Zsuzsa Csobanki's Olympic Diary

This is the first in a series of diary entries written by University of Arkansas Lady Razorback swimmer Zsuzsa Csobanki from the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Csoboanki, an incoming senior from Budapest, Hungary, is making her first Olympic appearance for the Hungarian team. This is her experience in her own words. Csobanki wrote: I am finally here. I cannot believe it. I arrived in Athens at 2:00 p.m. at the Greece time. Everything was so fast and easy. Everybody in the airport helped us and the other athletes. To get a creditation was a little bit slow, because they had to take pictures and check passports, but we did not have to spend more then one hour in the airport. They put us on a bus which brought us to the Olympic Village. It is so nice! They built typical Greek houses, which means they do not have sloped roofs, it is flat. My roommate is Agnes Kovacs and she is nice. She was fourth today at the 200 IM. I only had a half an hour to sit down and relax, then we went to the pool. Oh, it is incredible. I cannot write it down. It is so huge, and there are so many fast swimmers. I saw some known faces, but most of them I do not know. I took so many pictures and I will bring them all to Fayetteville. I saw the competition. I am still shaking, typing is really hard. I saw some Hungarians in the final and the semifinal as well. It was a good day for the Hungarians. But it was an awesome day for United States as well. Michel Phelps was so good. He won the 200 fly, and he was one of the swimmers on the winning 4×200 free relay. The best part was a Romanian swimmer. She swam in lane one and won the 200 free (1.58,03) from there. She was sooooo happy. I also loved a Japanese guy who was second after Phelps on the 200 fly. I cannot write down my feelings. To be there and cheer for the swimmers is so much fun. It is also much different then seeing the meet from TV. It’s unbelievable. I cannot wait to swim. I feel I have so much energy. I am so strong, and to see the other swimmers gives me a huge motivation. I am in the Olympic village right now. The food is really good, I can eat whatever I would like to. The food section is about 10 times bigger the Brough is. And it is not a joke, I am so serious. I did not see too much today, but I feel that I already have so much to remember. Everybody should be here. If I had to work five years for that one day, I’d say O.K., for sure. And I haven even swam yet. Zsuzsa