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Casting
A Shadow
According to its rules, the IAAF, track's governing body, had no choice but to allow two athletes who failed drug tests within the last three months to compete in Atlanta. Because neither was suspended by his or her national federation and both were approved by their Olympic committees, the IAAF had to defer both cases to its arbitration panel. That panel will most likely not rule on either case until two or three months after the Games. But the acceptance of sprinter Dean Capobianco of Australia and high jumper Antonella Bevilacqua of Italy into the Olympic field left some feeling queasy. Should the panel ratify the positive tests, any Olympic result achieved by either athlete would be voided. That might be academic since neither Capobianco nor Bevilacqua is expected to win a medal. But either could make the finals, depriving another athlete of a spot, and that's something that can never be corrected. Puma is handing out slickly produced press kits that feature a cover photograph of defending 100-meter gold medalist Linford Christie of Great Britain. With the pull of a cardboard tab inserted in the cover, Christie's brown eyes are replaced by electric-blue ones bearing a white version of the company's leaping-cat logo. The effect is decidedly unsettling but not nearly as unsettling as the one produced by Christie himself, who arrived at a press conference yesterday wearing—we're not making this up—electric-blue contact lenses with a white Puma logo in the center of each lens. Clearly Puma believes, as the Bard did, that the eyes are the window to the sole.
American Mark Kotsay While U.S. players have complained about the deadened feel of the relatively soft baseball being used—it's "mush" says outfielder Chad Allen—the Olympic orb has actually been more mashed than mush. Heading into last night's U.S.-Japan matchup, the eight-team field was averaging a startling 14.1 runs and 3.1 home runs per game. That includes the two taters smashed by U.S. slugger Mark Kotsay (above) against Italy and the 520-foot moon shot sent up by Cuba's Orestes Kindelan, the longest ever measured at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Granted, the dingers are being donged with aluminum, but with the major leagues averaging an unprecedented 2.25 home runs a game this season, maybe these Olympians are perfect for The Show.
Palestine's first Olympians, distance runners Majid Abu-Maraheel, 32, and Ehab Salama, 20, will win no medals. And as of yesterday they were still hoping someone might donate track shoes so they wouldn't have to compete in sneakers. But for those in the 15-member Palestinian delegation, the Games are not merely a sports event but also an opportunity for their nation to earn global acceptance. "The United States and China first met together where? On the Ping-Pong table," says team attaché Tawfiq Qiamari. "Sport brings people together." The Palestinians have been warmly welcomed despite the legacy of the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre—in which PLO leader Yasser Arafat's Black September terrorists killed 11 Israelis—and a failed last-minute attempt by the Israeli government to prevent the team from competing under the name Palestine. "These things have passed," says Abu-Maraheel, who, in another twist to the story, works as one of Arafat's bodyguards and, like Salama, still bears the scar from an Israeli bullet that struck him several years ago on the Gaza Strip. "It is an uneasy bridge to build, but it will be built through sports." Both Abu-Maraheel and Salama trained for Atlanta by running on roads and dirt soccer fields—there is no running track on the Gaza—and had their way paid to Atlanta by an IOC fund for needy delegations. But the Palestinians have felt rich since the opening ceremonies, when they marched in behind their flag and swapped pins with an Israeli athlete who came over to greet them. Says chef de mission Muammar Bissesso, "Believe me, this is the greatest diplomacy."
Brazilian fans are renowned for their enthusiasm, and one in particular has been making a splash at the beach volleyball venue. A 500-pound man known as Bola Sete, or Seven Ball, has been, well, the biggest part of the yellow-and-green contingent, keeping the joint hopping for all the teams. According to U.S. player Carl Henkel, the boisterous crowd has been like having "a third man" in the game. Or, in Bola Sete's case, a fourth, fifth and sixth man.
Security dog Kyle You might expect an Olympic security official to bark pointed commands, even more so when the security official is a dog. Kyle, a purebred German shepherd, has been assisting David Friedlander in the downtown area by sniffing for weapons and bombs. The two have worked together for six years on the Rochester, N.Y., police force. Thankfully, their Olympic effort has so far been fruitless, though the sleepy-eyed Kyle, who like all ACOG reps wears a photo credential, has become an Olympic darling. "I want to take him home," cooed Monica Seles. Instead, after the Games, Kyle and Friedlander will head back to their home for the dog days of summer.
The collapse—first figurative and then literal—of Chinese shooter Wang Yifu on the first day of competition seems to have been a harbinger of his nation's performance in Atlanta. As track and field opens today, many eyes will be on China's Wang Junxia, the gold medal favorite in the women's 5,000 and 10,000 meters, to see if she stumbles as badly as many of her Olympic teammates have. Most experts had predicted that at these Olympics, China would continue its swift rise as a sports power. But in the first six days China won only five gold medals. China's women gymnasts, among the favorites, failed to win a medal in the team event. In women's swimming, the sport in which the Chinese won 12 of 16 gold medals at the 1994 world championships, they have won gold just once in 14 tries, and many have failed to reach the finals. Calling the poor showing a "very serious situation," Chinese minister of sport Wu Shaozu pleaded with his athletes to "get rid of the shadows in the hearts of team members." Chinese coach Zhao Ge fiercely denies charges that the failures are a reflection of stricter drug testing. He instead points to a litany of problems—inexperience, the marriages of several swimmers, Atlanta's strange food and even stranger transportation system. Wang will almost surely advance in this afternoon's 5,000 preliminaries and may even perform brilliantly at these Games, as gymnast Li Xiaoshuang did in winning the men's all-around. But it is unlikely that Chinese athletes will be able to rally enough in the remaining 10 days of competition for the Atlanta Olympics to be seen as anything but a disappointment for the world's most populous nation. China's weightlifters have fared reasonably well—they've won two golds, one silver and one bronze medal—and coach Yang Hanxiong says one reason is their avoidance of the biscuit-and-burger-based local fare. "We brought lots of Eastern noodle," Yang explains. "Eastern noodle is a big weapon for us." |
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SI Olympic Dailies
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