Center Stage - Chapter 34

The stands were already packed as we made our way in. Jean had wanted to wait until the stands were full to get to our seats, so we didn’t have to push through a bulk of people, but I was worried that would mean we’d have to make a late arrival. So instead, I opted to be very early. Jean didn’t love that, but I’d already made it clear I wasn’t going to compromise my support for Kat, and it was up to Jean to keep me safe while I was doing it.

We were in our seats before the swimmers even came out, which means I got to watch them march out and start preparing for the race. I was focused enough on them that I almost missed a group of girls making their way to me, with Malik moving to intercept them.

“Malik, it’s fine,” I said.

They had Olympic programs and pens in their hands, which I assumed meant they wanted autographs. They were also clearly teenagers and didn’t seem like much of a threat. Jean looked not thrilled, but gave Malik a nod, sending him stepping aside.

“Can you sign, please?” one of the girls said, holding out the program.

“Sure. What’s your name?”

“Miko.”

I smiled and signed it, personalizing it with her name, which was something Warren suggested I do as often as possible, since it cut down on the resellers who would try to get me to sign stuff with just my signature so they could resell it. I didn’t really care that much if people tried to make money off of reselling my stuff like that, but he told me that those people could become very aggressive and push actual fans out of the way, dominating my time, so it was better to make it harder on them.

I’d been surprised when we’d stepped off the plane to find just as big of a crowd waiting for me as the one we’d left behind in Asheville. I’d become used to, well, somewhat used to, fans in the US, but I’d been surprised to find just as many fans here. Maybe even more. We’d had a crowd outside the hotel the morning after we arrived, and there were at least a few people there every day waiting for autographs and pictures.

I don’t know if I was just lucky or if ARC had been doing a lot of Asian marketing, but I hoped it meant the sales were doing good here too. I signed hers and the programs for her friend, who were giggling and smiling the whole time.

“Arigato gozaimasu!” they chorused, bowing slightly before scurrying back to their seats, giggling excitedly.

I turned my attention back to the pool, watching Kat pace. I could see she was nervous. I didn’t blame her for that. Her schedule was grueling. After talking to her coach and the people from US swimming, who’d asked her to be in three separate relays, she’d decided to drop out of the fifteen hundred and eight hundred freestyle races, which were her weakest ones, mostly because of the schedule. With the relays, she was in seven races, each of which would have heats and semifinals and finals, assuming she got that far, meaning potentially she was swimming twenty-one times over less than a week’s time period, not counting practice sessions, each of which she had to swim at her fastest pace possible.

Considering she’d barely qualified for the fifteen-hundred and that would be the most tiring race she could swim, it was decided that was too much and could affect her overall performance. Instead, she was going to focus on where she really shined: sprinting. Even with that, though, her schedule was packed.

The first half of the week was mostly the shorter races and some relays, with her best race, the fifty-meter, kicking off today. It was later in the week that I was worried about since she’d have her first four-hundred-meter heat on Wednesday, with the final all the way on Friday, when she’d be her most tired.

Not optimum, but she’d have to deal with it.

After what seemed like an eternity, and about a dozen more small groups coming to ask for autographs, things looked like they were starting to happen. Jean, helpfully, positioned Mana to block anyone else from coming for autographs as things got underway. I appreciated it, not that I minded signing things for fans, but I wanted to be able to give my full attention to her if I had to keep signing things.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the swimmers for Heat One of the Women’s 50-meter Freestyle, and the inaugural swim of this year’s games.”

The crowd cheered as Kat and the rest of the girls made their way to their starting blocks. The announcer read off the swimmer in each lane, with Kat in lane four. Each girl waved as their name was called and sections of the crowd cheered for the person representing their country.

I couldn’t help but notice one of the cameras pointing up toward me as the girls got on their starting blocks. I assumed it was to get my reaction as the race went on, not that it would be long enough for them to switch to me. But it meant I had to keep it together and couldn’t go nuts if things went bad.

Which, for a second, felt like what was going to happen.

The starting gun cracked and the eight swimmers shot into the water almost, although not simultaneously. I’d seen Kat swim enough times by now to recognize that she’d gone in the water slow, a little bit behind her opponents. Maybe it was the nerves of a first heat or the crowd watching her, but she’d been slow and was behind everyone else.

And with only one lap of the pool, that was dangerous.

