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A Non-Olympic Moment
Asked yesterday about his mental state for tomorrow's road race, U.S. cyclist Lance Armstrong said, "Come Wednesday, I know if the race doesn't agree with me, there's a World Cup race in Leeds next week." After 11 Israelis were slaughtered at the 1972 Munich Games, the IOC recognized the victims with a ceremony at Olympic Stadium. The tribute was brief and uninspired and certainly could not be taken to heart as any kind of lasting memorial. The point was driven home again Sunday night, when the Atlanta Jewish Federation honored the victims with a service at the Selig Center synagogue. Two dozen relatives of the Munich victims dedicated a memorial statue (which holds a perpetually burning flame) and also observed a moment of silence for the man and the woman who died as a result of Saturday's Centennial Olympic Park bombing. In a horrible bit of irony, the highest-ranking IOC member in attendance at the Sunday memorial was Kim Un Yong of South Korea, whose presence conjured images of violence. Kim helped found and operate the notoriously brutal Korean Central Intelligence Agency. While the IOC is naturally loath to hark back to the darkest incident in Olympic history, it is astounding that over six subsequent Summer Games, the organization has virtually ignored the victims. No permanent memorial, no mention in the opening ceremonies, no nothing. "We want an official moment of silence for 11 athletes who were part of the Olympic family the IOC always talks and talks about," says Guri Weinberg, 23, the son of Israeli wrestling coach Moshe Weinberg, who was murdered in Munich. "Not for 11 Israelis, just athletes. It's up to the IOC to give us closure, even now."
Sonia O'Sullivan of Ireland What was supposed to be a coronation of the world's best women's middle-distance runner, Ireland's Sonia O'Sullivan, has so far been a debacle. In Sunday's 5,000-meter final, O'Sullivan (in green) dropped out. She later dissolved into tears and eventually ran back alone to the Olympic Village. Yesterday O'Sullivan said she had suffered from diarrhea before the 5,000 and related a tale of uniform intrigue that occurred moments before her qualifying heat on Friday. O'Sullivan says she was informed that her Reebok Irish uniform was not official and she was forced to make a quick—and semipublic—change into a legal Asics version, a turn of events that still had her flustered days later. She will try to unfluster herself and grab at least one crown, in the 1,500.
Most every athlete has a story to tell of an injury or setback he or she has overcome. U.S. kayaker Cliff Meidl's just might top them all. Ten years ago Meidl, then 20, was manning a jackhammer in Los Angeles when it struck three live power lines. Here's Meidl's deadpan description, delivered at a press conference last week, of what happened after 30,000 volts of electricity, 15 times the amount used in electric chairs, coursed through his body for 30 seconds: "I had three cardiac arrests. I woke up 14 hours later in the hospital. I was fighting for my life the first couple of days. Two toes were blown off. A third of my knee joints were burned away. A shoulder blade exploded. Part of the back of my head was blown off. I faced amputation of my legs below the knees, but they removed a calf muscle from one leg and moved it to my knees." Introduced to canoeing as part of his recovery regimen, Meidl, a former soccer player, turned to kayak racing in 1993. He'll compete today in the four-man 1,000-meter event, in which U.S. sprint coach Reg Hatch says the Americans have a shot at the final. After what happened to Meidl, nothing would be a shock.
WXIA-TV, Atlanta's NBC affiliate, has taken to easing the impact of Dream Team routs by converting the scores to Celsius. The U.S. men's 102-71 drubbing of Croatia on Sunday, for example, worked out to a 39-21 decision, and even the 133-70 demolition of China on Friday emerged as a relatively benign-sounding 56-21 defensive struggle. By that formula, then, we don't feel so bad about the jacked-up $200 single-room rate at the Comfort Inn. It's a cool $93.
A statue of gold-medal-winning sailboarder Lee Lai Shan will soon rise in her native Hong Kong. That it may be erected on the bridge connecting the island of Hong Kong to China is symbolic. Lee's gold was the nation's first medal ever—and probably the last before China takes control of the longtime British colony on July 1, 1997. Hong Kong will be allowed to field a separate team at the 2000 Sydney Games, but it will compete under a yet to be determined designation. "I haven't even thought about the political things," said Lee, a spirited 25-year-old. With the Chinese takeover looming, her triumph set off an emotional celebration back home. Politicians from Hong Kong and China rushed to congratulate Lee, yet her biggest thrill was a gift from the Hong Kong government: a free lifetime pass to the city's subway system.!
Willie Banks His official title is director of athlete services for the Olympic Village. But around the Georgia Tech campus, which is home to about 10,000 athletes, Willie Banks is known as director of fun. A two-time Olympian and former world-record holder in the triple jump, the ebullient Banks spends his time livening up life for Atlanta's Village people. He was instrumental in getting a movie theater and a disco, as well as a laser-tag facility and a massage-therapy room, set up in the Village. He nixed a library in favor of an Internet pavilion and booked concerts by Hootie & the Blowfish and Ziggy Marley. Banks's days start at 9 a.m. and run until 2 a.m. "Having fun," says Banks between meetings and calls, "is not for the weak."
One of the most engaging federation chiefs at the Games heads up one of the least engaging sports—archery. And he knows how dull his sport is. "If you're smart, you see the handwriting on the wall," says Jim Easton, the sporting goods magnate who is president of archery's international federation. "You understand your sport is not contributing that much to the Games. It's really that boring." Now, that's facing a problem with eyes wide open, a sound strategy when arrows are involved. Archery, which continues today at Stone Mountain Archery Center, has already made changes to accommodate television, though they sound a little like David Letterman bits, things like the "target cam" and the "stabilizer cam." But Easton has so far resisted lining up a celebrity spokesman—as modern pentathlon has done with actor Dolph Lundgren—even though he has a natural candidate in rock star and bow-hunting zealot Ted Nugent. "Ted's been a lot of help," says Easton, "but he's kind of an unguided missile." NASCAR driver Kyle Petty was asked recently about the idea of adding his sport to the Olympics. Evoking the spirit of Baron Pierre de Coubertin— Lil' Pete, as he's known on the NASCAR circuit—Petty said: "There should only be, like, running, wrasslin' and track and field events in the Olympics. Beach volleyball's a joke. And you gotta have dove hunting if you're gonna have beach volleyball."
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SI Olympic Dailies
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