More from Pragelato
I have to wake up in a little over six hours, so I apologize that I can’t write all that I want to write. Today was our day off, and I went in to Sestriere with several kids from Asbury, as well as eight or nine Italian students. But that’s not as exciting as the Olympics, so I’ll try to catch up on those.
My job is absolutely amazing. I follow around Jalli, one of three handheld operators. We only work at the start/finish areas, which includes following the athletes as they check in, are tagged with anklets for the timing system, and as they stretch out. After the race begins, we don’t really do much, but we’re right at the finish line, so we have a great view of the whole production on the big screens, and the athletes race through the stadium several times.
Jalli is the primary handheld camera, so he follows the gold medalist for a long time after the finish, which is simply an amazing time. You can’t begin to understand how much emotion flies around the finish line. The races are of many different lengths, but a lot of them are a half hour or even an hour long, so they feel monotonous as we just sit in a little snow trench. But as the athletes approach, things feel so tense, and as they cross the line, the coaches and athletes’ families are going crazy and I feel like I want to take a step back and just soak in everything that is happening.
I do wish that I could write more, and although I’m much more rested today, tomorrow morning will come quickly. If you want to look for me on TV, watch for the handheld camera guy with a black backpack kind of rigging, I’ll usually be within a few feet of him. Of course, I wear an all-white jumpsuit, and my job is to not be seen. If all goes as planned, I’ll be off tomorrow around three, which would give me plenty of time to come back and catch up on e-mails and journalling. Here’s a little list of what I need to remember to write about:
- Stealing a snowmobile
- Shoving a police officer
- Plans to ski the Alps
- All of the great people I work with
You should really look at the pictures I uploaded tonight (on Flickr); I think there are some really good ones. You’ll realize how close I am to the field, and how it’s an experience that my writing skills aren’t up to describing. Happy Valentine’s Day, USA, it’s already the 14th here.