“Come on, Kat,” I muttered under my breath.

The Australian in Lane Five took an early lead. Thankfully Kat must have realized she was behind, because at the twenty-five meter mark, she suddenly surged forward, overtaking two opponents in quick succession.

“Go, go, go!” I screamed, not that my voice would stand out from the rest of the crowd.

By the final fifteen meters, it was Kat and the Australian, neck in neck, everyone else a little behind them. This short of a race, anyone could have a sudden surge and pull into the lead, but unless something happened, it was going to be either Kat or the Australian.

This was a heat though, so as long as Kat made it in the top two with a good time, she was moving on to the semis. I knew that wouldn’t be enough for Kat though. She’d want the win.

She always wanted the win.

She didn’t prove me wrong this time either, with another surge as they neared the wall. The Chinese swimmer in lane one tried the same and managed to close to third, but it wasn’t enough to catch up. Kat and the Australian hit the wall at almost the same moment, and I wasn’t sure who won.

The scores popped up on the scoreboard. First place, Moore (USA) with a time of twenty-three point one nine seconds, followed by McKeon (AUS) with a time of twenty-three point two zero seconds. Not Kat’s best time and two-thirds of a second off the world record, but close and a really competitive one. Especially for an early heat.

She hadn’t been looking to break records, which maybe explained the slow start, but it was good enough.

Her first race of the Olympics was done and she’d shown that she was as good, or maybe even better, than anyone else.

***

***

By now, I had been in so many interviews, press conferences, and things like that, that I was absolutely fascinated watching it from the outside. I was leaning against a wall, almost in the back of the room, as the USA swimming coach climbed onto the dais and behind the long table, followed by Kat and the other swimmers in their Team USA windbreakers, backed by a backdrop with the USA Swimming logo behind them.

They all sat down, and the coach adjusted her microphone, pulling it down toward her. “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us today. We still have a lot of swimming to do, but we wanted to take a moment to celebrate the incredible achievements of these women up here with me today. I don’t know if you’ve been keeping score, but we are on pace to have the most gold medals won by women in swimming in not just US history, but in Olympic history. They have also, so far, broken four Olympic and one world record. To say I’m proud of our girls would be a massive understatement.”

I clapped along with the rest of the room, beaming at Kat. She had the world record, set in the one-hundred meter finals that morning, along with an Olympic record in the fifty-meter semifinals where she absolutely crushed everyone else into the pool.

She was really pushing herself, and it showed. She had competed in four events so far and had gold in every single one of them. That included the four by one-hundred relay, where she had been almost a full body-length behind going into her leg, which was the final lap, and managed to pull out the win for the US. I had been almost out of my mind, screaming at the pool as she closed. I’m sure the cameras watching me got good footage for the coverage that night.

Not that it had been an easy few days. She was wiped, almost passing out as soon as she got back to the Olympic village each night, which meant we hadn’t gotten to talk as much as I would have liked. She was also only halfway done, and I worried what that was going to do to her performance in the latter half.

I had been concerned she had taken on too many races, even with dropping two of them, and worried how she would feel if the second half of the week things went downhill.

At least it was only a week though. Swimming basically ended after week one, with the attention of the games turning to track and field. So for the second half, we would get to be spectators together, which I was looking forward to.

“I know you’ve got a lot of questions, and we have to start preparing for tomorrow’s events, so let’s get down to it,” the coach said. “Let’s start with Katherine Moore, who has already brought home four gold medals, the most of any US swimmer so far at these games, men or women.”

“Thank you, Coach. I couldn’t have done it without your guidance, and that of Coach Lindsay and Coach Inez, of course, and the support of my incredible teammates,” Kat said, referencing both the coach of the UNC swimming team and her personal coach, whom she’d been working with for several years at this point. “Uhh, I guess if you have questions?”

A bunch of hands shot up.

“Katherine, can you tell us about your training regimen? How have you managed to maintain this level of performance across so many events?” the journalist Kat pointed at said.

“It’s been a combination of intense training and a lot of rest and recovery. My coaches have been amazing at tailoring my workouts to keep me at peak performance without burning out. And, of course, a lot of mental preparation. Visualizing success and staying focused on each race as it comes.”

“Katherine, we know you prefer the sprints and shorter distances. What’s your strategy for the upcoming four-hundred-meter race?” another reporter asked as she moved to the next one.

