Richie Patterson, 25, has been competing in weightlifting for more than 10 years and will represent New Zealand in the 77kg division at the Beijing Olympics.
 
August 23, 2008
Competition and sightseeing

Since my last update (when I first arrived in the village) the Olympic experience has all happened. Competition I managed to make weight of 77kg coming down from 81kg to allow me to lift in my session on the 13th. The nerves were high and sleep was hard to come by, but the day came to step onto the big stage. Competition wise I went in with nothing to lose, my warm up went well and I opened my account with a modest 130kg in the snatch, "felt light" then I knew to gain placings I had to keep up in the snatch, so raised the bar to 137kg, a few technique lapses and ended up with the 130kg opener as my best result.

Clean and Jerk saw me mix it up with the field, being my stronger lift, I opened on 170kg, giving me the placing over the South African boy, for what seemed like an eternity wobbling 170kg above my head. It took a fair bit of energy out of me, next was to raise the bar to 176kg, equal to my NZ record in order to gain a placing over the Moldovan lifter.

A 10 minute wait and recovery from my first lift left me wanting in the clean and the weight felt dead, "couldn't get any power into the lift" leaving me with one final attempt on the weight. Following myself with two minutes rest, I literally closed my eyes and threw myself under the clean! Managed to stand up, then was running out of time (more conscientiousness) and pushed the jerk a little in front. 176kg is a little heavy to correct, so was left with a 300kg total and eventually placing 21st.

As with any sport and especially at the Olympics, it's pretty black and white depending on what your goals were. To some fourth place is a disappointment to others it's a dream. So even though I feel my results lacked, I achieved pretty much most of my competition goals, to enjoy myself, gain experience on the world stage, to hold my ranking placement, and to learn and grow from the experience. So next time I'll be prepared, and will be in a better situation. So overall results = dissatisfied, experience = satisfied.

Relax

After the stress of competition, the weight literally gets lifted off the shoulders. So Richie became the Olympic tourist, amazed at the Great Wall, told to slow down on the luge on the way down - which didn't correspond amongst our group = numerous crashes. The speed touring through the Forbidden City, and the 20 minutes arguing in the markets for a pair of jeans (great fun), I went back the following day with Moss Burmester to get cheap prices fast and it worked magic (team arguing and distraction = good prices).

The Olympic supporter, about to make everyone jealous

I managed to get to every venue on Super Saturday. Firstly the rowing (voice = gone) then a mad rush 70km to the cycling, managed to get in by confusing the security (voice = non existent). A crazy rush back to the National Stadium to see the best moment of the Games, Valerie winning the shot put followed by the 100m world record by Usain Bolt, which we were sitting in the coaching seats on the side of the track. Almost managed to get a hug from him when he came to celebrate after his win. One crazy day!

Other than that I have been out supporting whenever I can - hockey, kayaking, athletics, swimming so really I've had the full Olympic experience. I wake up every morning still not believing that I am at the Olympics, from those who saw my emotions when I first found I had qualified, to getting my uniform, hoping off the plane in Beijing. It's all been amazing.

Seeing the unity of the NZ team here, we support together, we celebrate together and I think we have the best team environment in the village. Also the general success of the team results wise. Next update will be after the closing ceremony and will include my wrap of the Olympics, the uniform swapping mission and maybe the after party!... continued

Click here to read the rest of this blog at the New Zealand Olympic Committee website

August 6, 2008
Welcome to the athlete village

Well since my last report where I was in the comfort of freezing New Zealand I have departed and arrived in the Olympic city, greeted by a 37 degree smack to the face as we walked out of the airport.

The usual orientation of the village has taken place and I have got to know where everything is, first few days we walked everywhere, Bro town (NZ home base) - food hall - transport - food hall (repeated numerous times) realising we were clocking up over 6km per day (a lot for a weightlifter), so since then we have been hogging the mountain bikes.

Training wise, had a light day when we first arrived and then the usual treatment of max lifting the following days, body is feeling great and did a few easy lifts on 175kg in the clean & jerk, and some front squats 190 x 2, so peaking at the right time.

