LAKE PLACID–Friday, December 13th, Mrs. O along with GTV producers and tech crew and Mrs.Decker’s journalism class went to Lake Placid to witness the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation (FIBT) World Cup, where athletes from all over the world were taking steps to qualify for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Russia. After a two and a half hour journey by bus, we (the students, Mrs.O and Mrs.Decker) arrived to find temperatures of 10°F and some snow flurries.

As we went up Mt. Hoevenberg to get to the start of the race, we started seeing parts of the bobsled track and the first racers. The finish line was on our way up the hill so we rested for a little bit there, watching some of the competitors arrive.

We continued on our way and before getting to the top, we stopped in one of the turns of the track where other students from Lake Placid were. It was amazing the speed the bobsledders would travel in the steep wall of the turn. While we were there, journalist Naj Wikoff from The Lake Placid News approached us and started asking where we were from, what were we doing here and other questions. When Mrs. O. started answering the questions asked, he took a little audio recorder out of his pocket and began recording her comments. Mrs.O mentioned Kathi, our foreign exchange student from Germany, and how excited she was to meet the German athletes. Wikoff was also of German ancestry and followed up with Kathrin. As Mr.Milton was our guide for all the international media coverage, Wikoff asked Cami about her dad’s job too.

When we got bored of that curve of the track, we continued on our way to the start-line. Once we got there, we started seeing the athletes from several countries of the world, and among them, the journalist Wikoff. Mrs. Decker called to him and he immediately asked for Kathi to introduce the athletes to her. Kathi very happily accepted the offer and she had the chance to meet her compatriots! Before the German bobsledders went to warm up, Kathi asked them about the position each one has in the bobsled, the part of Germany each one comes from and what the team expected of the day. She also took a picture with them.

After Kathi was done, we went to the actual start-line where bobsledders from Italy, France, Netherlands, Germany, USA, Canada, Switzerland, Russia, Great Britain, Japan, Austria, Korea, Romania, Poland and Czech Republic were gathered. We stayed there for about half an hour watching how the athletes prepare a few minutes before they go down the track and how the people from different countries cheered their teammates in different languages. While we were enjoying the camaraderie (yelling, ringing bells, etc.) at the start-line, Mr. Milton texted Cami to tell her that all of our faces had just been panned over and broadcast all over Europe.

Then we finally met Mr. Milton, and before he started showing us the camera sets, we went to a warm room to rest for a little bit. After Kathi discovered that the Germans weren’t in first place on the race, we left to start with our tour. First he showed us one of the cameras used by men near the startline. Then, we went down to the finish line to meet one of the USA bobsledders called Dallas Robinson, who earned third place with his teammate Nick Cunningham. While some of us were taking pictures with Robinson, Kathi with the help again of Naj Wikoff, met the German journalist Heiko Oldeorp from NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk = Northern German Broadcasting) .

Then, Mr. Milton took us to the TV compound. In the first small room we entered we were a little bit squeezed in and the man working there didn’t expect us, but he gave us a brief explanation of his job, his background, the camera system and a show-and-tell of all the switches he operates. In the second part of the TV compound, we saw an editor creating a highlight video to be sold to news stations. Our tour ended in the press room, where journalists from all over the world were writing or editing their articles. Jon Lundin, the communications manager of ORDA (Olympic Regional Development authority) gave us an explanation of the different objectives of the journalists in that room. Some were writing for the web, some for newspapers, some for both. The reporters were from all over the world and the room we were in was their hub for fulfilling their assignment, to cover the event.

We went back to the cold outside and after we said goodbye to Mr.Milton, we went to the lobby to have lunch and stay warm. In the lobby, we had the chance to meet the USA bobsledding team and get autographs. We went a little bit uphill to a little bridge again after lunch to see some of the womens’ skeleton races. It was amazing how fast they would pass in front of us in such a little sled. As soon as we got cold, we went back to the lobby to have a hot cocoa courtesy of Mrs. Milton, Cami’s mom.

We left Lake Placid at about 1 o’clock after having a great (but cold) day there.