Olympic athletes stop off at SJSU

SAN JOSE, CA

They are at San Jose State University which is the processing center for the 2008 Olympic athletes. This means that each and every one of them will pass through San Jose State University before going to the Olympic games.

Late Friday afternoon Governor Schwarzenegger met with some of the 2008 Olympic athletes. "You are heroes to millions and millions of young kids around the world who idolize and want to be in the place where you are," said the Governor.

More than 600 Olympic athletes, coaches and officials will pass through the San Jose processing center before heading to the Beijing games. Susan Francia, member of the 2008 American Olympic Rowing Team said "I'm just really looking forward to having a great time and racing and my sights are set on gold."

Olympic leadership is stressing that the games are about competition and not political issues such as human rights. "If you feel that passionate go to that place where it's happening and put your time or money into it. But when you come to the Olympic games, put your effort into the Olympic games," said United States Olympics President Willie Banks.

San Jose is also the location for the first-ever reunion of U.S. Olympians. Dozens of them greeted each other at a conference Friday. 1984 and 1988 Olympian Stephen Kirk said "I'm looking forward to seeing some old friends, definitely like to rub shoulders with famous people and Olympians. When they introduced everyone in that room everybody said 'wow, look at that'. It's going to be exciting. Everybody's getting a little chill."

The reunion has been ten years in the making and San Jose is now an Olympic hotspot. "We're here and we are ready to have a party here in San Jose," said Cindy Stinger of the U.S. Olympic Committee Alumni Relations. A lot of those activities for the former Olympians start Friday night and will run through the weekend.

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