The training hall consists of 50 platforms and right next to them is the competition venue, seats 6000 and is amazing!

Life in the village:

Well I guess outside of training it's eat sleep and train still, but throwing in a bit of socializing with the other sports, watching Family guy in Bro town, a nice game of poker with the hockey boys (Hayden Shaw = easy money although I did re-buy in.

Also general conversation and people watching in the food hall with the rowing squad, challenging a Brazilian boy to shuffle board, (3-1 to Richie), spending 1/2 hour trying to figure out how to top up my cell phone... continued

Click here to read the rest of this blog at the New Zealand Olympic Committee website

July 25, 2008
Bring it on!

Home sweet home. Someone could have told me it was cold!

Well after 10 productive weeks in Finland I finally arrived back to my bed in New Zealand (to hang upside down on the bottom of the world) as they say in Finland. From 24 hour sunlight and 23+ degree gym to dark mornings and an 8 degree gym.

The training camp came to an end with our last hit out being a demonstration at a bar called Dyyni, (meaning sand dune), we knew it was going to be an interesting venue, but how wrong were we! The competition venue located outside in 8 degree wind on the side of a sand dune, the competition results were mixed to say the least, but a good training the following day reassured me that everything is still on track.

With a difficult departure from our close Finnish friends we headed back to New Zealand, Rovaniemi - Helsinki - London - Bangkok - Sydney - Auckland, the pain experienced by a weightlifter to sit on a plane for that long to me is insane! My knees were killing me.

Finally got home and went straight for a snap & crackle to iron out the back from the osteo and was ready to go.

The taper begins, going from 15 trainings per week to 12 - ohh the bliss. What happens now is that my intensity stays high but the loading comes down, allowing for my muscles to gradually freshen up over the four week period until I compete on the 13th. Elasticity comes back, muscle power comes up and the results follow so i'm really excited, not only for the competition, but also the fact that I will be pain free for the first time in three months.

The difference in training is very noticeable, with the cold causing tighter muscles and soreness, so my decision to depart NZ into Beijing early I think is a wise one. Hot and sticky vs. cold and sore = easy decision.

The excitement begins, being in Finland I was largely isolated to the hype that is the Olympics, but since being in NZ I am really enjoying it.... continued

Click here to read the rest of this blog at the New Zealand Olympic Committee website

July 14, 2008
Finland and Facebook

Well as I said in my last entry I was heading down to Tampere in south Finland for the Finnish weightlifting Sinclair nationals, Sinclair being a formula for body weight vs. weight lifted. This allows for an open competition with no weight classes and all compete against all.
 
It turned out to be a close but successful competition, beating a team of German lifters by the slimmest of margins (lucky I used the men's room before I weighed in!). Finland's newest Olympian Antti Everi who was announced this week in the 105+ class was also there.
       
The venue was a dance hall in Ronni, and has had the tradition of holding the same competition for some 40 years, only problem being the mosquito trying to land on my nose during a lift!
 
The NZ team over here had great results with myself winning overall, Tracey Lambrechs (75kg+) second overall in senior women, Cody Cole (77kg) second overall in junior men and Chantal Lambrechs (75kg) second overall in Junior women. It was good to see quite a few personal best registered.
 
At the same time Finland had lifters competing at the Baltic cup, but we were still lucky as Antti decided to compete at nationals, and the girls had a very talented competitor (Jenni Puputti) to compete against.
 
Training wise I am coming along well, we have one heavy week left. My goal was to clean & jerk 180kg at 80kg body weight whist over here. I threw myself under that at training but missed the jerk, I have a competition this weekend and I am confident it will go there.
 
Living wise, boredom sets in as you train, eat, sleep, train, not necessary in that order. But we have managed to keep our minds occupied playing cards - loser after five rounds having to wear a purple cape that we acquired in numerous humorous situations, often confusing foreign teams who think it's part of New Zealand sporting culture. "The purple cape".... continued

Click here to read the rest of this blog at the New Zealand Olympic Committee website

July 5, 2008
Field in Beijing; peaking and training in Penrith

Looking at the field in Beijing I think it has the potential to be very close when everyone gets to their best. Our main opposition will come from the Australians, the Chinese, the British, French, the Slovenians and the Estonians. So - just about everyone! It will be tough even to make the final.

