I hope you enjoyed the race! I’ve spoken to lots of people since then that have told me they were on the edge of their seats and screaming at the television, so I hope you’ve recovered from the shock and thanks for the help!

Beijing might be over, but London's on the horizon.

The days since the race have rushed by in a whirlwind. Immediately after we stepped off the medal podium the madness started and it’s barely stopped since. That night we were taken into a press conference at the Olympic Village that started at 11pm and finished about 3am.

I received personal congratulations from the 1^st Sea Lord, and then of course there was the interview with Gaby Logan where slow-mo footage of Hodgey telling me he loved me was played to ‘Je t’aime’ – I haven’t been allowed to forget that since.

I managed to catch some athletics at the Bird’s Nest (what a stadium!), some wrestling (where I felt small) and the modern pentathlon (where I saw our girl Heather Fell get a silver).

In the evenings I was able to go with my girlfriend Sally to meet friends at some fantastic Beijing venues. London House was the pick of the bunch for me – an amazing outdoor venue in the heart of Beijing set up by Boris Johnson for British people connected to the Games and 2012.

It was a real home from home and a fantastic place to start unwinding and catch up on the BBC coverage on the big screen. We also met with friends from U.S. rowing that I know from my Boat Race days at America House and saw plenty of sports coverage on the big screens at the China Club where we were kindly invited by Omega.

On the last night in the Village most of the Team GB athletes got together outside our block of flats and met properly in a much more relaxed state. We stood outside chatting, having a drink and listening to music in what looking back now seems to be the calm eye of the storm.

Towards the end of the night I struck on the idea of putting up a human pyramid with a 6-man base, using all the athlete’s different body shapes to their best advantage – heavyweight rowers and judo players on the bottom, swimmers, athletes and canoeists in the middle and gymnast Beth Tweddle on the top. One of my friends thinks it is “probably the greatest achievement of the whole two weeks”!

Flying into Heathrow on the Team GB flight on Monday with the nose cone painted gold was a unique experience. Before then, we’d all been in a bit of a Beijing bubble and it suddenly dawned on us at the same time that lots of people at home have been following us too.

It’s been fantastic hearing all the different stories of support and celebration and I feel very proud to have come home to such a great country. Can you imagine how good our home Olympics is going to be in 2012? Count me in!

I think that throughout history, every athlete at every Olympic Games will have wanted to crawl under a rock and hide until it’s all over at some point in their preparation.

Pete Reed, suited and ready.

It is difficult not to when you know how big and important one race is. Whether it is 9.7 seconds or 2.5 hours long, you know that other people who are the best in their country, at the peak of their form, are trying to take what you want most in the world; the one thing that you have been working so hard for, for more than 4 years.

These feelings are natural and so important in the last few days before I start racing. They are the sign that my body is getting ready for something special. It isn’t nerves, it’s excitement and passion. We’re ready.

I am not scared of how much it is going to hurt, or how much I have to do in training to get a Gold medal, I just want to make sure that I am as good as I can possibly be and turn every bit of that into boat speed during my 3 races.

I just had an interview with the BBC and the most difficult question to answer was ‘How are you?’. I said I’m in Olympic mode, which is a bit of a cop-out, but it is too difficult to describe the mix of excitement and apprehension. We’re all enjoying ourselves and in fine form so that has got to count for something.

This will be my last blog, because the International Olympic Committee rules state that no athlete can post during the period of the Games (unless it is on your own site or one of the official supporting companies). So, I hope you enjoy the race; I hope we enjoy the race. I hope it has all been worth it.

As all the athletes are wrapping up their hard training and getting ready to compete in Beijing, I am reminded of the first time I ever traveled outside of Africa for an athletic event, in fact, it was the first time I had traveled so far on a plane.

An exciting moment for a young Gilbert in 1995.

It was 1995 and I was headed to the World University Games (Universiade) in Fukuoka, Japan. There were two of us selected as the first Burundians to attend the games, and both of us had the same first name. Gilbert Mvuyekure and Gilbert Tuhabonye, two high school athletes who were going to compete even though we weren’t in college. There had not been any college kids who qualified to run in the games. For us, it was a very last minute trip. I was really nervous as I knew it would be a lot of changing planes and a long time in the air.

As we were leaving the airport in Burundi, I ran into the most influential Burundian athlete of the time – Alois Nizigama. He was coming from the World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he had finished 5^th in the 10K. He knew I was headed to Japan and was really thrilled for me. Alois had come to see me in the hospital when I was recuperating from the burns and injuries I suffered from the attack on my school in 1993. He was very kind to me and gave me exercise clothes at the hospital when I had none. I found myself again the recipient of this man’s generosity.

