Spending the Day with Team USA Moms, Olympians, and Olympic Hopefuls

Raising an Olympian. Can you imagine? Yesterday I spent the day with TEAM USA Moms of Olympic athletes & Olympic hopefuls. As part of Procter & Gamble’s Thank You Mom Campaign, they announced yesterday they will be giving $1000 to EVERY single Team USA Mom – 800 of them – to help them get to London to see their children compete.

My day was extraordinary and beyond inspirational.

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Tough to put it into words – so for now here’s just a great recap with photos. As the Olympics draw closer I’ll be able to share more personal stories and unveil the “Raising an Olympian” videos that P&G created for nearly a dozen athletes & their Moms.

We started the day off at the Today Show to film a segment on the Plaza to share the big surprise about the $1000 gift to every Mother and to preview the unbelievably incredible 2 minute “Thank You Mom” ad. This one gets me every time!

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Here’s Ryan Lochte – Olympic swimmer with his Mom. They were adorable!

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My friend Audrey and I couldn’t resist posing in the Plaza with all the London banners in the background.

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And yeah, I could not RESIST getting up close with Ryan.

Besides being incredibly fast in the water he is clearly a Sponsor’s dream. And after posting this pic on Facebook to share with friends he is also apparently the Olympic athlete every Mom friend of mine will officially now be crushing on during the Summer Games in London too.  LOL!

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Matt, Ann and Al. And Ann is super duper cute in person and totally styling too.

Our next stop was a press conference with the Team USA Moms and athletes for the media. And then I basically got to hang out all day with the Moms and athletes.  I truly got to spend quality time with the Moms of these Olympic caliber athletes and get to know them on the Mom to Mom level and learn their “stories.” Incredible.

This is Lois Clemens – mother of Kortney Clemons, ParaOlympian athlete in Track & Field who lost his leg in 2005 in Iraq. Heartbreaking and inspiring.

A true hero for the Red, White, and Blue.

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And this is Roslyn Eaton and her son Ashton Eaton – world record holder in the Heptathlon! We spent a ton of time with Ros. She has a magnetic personality and is full of sage advice. After talking to her and absorbing her nuggets of wisdom, I could  see why her son turned out to be an incredibly genuine person and accomplished athlete.

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I am going to be following the trials so closely now after feeling like I know all these Gymnasts, Weightlifters, Swimmers, and Runners.

We also met the adoptive mother of Lopez Lomong – one fo the Lost Boys of Sudan who came to the USA to live in New York – and carried the flag for the US at the Beijing Games. Another major WOW story. And we chatted lots with Sarah Robles, 2012 Weightlifter and her mother, Diana Lopez, Tae Kwon Do Olympian, Jordyn Wieber, high school student and 2011 World Champion in Gymnastics! What a day.

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Hanging out with our Digital Mom friends who came by to attend the press conference and a Blogger Q&A roundtable that both Audrey and I moderated together with the athletes and Moms.

Another fun shot of Ryan with gold medalist Gymnast, Shawn Johnson. She was a doll and so was her Mom.

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I’ll be posting her Raising an Olympian video tomorrow!

Disclosure: Thanks to P&G for inviting me to attend this event, moderate a panel,  and paying for my travel expenses. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

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