I practiced judo for six years with Denver Judo, and never once made it to the U.S. Olympic Training Center (OTC) in Colorado Springs. Tournaments were held there at least annually, and I was never able to make it for one reason or another. One happened to be that I wasn't much for competing, but generally there were time conflicts. The biggest conflict of all now is that I'm no longer able to practice due to a shift in schedules at work. Part of me is disappointed by this because I found judo a lot of fun, but another part is happy that I don't hurt every day any longer. It's nice to wake up in the morning and not ache.
Well, this past weekend I had some friends come to town for a visit and one of them wanted to tour the OTC. I was interested in finally making it there as well, and hopeful that I might run into one of the Olympic or Paralympic athletes I know from judo that live and train there. I wasn't lucky enough for that randomness, but I did enjoy the tour quite a bit nonetheless.

We had time to check out the various statues outside the visitor center, and a handful of displays in the lobby, before the tour began with a short film. It was fun to see various Olympic highlights, particularly those from the recent Vancouver Olympics, but the shot film was essentially a plea for donations. Since the OTC receives a lot of its funding from corporate and private donations, I could certainly appreciate the message in the film. It's difficult for athletes to try to train full time, and also work to fund their needs. This way they're allowed to concentrate on their Olympic goal and hopefully make their nation proud.

Still, I would've liked the film to be from more of an historical perspective about the Olympics in the United States. As it was, we didn't learn much about the history of the Olympic movement in the U.S., but instead just were pitched a request for donations before a tour that was really only informative about which building was which on the campus.
We were able to enter two buildings on the campus. One was the main gym where some male gymnasts were training. The judo facility was apparently below it, but we didn't go down to see where the judoka work out. I almost asked to do so, but figured that if it were allowed then it would be on the tour.
The second building we stopped in was the weightlifting facility and wrestling practice room. Several athletes were working out in the gym, and wrestling practice just ended. That certainly left an interesting odor in the air, but one I was not unfamiliar with from my time on the judo mat since the sports are quite similar.

The tour took us past other buildings, like the swimming facility, that we were able to peek into through the windows. A flurry of questions were asked about swimmer Michael Phelps when this happened, but our guide wasn't able to say much about it since Phelps doesn't train there full time. She did her best to field all the questions, obviously greatly informed about the goings on, but wasn't able to hit all the marks unfortunately as some of them were a bit high.

I generally enjoyed the tour, despite not being able to get a quick glimpse back into the world of judo that I left approximately a year ago. It was fun to walk the grounds and see where greatness can begin. I wish it were a bit more in depth with the opportunity to see more of the buildings, particularly one of the unoccupied athlete dorm rooms, and the practicing, but our guide said a lot of the areas were restricted to protect the athletes privacy.

Another time maybe, when time and work allow it, I'll get back into judo again and be able to explore the complex in more depth. Until then, I'll just have to continue to live vicariously through the many stories my friends at Denver Judo indulge me with about their time there. No matter how many times they retell them, I always find it interesting to hear them again since they really achieved a level that so many of us can only dream of.