Damien
Ultra-Poster
Bobsledder Dallas Robinson: Russian people are doing a wonderful job
Sgt. Dallas Robinson is a member pf the U.S. bobsled team. He graduated from Oldham County High School, ran track at Eastern Kentucky University and is a sprint coach at Georgetown College. He also is a member of the National Guard is the Army World Class Athlete Program. He wrote this from the Olympics at Sochi, Russia.
The U.S. bobsled team was one of the very first teams and nations to arrive. We were the first to experience many of the initial issues, whether it was food in the cafe, a weird smell in a dorm room or even doors locking people into their bathrooms. I have received over a dozen messages with news articles regarding safety concerns, horrible living conditions, stray dogs being killed, and I felt like it was time to give my input.
When we landed at the airport we quickly noticed there were armed guards stretched for over a mile placed every 50 meters or so facing outward. This was both exciting and honestly terrifying. Outside of the Olympic village you see military personnel or police on every corner.
Upon arriving to the village the security measures seemed a bit extreme, surrounded by razor wire and 10-foot tall fences. You must pass through numerous guarded checkpoints and your credentials will be “scanned” before moving further into the village. Your transportation vehicle, whether it’s a van or a bus, will have security stickers placed on every window and every door. If that seal is cracked upon arrival to the bus’ destination, the entire vehicle will be checked for security concerns.
As military personnel I could speak in more detail about security measures, here but I will not. This is what you need to know: the security, police and military here are very disciplined and very well organized. You can tell they have a mission and it’s to protect us at all costs. I will say that I feel unbelievably safe in every Olympic village, venue and yes, even when we are outside of the walls and in town.
Believe me, we have explored and tried to go places we cannot... these guys are good.
The hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of Russian people we have come in contact with have been unbelievably happy, excited, helpful and downright good to us. If you stand in any one place longer than a minute you will have a rainbow-clothed volunteer rapidly approach you in broken English asking you if they can help you in any way.
I’m from Kentucky and people are friendly in Kentucky. But I’ll tell you something — Kentucky doesn’t have a thing on these people. They have been the most hospitable people I have ever been around.
In the game room there are upwards of 15 rainbow-colored workers walking around offering you water, tea or coffee. They also show us on their phone where they live and ask us to show them. Last night I was in the game center with a Canadian friend, Chelsea Valois, and before I knew it she had made friends with one of the workers and he was showering her with magic tricks. They were laughing and carrying on like old buddies.
After the game center we went to the village McDonald’s, and it’s amazing to see how proud they were to be serving us American food, how proud they were to stand behind the counter of a fast-food restaurant for 12-hour shifts! That’s the kind of McDonald’s I would love to eat at in America!
I’m sure you have heard that some of the facilities have not been completed. I was in Sochi last February and man, has it come a long way since then. The venues are actually about 30 minutes from the city of Sochi, and the mountain village is even farther. I have explored as many unlocked and perhaps even locked doors as you possibly can. I have gone in a few buildings’ attics, a handful of cellars and perhaps scaled a fence or ducked under a construction ribbon.
Yes I am a bit mischievous, but I heard all the same things you guys have heard. That nothing is done!
There is a lot of construction still outside the villages and even a bit inside the villages. The hotels, rivers, bridges and towns were all built within the last couple of years. There are three times as many buildings as when I visited last February. They plan to continue to build this region into a flourishing vacation spot for Russian people.
No one is without a good-sized room (larger than Vancouver), nice beds, heat and running water, that’s for sure. I am unsure why a few things here and there are unfinished; perhaps in the village itself they overestimated how much room will be needed so they halted construction in certain areas to focus on the more important ones?
We need to focus on all of the amazing things Russia has done to put these games on. On all the amazing Russian and non-Russian volunteers, security, military and construction workers and look at all they have sacrificed to host this for us. On the purpose of the games and the unity of the rings I think we will all see the good isin us and the people here.
Thank you all so much and I cannot wait to get back to the US on the 25th! I miss you all.
http://www.courier-journal.com/artic...-wonderful-job
https://twitter.com/DRobUSA
Sgt. Dallas Robinson is a member pf the U.S. bobsled team. He graduated from Oldham County High School, ran track at Eastern Kentucky University and is a sprint coach at Georgetown College. He also is a member of the National Guard is the Army World Class Athlete Program. He wrote this from the Olympics at Sochi, Russia.
