R. put up. J.R. acquired the autographs of several Olympians on the flag and is quite proud of it. We took some pictures in there, and mainly hung out for a few hours. While there, J.R. did laundry. Sue, who takes charge of laundry for her boys, was told no, that he would do the laundry together with Andrea. Never saw this happen before. Anyway, J.R. had to get treated by the physical therapist for his knees so while he went to do that, we made our way back to the Olympic Park and on to the USA Hospitality House.

On the way there, we visited the Olympic rings at the Athlete’s Village, and also the rings between the Olympic Park Train Station and the park. Both are huge and impressive. The rings located around the entire region are placed in very scenic and impressive settings.

We finally arrived at the USA Hospitality House in the middle of Olympic Park. Not long after we arrived, J.R. showed up. He has a huge advantage of biking on a straight path from his apartment through an athlete-only access point, and directly through the park on his bike. It took us about 90 minutes, him about 10.

The USA Hospitality House is where the USOC hosts athletes, and large donors and sponsors. Athletes who medal are honored there the night of their victories. It isn’t much unlike the P&G House for families, but much more exclusive. Many former Olympians show up to meet with the donors and sponsors.

Great food, plenty of refreshments. So far we have met up with Bonnie Blair there (we have become friends with Bonnie over the years), Kristi Yamaguchi (who sought J.R. out to take a picture with him), Dan Jansen (who is a huge fan of J.R. – never did we think a speedskating legend would be a fan of our son), Scott Hamilton, Bode Miller, and so on. They all make their way into the USA House.  There are huge big-screen TV’s there to watch US athletes compete. The TV’s are 15’ x 10’ or bigger, and there are four of them side-by-side. A great place to watch Olympic sports.

Today (Monday) I went with Andrea to J.R.’s practice. He looked good, fast, ready.  He is feeling good. He has put the 1000m behind him. The practice was for 50 minutes, together with the team from The Netherlands. When it ended, we returned to the USA House to eat and hang out. It is Andrea’s birthday today so we celebrated it there. With J.R. competing tomorrow (Tuesday), he left early at about 4:30 or so. No celebrating for him tonight with his girlfriend on her birthday, duty calls.

But Andrea understands completely, she retired from the Canadian short track team last year and would have it no other way this evening.