Here I was traveling to Japan to compete in a prestigious international competition, but I did not have a uniform for the country of Burundi. Alois had such a great uniform, with a track suit, shorts, tights, gloves, a singlet and a red top – they were all very professional looking. They were the nicest running clothes I’d ever seen. I was really sad as I wanted to represent my country well, but they did not have a uniform for me.

Do you know that Alois handed me his gear? I couldn’t believe it! I was so thrilled and honored to wear the colors of my country and to receive such a generous gift from this man that I admired. Of course, I packed it in my bag and set off for Japan.

The Olympics are really about bringing people together from all over the world in the spirit of peace – to compete at the highest level and to find within ourselves, the power to push our bodies and our minds to the limit. It’s truly a shame that some world athletic events have been marred by scandal. But, for every scandal, there’s at least a positive, inspirational story about someone who gets to go to the Games and has the opportunity of a lifetime – the pinnacle sporting event for any athlete.

When I arrived in Japan in 1995, of course, I realized that my teammate Gilbert did not have a uniform either. So, at the opening ceremony, we shared the clothing from Alois Nizigama’s gym bag. I gave my fellow athlete the track suit and I wore the singlet and tights. People thought I was crazy for giving up any of that gear, but I knew that I was given a great gift and had to pass it along. More important than what I possessed was the opportunity for the two of us to demonstrate our pride to be there representing Burundi, in our country’s colors. What a great memory for me!

Best of luck to all the athletes headed to the Games. We will be watching and waiting to hear your stories.

The Olympics are really coming up fast and furiously and the buzz has begun. The United States has fielded a very strong team in track and field – not just in the sprint and middle distances, but in the long distances too.

Tuhabonye: Don't look for a fast marathon.

The U.S. will be well represented, and so will my fellow Texans - with 19 athletes going to the Olympics who are current or former Longhorns from the University of Texas. We'll be watching our friends Leo Manzano and Sanya Richards as they will face incredible competition in the international arena but they are both looking really strong.

We cannot ignore the teams from the great continent of Africa, either. The Kenyans and Ethiopians are both sending very strong teams. The competition will be tough and exciting. One of the great aspects of the Olympics is that even when you know a country has great teams and the athletes have trained well, there is always the element of surprise. People can push themselves to extraordinary limits in sports and in life.

Speaking of the Kenyans - Kenyan-American Bernard Lagat has been living and training in Arizona and looks really strong this year. He will do well against the international field in the middle distance. I wish him the best!

In the marathon, I am really rooting for Ryan Hall and think he's got a decent shot at being on the podium. Ryan has run great marathons all year long, including a terrific showing in London. I don't want to make any predictions about him, I'll leave that up to sportscasters, but I know that he has been training very hard and I hope he has a great race!

For all the runners, but especially for the marathoners, they have to carefully adjust to the weather and the air quality. In fact, because of the condition, no one is expecting the marathon to be a very fast marathon.

From my own country, I just found out that three Burundians are going to the Olympics - in the men's marathon Joachim Nshimirimana will run; Francine Niyonzima will run in the women's 5,000 meters and Elsie Uwamahoro will compete in women's swimming. Good luck to me country men and women!

For the last 3 weeks, I have been at over 2000m above sea level in a remote location in the Austrian Alps with my coach and crew. We come here once a year in the summer to train our bodies harder than at any other point in the season. This is called a "work camp".

Pete and the crew training at high altitude in Austria.

Being so high up has a big affect on our bodies. The air is much thinner than we are used to so whenever we are out rowing or lifting weights it feels like you are having to breathe through a few drinking straws.

We have to do more than the usual training load with less oxygen to fuel our muscles, and after 3 weeks of this we become more efficient machines able to cope with higher loads back at sea level. At Beijing level.

The weather up here can turn in minutes and we have seen everything from burning hot sunshine and blue skies to snow storms, with everything in between – all in the same weekend.

This is my favourite training camp for so many reasons. I love the solitude that the team gets and the focus that we have so close to our big goal. The scenery and fresh air are more spectacular than I have ever seen and the excitement for what is now on our doorstep keeps us going through the toughest times.

The coxless four is in a good way and so are the other Olympic crews. We are really starting to shape up into a good team. Team GB.

Rebuilding is never easy for an athlete. You always remember what it was like when you were at your peak and you felt the best. Regrouping and healing can be a frustrating process. I see it with my athletes all the time. Sometimes we need to stop and listen to the body and learn from our mistakes.

Getting back to your best can take a long time.

