Our flight left at 11a.m. for Beijing, and we are flying with many other members of the U.S. Olympic team, including athletes and coaches from gymnastics, track and Field and wrestling.
Meeting and visiting with athletes and coaches from other sports is one of the great things about the Olympics. It's fun to see the old guard people that I have known and traveled with many times before, and it is equally fun and interesting to meet people for the first time, especially athletes and coaches that are going to be in their first Olympic Games.
There isn't anything like the excitement of participating in the Olympics for the first time. It's much like participating in your first World Cup (soccer), Super Bowl (football), NBA Final, etc.
The flight from San Francisco direct to Beijing is 12 hours. It will probably take us about three hours to travel to the Olympic Village, get through security and get settled in. Our first judo workout will be the next day from 10 a.m. to noon.
Although the Olympics is the greatest sports show on earth, coaches sacrifice quite a bit to be here. For me personally, the immense amount of travel keeps me away from my wife and Jason Morris Judo Center partner, Teri Takemori. We started out having a long-distance relationship, and even though we are married and live in the same house, it feels like it's the same as when we were dating due me being on road so much.
Teri and I met at the 1987 World Judo Trials in Colorado Springs, Colo. I proposed to Teri in December 1999 on NBC's "Today" show and luckily she said yes on national TV. We got married December 30, 2000, in her hometown of Alexandria, Va., and have been happily married ever since.
Teri and I often travel together to coach our Jason Morris Judo Center kids at many events, but since we have so many athletes doing well at different levels, it requires one of us to travel and one to stay home to run the dojo. After all, the athletes that remain need to keep training.
USA Judo Team head coach Jason Morris is also posting photos to accompany his blog in the gallery "Olympic Experience". You can view the gallery by clicking here.
