Olympic Thievery

Saw a sad news story online tonight.

Turns out 2002 Olympic gold medalist Tristan Gale Geisler was the victim of a burglary in Oceanside, Calif. Among many treasures stolen from her residence: Her Salt Lake 2002 Olympic gold medal in skeleton.

I was the victim of an Olympic theft a few days prior to flying to Beijing in 2008. Theft sucks. Shame on the thief who took my Olympic vanity plate, and shame on the alleged burglars who invaded Olympian Gale's residence.

Spotting the headline from Oceanside, and Gale's comments about trolling Craig's List for the items she lost, was timely as just yesterday I noticed an Atlanta Olympic medal on the set of the show "Pawn Stars" -- for those not yet familiar, this program is like an edgy "Antiques Road Show" with managers and friends of a Vegas-based family business standing in for the academic and antique experts who appear on the PBS program.

I have an e-mail in to the "Pawn Stars" team to inquire about the '96 Olympic medal back story (there is a small bit of detail at this link). When they reply, it's my intention to suggest they be on the lookout for Gale's medal and help with its safe return.

I'd hate for Gale to go through life like Muhammad Ali lamenting over the lost medal. Fortunately, the IOC provides an option for a replacement for the irreplaceable.

Photo via USAToday.com and AP photographer Laurent Rebours



Feb. 3, 2011 UPDTATE: CRIME SOLVED -- OLYMPIC MEDAL RECOVERED

With thanks to Shreveport, La.-based J. Brian Carberry for flagging the news, today police announced they recovered the stolen Olympic medal and other missing items from Tristan Gale Geisler's burgled abode. WHEW!

Quoting Orson Welles as "The Shadow" ... "Crime ... does NOT pay ... The Shadow knows (bwah-hah-hah!).

Hello, My Friend, Hello

There are plenty of "right place at the right time" moments that have made 2008 grand. One recent example came in the arctic northern city of Milwaukee, Wis., while visiting my girlfriend of five years for Thanksgiving.

After a big night of eggplant parmigiana and limoncello at Buca di Beppo, we steered the Corolla over by the Bradley Center and found that Neil Diamond was in town (actually, we knew for a couple of weeks he would be there, and also found that remaining tickets were slightly out of our price range).

Thanks to a friendly curbside negotiation (and two crisp-from-the-ATM Jacksons) with a parka-clad "I Need Tickets" guy, in minutes we were searching for our Section 217 seats expecting to be in the not-quite-nosebleed section of the arena.

Imagine our surprise to find our seats (face value $120 each) were on ROW FOUR at stage right! HELLO! Man, what an awesome show!

Although we missed a couple of the megahits (specifically, "Hello Again" and "Love On The Rocks" -- we did arrive 20 minutes into the concert, which explains the friendly ticket guy's rock bottom pricing) we WERE on site for The Jazz Singer's big Olympic-related hit "America," which was, for me, the unofficial theme song of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic bid -- I have vivid memories of this song playing on the radio the 1990 day Atlanta won the bid (turns out NBC saw fit to make it somewhat official in their July 19, 1996, broadcast of the Opening Ceremony from Georgia, and the song was also a more official component of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games of Salt Lake, according to this bio). See the video below for a little taste of the show.

Atlantans have a chance to experience the magic of Mr. Diamond next week (I highly recommend this show to anyone who has or has not experienced Neil Diamond live) at The Arena at Gwinnett Center, and I may just have to be there, too, if the right "friend in the ticket business" and Buca di Beppo are in the neighborhood.

IAAPA Attractions Expo part 4 -- Joan Lunden and the Olympics

During IAAPA Attractions Expo, one of the celebrity attendees was an exhibitor who millions would recongnize from "Good Morning America" and ABC's coverage of the Olympic Games.

Former ABC anchor and reporter Joan Lunden was on site with her husband and daughter, Lindsay, and their team showcasing KinderKord, a new device intended to help families stay together while visiting attractions or just out on the town. It appeared they were getting a lot of attention for this new item, and media outlets like USA Today were checking it out in advance of the Expo as well (thank you, Jayne Clark).

With thanks to Lindsay for making the arrangements, I was able to spend a good deal of time with Ms. Lunden asking her about several Olympic memories from ABC. She had some amazing stories (see video) from Sarajevo's 1984 Winter Games and 1988 Calgary Winter Games on the ABC front, and also some personal family memories all the way back to the 1960 Winter Games at Squaw Valley, Calif. Donna DeVarona, Jim McKay, Charles Gibson and other ABC anchors and reporters (and their shared Olympic reporting duties) were obviously some good times for Lunden who enthusiastically told many cool tales from the Olympic front lines.

Turns out as a youngster, Lunden's family had a home on the same mountain as the Winter Olympic downhill ski runs, and she used to attend skating and ski lessons in Squaw Valley with some of the Olympic coaches and officials in town preparing to host the Winter Games "back in the day."

Lunden also shared fond memories of working with the 2002 Winter Paralypics for several broadcasts, and her trial run using the same ski equipment used by blind skiiers at the event.

Many thanks to Ms. Lunden and the KinderKord team for making time to chat at IAAPA Attractions Expo!

Taylor Swift's "Change" for the Olympics

I'm not ashamed to admit that the Taylor Swift P.R. machine has drawn me in hook, line and sinker. She has to be the fastest moving new country star in years.

After reading about the young CMA performer in The New Yorker, USA Today and EVERYWHERE else the last few days, then catching her on-screen quick-change on the CMA Awards tonight (for the catchy tune "Love Story" she transformed from singer to would-be bride), I will soon proceed, zombie-like, to purchase her new CD or tunes online. That is, if ever I figure out this whole "music download thing." (Disclosure: The Country Music Association CMA organization is a client of Edelman, my employer.)

Little did I know that during the China Olympic experience, back home in the USA, the good folks at NBC were airing Ms. Swift's new tune "Change" for their Olympic promos or highlight reels.

According to Great American Country and their August 18 online report, fans could download Taylor Swift's then-preview track of "Change" via iTunes, with funds going to Team USA (I have a call in to ask the U.S. Olympic Committee media relations team for an estimate of how much money was raised -- see update below posted Nov. 13). This song is not quite as catchy as her other hits, but it'll do just fine.

All this country music chatter takes me back to Salt Lake City and the 2002 Winter Olympic Closing Ceremony, at which Willie Nelson took on Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" -- AWESOME! (In Nelson's case, perhaps a good thing the ceremony stars are not subject to the same performance testing as the Olympians.)

So if we got one more country singer for this blog post -- let's say, Clint Black (known for his song "The Strong One"), we now have an Olympic/country music pun ready to go:

With Taylor Swift + Willie Nelson + Clint Black ... Country Music goes Faster, Higher, Stronger (the Olympic motto!).

Nov. 13 Update: The U.S. Olympic Committee media relations office quickly responded, sharing that the AT&T Team USA Soundtrack program generated a $1 million donation to Team USA. Taylor Swift was in good company, joining Sheryl Crow, Goo Goo Dolls and Queen Latifah, among others, for the project. Good stuff!