I think getting older has helped me as I’ve grown more patient with myself and my body. After London, I decided to just come back slowly and focus on getting well, and not focus on the next race or marathon.

I have not tried to get back up to running 80-100 miles a week. In fact, for an entire month, I only ran 7 miles a day for 5 days a week – just 35 miles for an entire month. This is hardly any mileage for me at all. But, I focused on building my core and slowly have come up to doing 10 miles a day, 5 days a week. I still have not done a long run, but I am now closer to training the way I did before I got hurt.

And, my patience is beginning to pay off and it shows in my running. Just last week, I was running with some high school and college kids. I was pretty tired and the pace picked up, so the group took off and I let them go.

My goal was to run a 6 minute pace and we had dropped to 5:45 pace with 4 miles to go. I watched them pull ahead and I knew they would really kick it in at the 2 mile mark. Somehow, I was able to drop my own pace from 6:20 to 5:40 and I was still feeling really good. I could see the group ahead of me struggling, so I pushed myself harder to 5:19 and then suddenly, a 5:03 pace. I was thrilled! I haven’t run that fast since before I got hurt.

Sunday, I wanted to go for a run that I knew would recharge my body and my soul. I went alone to the Greenbelt here in Austin, which is a trail with a good amount of hills, rocks, water and solitude. It was a beautiful morning, with hardly anyone around but few hikers.

I really took it easy and just enjoyed the scenery and the quiet. I just ran one hour up the trail, jumping over rocks, running through water and up and down the hills. It is really important to change your running patterns and trails so that you test the limits of your body and engage new muscle groups. I watched my form and controlled my body and my breathing. I returned back down the trail in 45 minutes.

It was really a great run and I left feeling rejuvenated and motivated again. I have been building up my body and my confidence and I am feeling very strong and ready to take on a new challenge – maybe starting with a 10K very soon.

Well, I am back in Germany now and practicing hard. I am actually very excited to be back and to start playing; I feel very motivated to practice hard and to become better.

Claudia (third from left) back in training in Germany.

I was one of the first one to come back to the training camp after vacation, so the first day I went running and did some light gym work because I was still feeling a little bit tired from the 15 hours flight.

I got a surprise when everybody else came back. They had been practicing a little bit on vacation so when we went to run together at 6am I couldn’t keep up with the speed. It’s amazing how much you can lose in a couple of weeks without practice…

After that I realized that in life there’s always going to be people who try harder than you and you can not just be careless and relax.

The good thing is that for me it takes only three days to get back on shape but in the meantime my whole body hurt and right now it is even hard to sit.

Not much else has really happened considering that my entire life involves around training, sleeping and eating. I am often going to physiotherapy. Before the vacation I had some problems in my Achilles, I had a lot of pain even when walking and the doctor told me I should rest, but I was in the middle of Olympic qualifications so I couldn’t. I needed to play tournaments to qualify and I though after resting it, it would be ok.

However it is still hurting so I am a little bit worried, but we will see with the time what happens…

I have a lot of things in my mind right now but one that’s keeping me from sleeping is that maybe I will not be able to go to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

We start playing the 9th at 9am and the opening ceremony is the night before. I have heard that it takes a lot of time, and we have to be standing and waiting so it will be exhausting. I don’t now what to do because maybe this will be the only Olympics I will go to (because after I have to focus more on studying) and I don’t want to miss the most emotional moment of the Olympics, for me. But I have to sacrifice some things if I really want to play my best badminton in the Olympics.

Last weekend, my cousin Bernard and I headed out on Lady Bird Lake for a run together. It always feels good to run with Bernard as we push each other along. I have been running a lot more lately and feeling really good about my physical progress.

Gilbert with Paul Carroza of RunTex.

But running also helps me strengthen my mind and spirit. The trail always reminds me so much of home and my life back in Burundi. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we are all connected and how sometimes this is a very small world.

A friend sent me an email with a link to a website – www.marathondelapaix.org – and, when I went to the website, it really touched my heart. A group of athletes from Burundi have organized a marathon for peace for December 6, 2008.

I was amazed and delighted that people are organizing to make peace happen in my country. I was really struck by the number of people who are committed to giving back to their country and their people. It motivated me to seek out some of my friends.

It had been a long time that I talked to so many of my friends as we all have become so busy in our lives. I spent the weekend trying to find their numbers and re-connect with them. I was delighted to find out that even though we are all in different parts of the world, we all remain committed to giving back to Burundi. Several of my old friends came together to put on this race that has a message of hope and peace for Burundi.

