Hi all - (Sorry about the late updates, enjoy!)

On August 23rd the team flew up to Beijing for our last two days in China at the Olympic Village. On the 23rd we had a team dinner at the USA House and had a great time enjoying these last moments together. After dinner some of my teammates and I got tickets to the women’s gold medal basketball game, and we watched USA defeat the Australians! It was a great game and just awesome to see our girls play and win the gold!!

The next day (Aug 24th) we had closing ceremony in the evening & spent the day at some more final games. First we went to the men’s volleyball gold medal game between USA and Brazil, and our men took it home! It was a very exciting game and fun to cheer on our players.
Afterwards we rushed to the basketball stadium and watched the men’s basketball gold medal game between USA and Spain, it was getting pretty competitive even in the cheering zones and the game was outstanding. What an amazing rush to see these guys play! I was very proud to be supporting the US team among other athletes and we all cheered as loud as we could.

At 6:45 pm the entire USA delegation gathered, dressed in our Polo Ralph Lauren team apparel we made our way to the birds nest stadium for closing ceremony.

Closing was another amazing event; the performances, the crown and the mingling of the athletes were among the best parts of the night. As we walked through the tunnel into the stadium, we stood among the rest of the nations and enjoyed the show.

Scott Weiss (our team physiotherapist) and I walked around the four separate areas of nations, took pictures with several countries, traded pins and had a moment to sit back and take it all in. It was truly special, and something I can't find words to describe.

The event was spectacular all together and it marked the closing of my Olympic Games experience. I have to admit that it was very sad to leave the ceremony and the village yesterday and all of us were both sad to leave but happy to come home to share it with friends and family.

Yesterday as I made the trip back home, I tried to write down special moments down so I wouldn't forget. I found myself having a hard time finding the words to describe the feelings that I experience and really how special this entire experience has been. As I look back from the start. We had an outstanding team and supported each other through everything. I respect every one of our team members and applaud them for their accomplishments. We all raced hard, had good and bad days and were proud to represent our country in the sport of sailing. My results in the end didn't improve much, and I have to move away from that. As I think of what a great accomplishment and opportunity this has been, I know I raced the best I could, and that's all I can give. At 20 yrs of age, I have plenty of opportunities to make the Olympic Team again; I’ll take with me what I learned from this experience and use it to my advantage for the next time I race. Whether I make the Olympic Team again or not, I will cherish this experience and these Olympic Games forever!

I am very proud and happy for Anna Tunnicliffe and Zach Railey, our two medalists & honored to have had the opportunity to share this experience with them. It is very inspiring to see them succeed at their goals and it just reminds me again how special this journey has been.

I'd like to thank each and every one of you who have supported & shared this experience with me. Without your support, I would have never made it this far and it has been a pleasure sharing it with you.
I'm so happy to be back in the U.S.A, it feels good to be home! In the next few days, I will be sharing as much as I can with as many people as I can, including all my friends, supporters and family.

Thank you all for everything and stay tuned for more updates and photos in a couple of days.