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A True Olympian
Volleyball players are no more bloodthirsty than other athletes—they just sound that way because they measure their success in kills. Bob Ctvrtlik [suh-VERT-lick], the ferocious outside hitter and captain of the U.S. men's team, is using his lethal instincts to benefit poor and abused children. Inspired by the birth of his second son, Erik, in February 1995, Ctvrtlik, whose nickname is Buy A Vowel, established the Give Back Foundation, a charity he hopes will generate $100,000 in the course of the Atlanta Games. Callers to 1-800-717-GIVE can pledge either a lump sum or a specific amount for each kill (a spike that can't be returned) Ctvrtlik makes during the Olympics. "Any amount, whether it's a dime or hundreds of dollars, will help get us to our goal of $1,000 per kill," says Ctvrtlik, who is expected to average between 15 and 18 per match. (That will be about 100 if the U.S. makes the final.) Ctvrtlik, who won a gold medal in 1988 and a bronze in '92, will retire at the end of this year. The foundation is his way of saying thanks. "It seemed natural that if volleyball was such a great vehicle for my happiness I could use it to work for others," says Ctvrtlik. Call it killing with kindness. Alexi Lalas is the best known U.S. soccer Olympian partly for his ruddy hirsuteness and partly for his way with words. Asked his reaction to NBC's failure to provide live coverage of the U.S.'s 3-1 first-round loss to Argentina, he replied, "NBC sucks. Obviously the executives there are ignorant. That's why we have so many crappy shows on TV." We presume Lalas won't be making any guest appearances on Friends.
Dutch Maarten Hammendorf Breaching the Games' $300 million wall of security might seem impossible, but two Dutch college students claim to have done so—and have the photos to prove it. Camiel Kessels, 23, and Maarten Hammendorf, 22, say they wandered unchallenged into Olympic Stadium on July 18, the day before opening ceremonies. "We were the only ones in the area without credentials, but we could walk wherever we wanted," says Hammendorf (above). "I even saw security men taking pictures of each other, and that is what we, of course, also did." The two have become their country's biggest Olympic heroes since Fanny Blankers-Koen. But not to ACOG. Said spokeswoman Lyn May, "That was before the building was sanitized on Thursday. Had it been Saturday, I would've been hysterical."
The West has finally wrested the political power in gymnastics from the former Eastern bloc. On July 17 Bruno Grandi of Italy was voted in as president of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), effective Jan. 1, ending the 20-year reign of Yuri Titov of Russia. Also ousted was men's technical-committee president Karl-Heinz Zshoeke of the former East Germany, who will be replaced by Canada's Hardy Fink. "On the officiating side, our philosophy is one of fairness," says Fink, noting the often blatant bias shown against Western gymnasts over the past two decades in everything from scoring to rules disputes. Fink claims a top Romanian gymnastics official admitted to him at a 1993 FIG meeting that compulsories—which will be eliminated from the sport after the Atlanta Games—provided the Eastern-bloc judges with "one more opportunity to manipulate scores." Western gymnasts should be pleased that the mat at last is level. On the other hand, they've now lost their best excuse for low scores.
For the most part the media and citizenry of Athens, Greece, reacted graciously to the opening of the Games despite the city's profound disappointment over not having been selected as host. Greek TV is broadcasting 17 hours of coverage per day, and there seems to be widespread interest in both the fate of the nation's athletes and the general Olympic hype and hoopla. For example, the daily Eleftherotya wrote of the opening ceremonies, "Atlanta was transformed into a glittering Hollywood with stunning events, and, of course, cowboys." Huh? There was, however, one notable exception. Writing in the conservative daily Adesmeftos, columnist Angelo Kesaris let it all hang out: "Why should I have to wake up at 3 a.m. to watch the opening ceremony? To see what? This beautiful event, to which we gave life, being transformed into a spectacle of exploitation by a superpower nuthouse? The Olympics should be staged permanently at their natural birthplace in Olympia. In Olympia, athletes from all over the world can meet to compete for an olive branch, not for dollars, Coca Cola and millions of money." Guess he didn't even like the cowboys.
France's Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli Atlanta's summer heat is legendary, and many Olympic athletes went to considerable lengths to acclimate themselves. Not Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli. Ever the maverick, the 37-year-old Frenchwoman arrived just three days before yesterday's road race after three weeks in the Colorado mountains. "You can see Pikes Peak from the window," said Longo (above) after winning the gold medal. "My husband [and coach, Patrice] and I thought there was no way to get used to the heat anyway, and it was better to have the body in good condition." Longo will be the favorite in the road time trial on Aug. 3. Rather than wilt in Atlanta, she flew back to the mountains and will return two days before the race. Why mess with success?
The harsh antidrug measure adopted recently by FINA, swimming's worldwide governing body, threatens to penalize innocent swimmers. Under the policy, if four swimmers from a country fail FINA-administered tests in a 12-month period, all of that country's swimmers could be banned from international competition for four years. "We felt this eliminated specifically orchestrated drug-taking by individual federations," says Ray Essick, executive director for U.S. Swimming, in a thinly veiled reference to China (page 14). "This puts at risk federations where athletes will do it alone, but it's necessary. And since it applies only to FINA tests, it encourages federations to apply strict testing procedures." Still, the possibility exists that one rogue coach could bring down a nation's program. And the policy may put the U.S. in an especially precarious position: Swimmers will be the responsibility of the country in which they train. So if, say, a French swimmer training in California tests positive, it will count against the U.S. Consequently, says Essick, U.S. Swimming could consider preventing foreign swimmers from training here by refusing to fund insurance for clubs that train those athletes. That would be a setback not only for swimming but also for the spirit of international friendship that should be at the heart of the Olympics. The most noticeably bronzed medalist at the Games may be gymnast Andreas Wecker of Germany, who'll compete in today's men's team optionals. Wecker's rich tan, which makes him stand out among his pronouncedly pasty teammates, is the product of the 30 minutes of intense ray-catching Wecker includes in his weekly training regimen. "I have my own tanning bed at home," says Wecker, who won two bronzes (and a silver) in 1992. "It certainly has an aesthetic effect if you're nicely tanned out there." For what it's worth, Wecker was Germany's top scorer in the team compulsories.
Mike Powell U.S. long jumper, to teammate Dan O'Brien, momentarily forgetting the decathlete's stunning failure to qualify for the 1992 Games: "Did you march in Barcelona, Dan?" |
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SI Olympic Dailies
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