In less than three months, hundreds of American athletes will travel to Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
At the USOC in Colorado Springs, they're training their bodies for competition, but they're also training their minds for a cultural crossroads.
About 200 countries are expected to compete in the games. The U.S. team alone is expected to reach 600 athletes. But a recent survey reveals more than 42 percent of US athletes admit they have inadvertently committed a cultural faux pas while traveling abroad.
To avoid that, an international protocol expert educated them Tuesday on Chinese customs, culture and etiquette.
They could only cover so much in an hour long lesson, but they did cover the basics: language and body language.
International news correspondent Gideon Yago and travel expert Roger Axtell gave the athletes an etiquette pep talk.
Axtell said, "If you have respect, awareness and don't embarrass anyone, it won't matter what fork you use... or whatever might happen."
24-year old Diana Lopez recently qualified for the 2008 U.S. Olympic taekwondo team and she's anxious for her time in Beijing.
She said, "You know you want to give a good name to the U.S. and be open to other cultures and be sensitive to them."
The Olympic lesson covered appropriate international greetings and a warning about hand signals.
Axtell says 60 percent of our communication is non-verbal and when in doubt, smile.
The USOC international etiquette lesson was sponsored by Hilton Hotels. The company has produced a web guide to travel in China and abroad for U.S. athletes. To visit the web guide, click on the link below.
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