The U.S. bobsled team was one of the very first teams and nations to arrive. We were the first to experience many of the initial issues, whether it was food in the cafe, a weird smell in a dorm room or even doors locking people into their bathrooms. I have received over a dozen messages with news articles regarding safety concerns, horrible living conditions, stray dogs being killed, and I felt like it was time to give my input.
When we landed at the airport we quickly noticed there were armed guards stretched for over a mile placed every 50 meters or so facing outward. This was both exciting and honestly terrifying. Outside of the Olympic village you see military personnel or police on every corner.
Upon arriving to the village the security measures seemed a bit extreme, surrounded by razor wire and 10-foot tall fences. You must pass through numerous guarded checkpoints and your credentials will be “scanned” before moving further into the village. Your transportation vehicle, whether it’s a van or a bus, will have security stickers placed on every window and every door. If that seal is cracked upon arrival to the bus’ destination, the entire vehicle will be checked for security concerns.
As military personnel I could speak in more detail about security measures, here but I will not. This is what you need to know: the security, police and military here are very disciplined and very well organized. You can tell they have a mission and it’s to protect us at all costs. I will say that I feel unbelievably safe in every Olympic village, venue and yes, even when we are outside of the walls and in town.
Believe me, we have explored and tried to go places we cannot... these guys are good.
The hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of Russian people we have come in contact with have been unbelievably happy, excited, helpful and downright good to us. If you stand in any one place longer than a minute you will have a rainbow-clothed volunteer rapidly approach you in broken English asking you if they can help you in any way.
I’m from Kentucky and people are friendly in Kentucky. But I’ll tell you something — Kentucky doesn’t have a thing on these people. They have been the most hospitable people I have ever been around.
In the game room there are upwards of 15 rainbow-colored workers walking around offering you water, tea or coffee. They also show us on their phone where they live and ask us to show them. Last night I was in the game center with a Canadian friend, Chelsea Valois, and before I knew it she had made friends with one of the workers and he was showering her with magic tricks. They were laughing and carrying on like old buddies.
After the game center we went to the village McDonald’s, and it’s amazing to see how proud they were to be serving us American food, how proud they were to stand behind the counter of a fast-food restaurant for 12-hour shifts! That’s the kind of McDonald’s I would love to eat at in America!
I’m sure you have heard that some of the facilities have not been completed. I was in Sochi last February and man, has it come a long way since then. The venues are actually about 30 minutes from the city of Sochi, and the mountain village is even farther. I have explored as many unlocked and perhaps even locked doors as you possibly can. I have gone in a few buildings’ attics, a handful of cellars and perhaps scaled a fence or ducked under a construction ribbon.
Yes I am a bit mischievous, but I heard all the same things you guys have heard. That nothing is done!
There is a lot of construction still outside the villages and even a bit inside the villages. The hotels, rivers, bridges and towns were all built within the last couple of years. There are three times as many buildings as when I visited last February. They plan to continue to build this region into a flourishing vacation spot for Russian people.
No one is without a good-sized room (larger than Vancouver), nice beds, heat and running water, that’s for sure. I am unsure why a few things here and there are unfinished; perhaps in the village itself they overestimated how much room will be needed so they halted construction in certain areas to focus on the more important ones?
We need to focus on all of the amazing things Russia has done to put these games on. On all the amazing Russian and non-Russian volunteers, security, military and construction workers and look at all they have sacrificed to host this for us. On the purpose of the games and the unity of the rings I think we will all see the good isin us and the people here.
Thank you all so much and I cannot wait to get back to the US on the 25th! I miss you all.
http://www.courier-journal.com/artic...-wonderful-job
https://twitter.com/DRobUSA
Gratuliere. Wahnsinn, ein toller Wettbewerb, schon sehr spektakulär und unterhaltsam anzusehen. Und dass Shaun White derart deutlich abgelöst wird, ohne Medaille, hätte ich nicht gedacht.
