China At Last: Flo's World Championships Journal

Kentucky head coach Edrick Floréal is serving as head coach of Team USA at the IAAF World Championships this summer. He and the team arrived at the final destination: Beijing earlier this week. He sent this report to UKathletics.com

China at last – 

Some 60-plus coaches and athletes boarded the 3.5-hour
Japan airline flight from Narita, Japan, anxious to land in China.

The surprisingly
bearable flight gave way to perhaps the largest customs line any of us have ever
seen. Two hours later we stepped outside and navigated through the members
of the media and autograph seekers on our way to the Kuntai Hotel for
accreditation and check-in.

Despite the long wait and humidity this wasn’t such a bad
trip at all.

But wait, why is Usain Bolt in our hotel lobby? And who forgot to
tell us that the Jamaican team is in our hotel?

Imagine the scene as Justin Gatlin and
Bolt walked past each other in the lobby, a precursor for what will perhaps be the race of
the century.

Yep, Team USA is in China at last!