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Why many Olympians skip the Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony at the Olympics is one of the biggest shows in sports, but many competitors never see the lights of Night 1. 

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - The Opening Ceremony at the Olympics is one of the biggest shows in sports, but many competitors never see the lights of Night 1.

"It's not that people don't want to do it, it's just that you are competing to win," said two-time Olympian Steve Lewis.

Lewis represented Great Britain in the 2008, and 2012 games but wasn't even in Beijing or London on opening night.

"A lot of the athletes who compete in the first week of the program get the beds in the village and obviously there is a capacity in the village, so a lot of the athletes go in the second wave," Lewis said. "The program is always quite similar so you have the expectation in you make it in certain sports you will be doing the march but track and field is second week so we were usually still in training camp."

Lewis said he and the rest of Great Britain's track team watched the ceremony together on a big screen in the town they were currently training in.

Swimming gold medalist Misty Hyman had a similar experience when she competed in 2000, but she actually was in Sydney that night.

"We watched them on television and that was hard," she said. "I definitely cried because I wished I could be there, but we also wanted to be prepared for our races and the swimming starts tomorrow."

Sometimes it's hard for fans to comprehend the demands on an Olympic athlete's schedule, but the show on opening night is definitely secondary for those competing.

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