Chang Lee thought he was hung over — again. Several people woke up at 5:35 a.m. and didn’t really know why. Motoko Rich also woke up then but knew exactly why. She lives here. I, on the other hand, was asleep and stayed that way until my alarm went off at 6 a.m. I checked my phone and saw all the chatter in our Olympics WhatsApp chat: Did you feel it? No, first i’m hearing of it, must be the Ambien. Oh my god, I knew it! I thought it was the dryer in my room causing all the shaking! Motoko says we are now all honorary Japanese with nonchalant earthquake experience.
What I didn’t miss however, was the women’s 400-meter hurdles race between Dalilah Muhammad, who we did this big piece on and Sydney McLaughlin. Anyone see it? An amazing race that saw both of them run faster than the world record. Our team was there in full and broke the race down, practically hurdle by hurdle. How Sydney McLaughlin Beat Her Own World Record to Win Gold.
Side note: In the time between the morning session and the evening session, when very few people were out on the track, Jeremy decided he was going to run the 100-meter dash on an Olympic track. Was a bit of a track star in high school — like 30 years ago!
About 50 meters in, right where the Olympic rings are painted on the track, he stopped short and grabbed his hamstring. He can barely walk and has been icing it all day. The rest of us haven’t stopped laughing.
Tomorrow I’ll be heading to the final of the men’s climbing competition. “No cheering in the press box,” the saying goes, but I do have a horse in the race. The gang and I spent two weeks in the Czech Republic right before the world shut down for the pandemic. We went to spend time with the world’s greatest climber, Adam Ondra. Great guy; obsessed with climbing; really long neck.
He was extremely generous with his time and let us film two weeks worth of preparation for what was supposed to be the 2020 Games. We showed up with lots of cameras and lights and motion capture equipment and followed him from speed gym to bouldering gym to lead gym. And then to his home, where he has built an entire room filled with climbing holds. He literally climbs the walls.
He speaks six languages, has a degree in economics, but all he wants to do is climb. He lives in Brno, one of Eastern Europe’s most beautiful cities. Kind of like Prague, but smaller and many fewer tourists. Although I was a tourist in Prague and would gladly do that again anytime.
Here is a trailer for the piece we did on Adam.
You can see the entire piece here. (As a reminder, if you’re not a Times subscriber, you still get 10 free articles a month, you just have to put in your email.)
Here is a gallery of photos from the trip to Brno.
Eat at Joe’s 
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