She was actually doing quite well in picking out journalists, jumping around, and staying focused. Quinn had to sit me down a few times and go over how to handle it and keep the room in control. Kat had mentioned they did go through a few media training sessions, but they had seemed more geared towards one-on-one interviews, from how she’d explained them.

“Honestly, I’m just going to try my best. The four-hundred I hope isn’t too far outside of my abilities, at least not compared to the eight-hundred and fifteen-hundred. For the four-hundred, it’s all about pacing myself. I have a tendency to just push the entire length, which actually got me in a little trouble in the two-hundred yesterday. I was able to power through, but if I do the same thing on Friday, I’m going to be in trouble. So … I guess yeah.”

“Katherine, what are your thoughts on the competition? Who do you see as your biggest rivals?” a man not far from where I was standing asked.

“The competition has been incredible. Every swimmer here has worked so hard to get to this point, and it shows. I have so much respect for all of them. As for rivals, this is the Olympics. Everyone in that pool is the best their nation has to offer and an amazing swimmer, and thinking any of them is less dangerous than the others is how they sneak up on you. I take each girl I’m in the pool with seriously because they’ve all shown they deserve to be here.”

“With such a good start to your first games, do you think this is the last time we’ll see you? Are you planning on continuing and coming back next year in Paris?” a French woman in the front row asked.

“I definitely plan to continue swimming. It’s my passion, and I can’t imagine my life without it. Paris is a long time from now, and I’m not even thinking about that. Right now, I’m just focused on giving it my all here.”

“How did it feel to break the world record in the 100-meter freestyle? Did you realize you were close to breaking it mid-race?” an American reporter asked.

“It was an incredible feeling. Actually, it’s a little surreal. In the pool, I’m just focused on my mechanics, my breathing, and the people in the lanes next to me. I can’t really think about the time or anything. So I had no idea until I hit the wall and had a chance to look at the boards.”

“Considering that it is the longest, what is your thinking for the final races? Do you feel any added pressure?” a Japanese journalist asked through an interpreter sitting next to him.

It was hard to tell until they started asking questions, but there was a fairly wide range of countries represented in the journalist pool. I would have thought it was mostly reporters from the team being interviewed, but maybe because of all the medals and the world record, Kat had generated additional interest. If so, that was exciting.

“My mindset is to stay focused and take each race one at a time. I have more than just the four hundred. I still have a bunch of races to swim, and I’m not taking any of them for granted. As for if I’m feeling pressure? There’s always pressure, but I try to use it as motivation rather than letting it overwhelm me.”

Everyone nodded at that answer, and I couldn’t help but think they’d be much more impressed by it if they’d known Kat two years ago when she’d break down if someone yelled at her, and everything overwhelmed her. It really spoke to how far she’d come.

Surprisingly, the next reporter didn’t ask a question of Kat, but instead turned and looked toward me, asking, “Charlie, any plans to perform in Tokyo during the Olympics? Maybe a celebratory concert if Kat sweeps her races?”

Heads turned as all of the reporters looked toward me, which kind of annoyed me. I was just here as a spectator, and while maybe one reporter doing something like that was predictable, the rest of them just going with it was a bad look.

“Today is really about these great swimmers and their amazing performance here at the games. These are some of the best athletes I’ve ever seen and they’ve done a lot of work to get here. They deserve this moment and your questions should be addressed to them.”

At least the guy who asked the question had the good sense to look sheepish.

“Let’s keep focused on our athletes, please,” the coach said. “We’re here to celebrate their achievements.”

The reporter turned back to Kat, who smiled at me from the dais. The coach moved on to the next athlete, and thankfully the room’s attention shifted back fully.

The rest of the press conferences lasted an hour. Honestly, I only really cared about Kat’s part, but I couldn’t just walk away once she was done, since it would be notable and a snub to the other girls. It wouldn’t be fair to them, but more importantly, it might make Kat’s dealing with them harder, so I just stayed for all of it.

When it finished, I hung around just in case Kat wanted to talk for a bit before going back to the Olympic village, and was happy to see her make her way to me after they finished and climbed off the dais.

“Hey, you were great up there,” I said, taking her hands in mine but keeping it at that, aware we were being watched by reporters.

“Thanks. They’ve given us the night off, since my first race tomorrow isn’t until the afternoon, and I could really use a break from all... this. Can we head back to your hotel for a bit? I’d like to see everyone and just relax.”

