EDITOR’S NOTE:
Welcome to the Athlete Journal of Olympic weightlifter Holley Mangold. Holley is part of Team USA headed to London this summer. Follow her journey here as she trains for the 2012 Olympics! Holley’s journal will be posted every Friday.
You can catch up by reading her previous journal entries!
Holley’s Athlete Journal 13:
This week has been exciting in so many ways! Before leaving for London on July 24th, my sister and mom came to help me pack up my things for the move to our new house. That was a huge weight on my shoulders – not the kind of weight that I like to have over my head! Just before leaving I was hurrying around trying to get my credit card and phone issues in order. The lady at the bank laughed in my face when I told her that I am competing in the Olympics. I know I’m not the normal Olympic mold but she could have at least nodded along!
Leaving for London was awesome and exciting! The flight over had the female wrestling team on it, which was so cool. I had met some of the girls at the Olympic Training Center (OTC) already. It was great to see them again and obviously very cool to make new friends. The flight attendant gave us a shout out, which was nice! The time change didn’t work well on my body. I could not get comfortable to sleep through the night, so unfortunately I had a raging headache the whole next day. That was terrible because we were being outfitted for our uniforms and all I wanted to do was find a bed and recover from the trip!
After the headache went away and I was feeling normal, things have been awesome! The Village is more amazing than I imagined. I’m loving every second of the experience. I’ve loved having my coach and training partner, Drew, here. He has made my travels easier and calmed my nerves. I’m happy that Drew is enjoying his host family and I appreciate all of the people who have been helping my family and friends make the journey to come see me. A special shout out to my lake friends and family in Georgia who are having a “Super Bowl” type celebration the day I compete.
I don’t want to give too many details away, but will be sure to go into more details about all the activities soon! For now, I’m happy to be here doing what I love in such a fun environment. And, I can’t help but love the endless amount of Coke Zero! Thank you to our sponsors!