It is quite a contrast to my days in the singles where I used to feel I could have a bad day and still walk into the final. I think in this field if you have a bad day in the semi final you won't make the final!

But that is standard in rowing - as a rule of thumb the bigger the boat the tighter the field. If you look at the fours or the eights - it is even closer again.

There is always talk about when to peak and peaking too early - but it is not really a concern. Nathan and I are a consistent crew - I've always believed you should be within half a percent of your top speed all year round. All this talk about peaking and so on - which you hear across all sports - it is a pretty subtle thing. Yes, of course these other crews will come up - and it may look like it is closer - but for us it is just where we are at.

We definitely haven't peaked - we have just been training normally - the program that we are on is very much aimed at the Olympics. Being in our build up phase and having strong results is very positive. I think the fact that we are leading is more to do with the other crews not having such good performances rather than the fact that we have peaked or anything like that. Everything we do is channelled towards Beijing and we hope there is more speed to come!.... continued

Click here to read the rest of this blog at the New Zealand Olympic Committee website

June 28, 2008
Europe trip; racing in the doubles; ice creams for Nathan

It was a very positive trip to Europe. As a new crew, Nathan and I went there to get a benchmark of where we were at. Obviously the final results were pleasing - although we have to be cautious about just how significant they are. We know that at the Olympics Games we are probably not going to see some of these guys until the last 500m - that is when they are going to be at their best.

It is not that the other teams are holding things back but there are definitely crews that come up for the big ones - they have showed that over the years and we will expect nothing less this time.

For example, we are pretty sure that we won't see the French until the last 500m of the final! They did the same thing in 2004 at Athens. They didn't do much in the season before, were hardly noticed in the Olympic semi finals and then all of a sudden they won the final and had the gold medal.

And that is all that counts - when all is said and done it is the Olympics that everybody remembers.

Having said all that - we feel like our boat is going really well. The neat thing is that it is improving all the time - it is definitely not going the other way and we feel like the improvement hasn't stopped. We need to keep getting better to try and stay ahead of the opposition.

Nathan and I have gelled well as a unit and I think we compliment each other well in the boat. I would like to think I have helped his speed through the middle of the race and he has helped us get out of the blocks quicker and finish better.... continued

Click here to read the rest of this blog at the New Zealand Olympic Committee website

June 26, 2008 
Making the team
 
Well since my selection to the New Zealand Olympic squad it's been an exciting and action packed time for me.
 
Being confirmed in the Olympic team on the 30th of April was fantastic. It was my 25th birthday and also the launch of the Olympic uniform, which I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to have some input into as part of the athlete design team. I think it looks great and the launch was a great occasion to be part of, however I didn't fit the usual catwalk look - but did my best.
 
Since then I began my road to Beijing, moving to Finland to continue a tough training regime and also to gain some top level competition.
 
I'm based in a place called Rovaniemi which sits on the Arctic Circle at the northern end of Finland. My coach promised me summer, but when we arrived it was -3 and snowing, which it continued to do for the next three weeks. Since then the sun has been shining, a lot! 24 hours daylight for the last week.

The good thing is I can wake up early in the morning and the sun is up. It's twilight most of the night and the sun just sits on the horizon. A bit better than going to a cold training hall whist it is dark in New Zealand.
 
I've also been working hard on learning the Finnish language, I can understand a little conversation, but the pronunciation on my side lacks a little and sometimes I say something completely different to what I am trying too, but I'm sure they have a little laugh.
 
But down to the real stuff.
 
Training for me at the moment is six days a week, starting at 8am for up to eight hours a day. I'm in a cycle that has two tough heavy weeks then one light week. Sunday is my one and only recovery day.
 
I've already got some good results from training. Before I got here I was front squatting 190kg, I've now built that to 210kg. It correlates well to the clean and jerk so I'm very excited about that. Once I start tapering for the Olympics the extra leg strength will prove valuable.... continued

Click here to read the rest of this blog at the New Zealand Olympic Committee website