Thank You

Although the tournament is over and we are all safely back in the US the Olympic spirit lives on. Thank you everyone for your support. Your words of encouragement and friendship are the final ingredients which made the 2008 Olympic games one of the most memorable experiences of our lives. All the best. Go USA.

USA WINS

Wow, what an amazing evening and a wonderful night to be representing the USA. The match was incredible, with of course the USWNT winning GOLD. The support of Women’s soccer was inspiring with over 50, ooo people in attendance including FIFA President Blatter, IOC President Jacques Rogge, Pele, Kobe Bryant, and Michelle Kwan…

Following the match, we had a ceremony of our own with all the referees being awarded our very own Olympic Medal and personalized certificate of participation. The only thing missing upon receipt was the playing of the National Anthem!

With the Women’s portion of the tournament completed, the women referees return to their respective countries on Friday. We all have mixed feeling about our departure; sad that the event we all dreamed of participating in for our entire lives is coming to an end, but at the same time looking forward to being on US soil with the opportunity to order a burrito on any given day :) :)

Thank you everyone for all your support these last many weeks. Wishing you all the best from Beijing.

Kari & Team

An Honor

It is always an honor to work a final match, in any capacity. There is no exception in this case. Kari has been selected to be the 4th official for the Bronze medal match of Germany v Japan. May the best team win and may the ball roll straight for the team of officials. Go USA.

More Than Just Football

The last several days have afforded us the opportunity to see a little more China and a little more of the Olympic Games. Yesterday day morning our training session consisted of a 2 hour excursion (walking and running) on the great wall. That is a heck of a work out - who knew that there were over 20% grades and some of them without stairs. I got up to a 94% HR on that last set of stairs. Way cool.

These Olympic Games have been incredible.

Thank you Official Sports International

Official Sports International has always been a wonderful supporter of US Referees, and this event was no exception. They supplied us with 90 sac pacs to give as gifts to the referees and administrators at the 2008 Olympic Games. The bags were a big hit, with lots of use on the trip to the Great Wall (I hear).

In the photo below Kari, Marlene & Veronica are modeling the great new women's cut polos. We really love them.

Thank you OSI!!!

A Night for Brazil

For most of our Quarterfinal match, Brazil was in full control of the ball and the play over rival Norway. After the first goal was scored on a rocket from Daniela at about 30 yards, you could see the Norwegians lose confidence. That was until the 81st minute when the Brazilian GK (the reserve GK) took down a Norwegian player near the touchline and Norway scored from the resulting Penalty Kick (By the way, any ideas why that was not a red card for DOGSO??). From then we had another 13 minutes of strong play.

Overall, the teams came to play and we as a referee team were able to control the game with voice and whistles rather than cards. I am really proud of my crew and honored to have worked this Olympics with Veronica & Marlene.

I am hoping you are following along with the USA WNT and saw that after 4 hours they too prevailed, in this case over Canada. That being said the USA women’s referee crew will more than likely not be eligible for a semi-final. As a good AR knows, we’ll just have to wait and see for the future.

Thank you everyone for all your support. It truly means a lot to us. Best from Beijing –
Kari

quarter final assignments

Tonight we received the quarterfinal assignments. Our crew was assigned the match in shanghai at 9:00. The match is between Holland and Argentina. It should be a tough match. We leave Friday for a plane flight to Shanghai. We are presently preparing for the match by watching the matches that both teams have played.
Jair and Kermit