“Of course,” I replied, holding her hand and leading her to the exit where Jean was standing. “Everyone’s going to be so excited to see you.”

Jean led us through the back hallways we’d made our way to the aquatics center conference room area, one of the benefits to make up for all the other BS.

Malik was waiting in the car, and we were out and on the road to the hotel before anyone could intercept us and start asking questions.

“Seriously, you did an incredible job handling all those questions. I’m so proud of you,” I said as we got in the car.

“I just tried to do what you would’ve done - give credit to the people around me and stay humble,” she said. “I remember Quinn telling you no one wants a diva.”

I chuckled. “Pretty sure she said no one wants a male diva.”

“Well, I think no one wants diva athletes either.”

“Yeah, probably. So, what do you want to do tonight? We could grab dinner with everyone, or just chill at the hotel if you’re tired.”

“Honestly, as much as I love our friends, I’m kind of peopled out after that press conference. Maybe we could order room service and watch a movie? I just want to relax and not think about swimming for a few hours.”

“Sounds perfect to me,” I said, giving her hand a squeeze.

We arrived back at the hotel and headed up to the suite. I had ended up getting several, since it was cheaper than a mess of hotel rooms, putting four of us to a suite. I was in a room with Cole, Lyla, and Seth, which had been a fight with Jean, who wanted her and the other two to get the three rooms with me, but I wanted to be with my friends. Besides, there was a central living area where whoever was on duty could hang out, so I put them in their own suite, which they were sharing with Chef.

Which actually worked. Chef and Jean got on great and the boys were very respectful of him, so I think they were all fine with the arrangement once Jean accepted I wasn’t going to bend.

Jean excused herself when we got up to the floor and Kat and I were walked into the suite, although I knew she’d be back with us shortly. She’d actually relaxed a little once she saw how the hotel worked, with controlled access to the entire floor we were on. So as long as I was in my room safe, she was less of a mother hen.

I closed the door behind me and we walked through the short entry area into the living room, where Kat and I froze in our tracks.

On the couch, were two people, one lying on top of the other, clothes half off and really going at it. It was clear who it was, because as soon as we were in the room, Cole sat up, his face flushed and red, revealing Alina underneath him.

“I... uh... we were just...” Cole stammered, looking from us, to Alina, and back.

“Oh, hey guys, I didn’t expect you back,” Alina said, a lot cooler, as she pulled herself out from under Cole all the way and sat up, smoothing her hair.

“Yeah, Kat got the night off,” I said, laughing, partly out of awkwardness and partly at Cole’s embarrassment.

“It’s just … uhhh, we …” Cole kept trying.

“It’s fine, Cole,” I said.

“You know they set us up hoping this would happen, right?” Alina said. “They’re fine.”

“Really?” Cole said, looking at me.

Kat giggled. “He’s adorable.”

“I know. I like them big and dumb,” Alina said, laughing.

“Hey,” Cole said, fake offended, but smiling.

“Dude, just go with it. If a girl tells you to roll with something, you roll with it.”

Cole glanced between us, then at Alina, who was watching him with an amused expression. “Okay.”

As Alina got up, fixing her clothes, Kat broke off from me and hooked her arm on.

“We’ll be back,” Kat said, over her shoulder as she headed toward my room.

“So,” I said, flopping down in an armchair, “where’s everyone else?”

Although he still looked a little shell shocked, he said, “They all went out to dinner. Alina and I decided to stay behind because...”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, I think I know why you stayed behind.”

After a moment, Cole started laughing too. “Man, I can’t believe this. When you invited me on this trip, I never expected... well, any of this.”

“That’s how it usually happens,” I said, kicking my feet up on the coffee table. “So, you and Alina, huh? How’s that going?”

Cole’s face lit up. “She’s amazing, Charlie. I mean, at first I thought she was way out of my league, but we got talking and... I don’t know, man. There’s just something there.”

“I’m happy for you,” I said sincerely. “Just remember, she’s been through a lot. Take it slow, okay?”

Cole nodded seriously. “Of course. I wouldn’t dream of doing anything to hurt her.”

“Good,” I said.

We chatted for a bit, while waiting for Kat and Alina to re-emerge. I was happy for them. They looked happy, which is what Kat and I had been hoping for.