Olympic Opportunities are Precious

The past few days have really hit home that Olympic opportunities are precious. They can be taken away in an instant and when it's gone....it's gone.
Once you get to a high level in sport you have to be careful not to take things for granted. I've said it before that you can't expect to finish in a certain position or have the performance you feel you deserve.....you have to make it happen.
The semi-finals of the heavy Men's Four went down the course on Wednesday and it left all three medalists from last years World Championships wondering what went wrong as none of them are going to be racing in the Olympic final! All three medal winning boats are out!!
That being said....the word is that there is a sickness going through the New Zealand camp but the Italians and Dutch haven't got that excuse. Excuse or not....the Olympics are over for the 2007 World Champion New Zealand Four. Just like that, a stomach bug can snatch it all away. We have been using anti-bacterial hand sanitizer like crazy. Three members of the German lightweight four got sick the day before their semi-final and they didn't even get to the start line.....we saw the coaches packing up their boat, Olympics over for them.
It just all became too real in the past couple days how quickly things can turn for something that is virtually out of your hands.
We are going to continue to be extra careful by using the hand sanitizer, drinking and using only bottled water. So far our hotel has not had any sickness at all.