Going for the gold

By John Crane

Published: August 24, 2008

A Danville couple witnessed Olympic history and got a snapshot of Chinese culture this month when they traveled to Beijing to watch a relative compete in the Summer Games.

The trek became even sweeter when Drs. Barry and Martha Cutright, who are dentists in Danville, watched Barry’s cousin, Lindsay Shoop, and the rest of the U.S. women’s eight rowing team take the gold medal on Aug. 17.

“To have a relative win a gold medal is pretty cool,” Barry Cutright said during an interview at their home Sunday.

The couple was in China from Aug. 10 through Aug. 18.

Shoop, 26, trained for four or five years for the event after an Olympic coach from California saw her rowing at the University of Virginia, where she was on the school’s team.

“She was called the unexpected Olympian in Virginia,” Barry Cutright said, citing newspaper reports in Charlottesville, where UVA is located. “She has kind of a knack for it (rowing).”

Her Olympic training included eight hours of workouts a day, six hours of cardio and two hours of lifting. Sometimes the two were reversed, with six hours of weightlifting and two of cardio, Martha Cutright said.

For Shoop, who lives in Princeton, N.J., the long, hard slog of workouts and anticipation paid off when the team beat out Romania, a tough contender. Shoop was scheduled to participate in closing ceremonies in Beijing on Sunday evening.

The Cutrights had their own challenges preparing for the trip to Beijing, which involved a 13-hour flight each way and changing and upgrading their airline tickets, Barry Cutright said. They flew from Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. The couple had to get vaccinated for a slew of diseases — hepatitis A and B, typhoid fever, tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis — before heading to China. Shoop’s and her team’s first competition was scheduled to begin just three hours after the Cutrights’ flight was to arrive.

But they would not break the promise Barry made to Lindsay last Christmas, he said.

“I promised Lindsay … we’d get together if she made it to the Olympics and that no matter what we had to do, we’d be there,” he said.

Once there, the Cutrights enjoyed the Olympic treatment, which included hanging around the Bank of America’s lounge reserved for some relatives of U.S. athletes. Bank of America was a sponsor of the event. The couple got to meet other families and Olympic athletes in the lounge and experience the camaraderie. Security was tight for the Olympics, with identification frequently checked, and Chinese society is militarized, the Cutrights said.

Along the way, the Cutrights visited China’s tourist sites — the Great Wall, Tiananman Square and the Forbidden City.

The couple had to monitor their food and beverage consumption. Expiration dates on bottled water and sodas were expired by at least a month.

The Chinese people were friendly and gracious, especially the younger generation, who eagerly asked the Cutrights to have their photos taken with them, Barry said.

However, the Cutrights’ only disappointment was not being able to tour the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest.

But they’ll never forget the high of hearing the U.S National Anthem played when the women’s eight rowing team won the gold medal. When a team won a medal, the country’s national anthem was played and everyone stood in respect.

“It’s a good feeling,” Barry said.