I talked to Vénuste Niyongabo, who won gold medal in the 5,000 meters in the 1996 Summer Olympics, becoming the first champion from Burundi. Vénuste lives in Europe now and plans to head to the Olympics this year, but not to run. He is now the president of the team Burundi Olympian and will be attending on behalf of his employer.

I also reconnected with Patrick Nduwimana, who used to run for the University of Arizona and is now in graduate studies. He is studying how civil war affects the use of natural resources, especially on crop productivity.

Arthemon Hatungimana, who now lives and coaches a club in France, left Burundi in 1992. It was so good to hear his voice – we picked up where we’d left off last. I remind him of the Adidas running shoes he gave me before he left Burundi.

The day of the massacre in Burundi, my captors really wanted those shoes from me and I actually hesitated to give them up. These details of our lives are sometimes lost until we reconnect with others again – I had forgotten about those shoes until we talked the other day.

What a great weekend spent reminiscing, telling jokes, and talking about the good times. Talking with these old friends reminded me so much of wonderful times in Burundi in the 80’s and early 90’s before the violence. I’m so proud of these men who have achieved so much personally and still want to give back to their country in an attempt to bring about hope and peace.

The final World Cup regatta in Poland was the last opportunity for us to compare ourselves to the majority of the qualified Olympic opposition. After getting Andy and Tom back into the boat (with their injuries behind them) we knew that we had a lot to do in a short space of time.

Silver in Poznan, but no smiles.

We finished 2^nd to the Dutch crew who we have raced at nearly every international regatta for the last 4 years – it is a big step up from the 8^th place of Lucerne, but still not where I want to be and it is hard to hide the signs of disappointment after defeat.

What’s done is done. I’m just pleased to be back in the full line up again and with a monumental training load on its way in the form of an Austrian Alps altitude camp I’m sure I will have all the fire and drive I need to dig deep through session after session.

One thing is for sure, we are not at all complacent. I’m hoping this year, on the Austrian work camp, to find out new things about what I am capable of because I know this is what I have to do to win gold.

We leave the comfort of our own homes for the last time before the Olympics in just a few days and the next time we’re back will be after Beijing 2008 is all over. It is going to be an intense experience that I know I’ll never forget.

There’s a proverb from Burundi that inspires me: "It is easy to light a fire and difficult to extinguish it." I know that after the London Marathon, I said I was finished doing marathons. I let go of the dream. But, as April faded into May and now June, I have started to rethink the idea.

'It is easy to light a fire and difficult to extinguish it'.

One day, back in Austin, it was raining so hard and I was waiting for my Gazelle running group. A few people showed up, so I sent them off to run. I thought, well, things happen for a reason and I need to take advantage of the time, so let’s get busy. I locked myself in the annex of RunTex, our local running store. I remembered the day that the doctor in Burundi told me that running was out of the question and I did not want that to happen again.

I knew that my problem from London must be a nerve and I could fix it with core exercises and balance work. I did 800 sit ups straight – regular sit ups, obliques, roman chair. I did balance work – hopping on one leg, two legs, bounding and leg extensions. I turned up my music so loud, from Zaire, a great artist, Koffi Olomide. It was so difficult, but it was really a cleansing exercise for me in many ways – physically and mentally. I realized that I am still strong and I still have a fire burning within me.

While pushing myself, I have been to doctors, physical therapists and massage therapists to try to hasten the recovery. I do as they ask and then I push myself even harder.

I have been joking with friends lately that I am running in the middle of day and behind buses in Austin, to get used to the heat, humidity and pollution.

On a more serious note, I really am enjoying running on Lady Bird Lake here in Austin. It always reminds me so much of Burundi, my home. While many, many miles away from my African homeland, I feel connected to Burundi in a way that is hard to explain. I am running with joy again as I nurture my body back to health and nurture my mind. It helps me think about what might be possible for me as an athlete and a coach.

This connection to the world is really the essence of the Olympic Games. For a short period of time, we all put aside the struggles between us and focus on the competition of the Games. We all swell with pride for our countrymen and women as they compete at the height of their athletic ability.

The Olympic Games allows the world to come together to seek greatness and unite the world into one. Even though I will not be competing in the Beijing Olympics this year, the Olympic flame still burns strong in my heart as it does in all mankind. In my homeland of Burundi we have a word that perfectly describes this collective spirit of humanity...“ubuntu”.

I must go for a run now. This voice in my heart tells me to get out there and move. It reminds me how blessed I am. I wonder how many times I will run between now and 2012?

]]> http://olympics.blogs.cnn.com/2008/06/17/fire-still-burning/feed/ 1 deanirvine 'It is easy to light a fire and difficult to extinguish it'.