Reading · The JHoch Journal

I’m writing this from the media workroom at the Champs de Mars Arena. Wrestling kicks off in an hour and a half. The past couple days have been busy with last-minute preparations for the blitz that will occur over the next week. I’m ready for it.

I was one of the first to arrive on day 1 of wrestling. The media workroom was virtually empty, only a couple of bags and one individual waiting.

On Saturday I went to the Paris Press Center, a secondary press spot, outside of the official Olympic accommodations, to see their facility. It was very comfortable, with coffee and snacks and fast internet. A few screens throughout, broadcasting ongoing Olympic events. Gorgeous building and friendly staff.

I spent most of the day there, working on various things — editing, emailing, equipment prepping. Just making sure I was ready to go for today.

Yesterday, I went to the Olympic Village where I met up with fellow Binghamton Bearcat, Emily Mackay who is running in the 1,500m starting tomorrow. It was a lot of fun, making some portraits along the River Seine and doing a short interview. It’s really cool to see success coming from the same place you do. It’s inspiring and exciting.

Photos of Emily Mackay at the Olympic Village.

After that, I dropped in on the practice areas in the Village where I saw a bunch of people working out, checking weight, and making sure they were ready to go. Serendipitously, the first athlete I saw was Mijaín López, the colossal 130kg Greco-Roman wrestler who is attempting to achieve a feat never done before in wrestling, and [Edit: ~~only a handful of times]~~ never before in all sports: winning a 5th Olympic Gold Medal in the same category. He’s the greatest of all-time already—only Kaori Icho (JAP) has also won four golds in wrestling—and could cement his legacy in the next couple of days across all sports.

Here are a bunch of photos. (Wrestling is slated to begin in an hour now, so I will add captions later. For now, enjoy without.)