Better Know An N.O.C -- Paraguay

It's been too long since the last post of a "B.K.A.N.O.C." -- Better Know An N.O.C.

This entry is for South America's national Olympic committee for landlocked Paraguay, which is nestled amid Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia.

A few years ago I experienced Paraguay first hand, first entering from Brazil via Ciudad del Este, terrified because our taxi did not stop at the border crossing on the Paraguay side of a large arch bridge (some travel books warn that Ciudad del Este is about the least-safe city in South America). Fortunately when we finally stopped the cab and walked back to the bridge, the crossing guard laughed and instructed us to "just go back" to Brazil. Whew! We carried our backpacks while some of the locals carried parcels of goodness knows what.

At any rate, a few days later, had a more relaxed entry into Paraguay at the southern border town Encarnacion, which is a fun little metropolis. It was interesting to see an early 1900s locomotive -- a real one -- in operation (on about a quarter mile of track) on one corner of town. Our "downtown" Encarnacion hotel was $4 per night. Great food at the town square, and the sushi restaurant beside the bus depot!

But back to Paraguay's N.O.C. and Olympic connections.

Paraguay entered the Olympic Family in 1968 with a single foil Olympic fencing competitor at Mexico City, and Paraguay fielded a team at each summer Olympiad since (except 1980 as the nation joined the U.S.-led boycott of Moscow's Games). Paraguay has just one medal -- silver in the 2004 Athens football (soccer) finals against Argentina.

I won't soon forget Paraguay's track and field entrant at Athens and Beijing (and I hope London): Olympic javelin would not be the same without Paraguay's Leryn Franco hurling Paraguay's Olympic dreams across the Olympic Stadium grounds every four years.

After a night in Encarnacion, my girlfriend, her sister and I took a jalopy bus to Asuncion, which is also an interesting metropolis and home to the Paraguay Olympic Committee. Some of the friendliest people in South America are in Asuncion, and we were impressed with the historic architecture.

I'll be rooting for Paraguay at London 2012 (their team at the 2010 World Cup did well; expect good things in the U.K. competition.

Photo via this Flickr account

Better Know An N.O.C. -- Iceland

With all this week's chatter about the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, I thought for "B.K.A.N.O.C." installment No. 3 it might be best to peek at an undoubtedly winter sport nation.

You can imagine my surprise to find that the Atlantic nation of Iceland (ICE) earned numerous Olympic medals across the history of the Modern Games, but not one medal was in a Winter sport!

According to the IOC directory of national Olympic committees, Iceland did well earning medals in Beijing, LA84, Melbourne '56 and Sydney 2000. Several summer Iceland Olympic memories come to mind.

First, in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Village at Georgia Tech, my colleagues and I ("Village People") often commented that the athletes of Iceland House (situated in what is now a sorority house near Bobby Dodd Stadium) were unanimously the most gorgeous people in the Olympics. I ran into one of the Atlanta Olympic athletes from Iceland in 2004, on the metro rail to Beach Volleyball, and she was just as beautiful at the latter Games as in '96.

Also, during the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Games, several of the athletes participated in an early version of chat rooms, and one athlete who wrote back to me was a skier from Iceland who had one of those dreamy, umlaut-infused names like the Icelandic woman in the outstanding Robert Altman film "The Player." She, too, was a bombshell beauty. We finally met in person at Iceland House in downtown Salt Lake in 2002 (I was biting my wrist like the Lenny & Squiggy on "Laverne & Shirley" credits).

No Iceland post would be complete without mentioning Bjork's performance at the 2004 Athens Olympic Opening Ceremonies.

There is not yet much info on the team that Iceland will field for Vancouver, but no doubt they will make an impression in the new Olympic City next year. Get to know an NOC: Iceland. And look out for your opportunity to meet Sumicelandicgudmansdottir.

Photo via the Iceland National Olympic Committee site and via this Bjork fan site.

Better Know An NOC: The Colbert Nation!

Last month, on this blog, I added a feature inspired by Comedy Central and The Colbert Report's smart and funny "Better Know A District" segments.

To date, this blog's "Better Know An N.O.C." (national Olympic committee; B.K.A.N.O.C.) visited Aruba and Zimbabwe's national sports teams.

On tonight's edition of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert answered the call of U.S. Speedskating's plea for a new sponsor (their main funding source declared bankruptcy and pulled the sponsorship) and The Colbert Nation (!!!) is now the official sponsor of U.S. Speedskating!

The Associated Press' entertainment reporter Jake Coyle appears to have scooped other outlets (save Colbert) with this news.

Like U.S. Speedskating's deep heritage and excellence in the sports world, Stephen Colbert consistently impresses me greatly on many levels, and his award-winning work is outstanding and hilarious. Seeing how Colbert interacted with Olympic speedskating legend Dan Jansen was great fun, and an even better surprise came with the on-the-air sponsorship paperwork signed with U.S. Speedskating's leadership in the studio.

So, as you watch Olympic speedskating heat up the ice now through Vancouver 2010, you better know the newest NOC on the planet: The Colbert Nation (let's make it official via the International Olympic Committee with TCN named as The Colbert Nation's competition acronym?).

On tonight's show we got a peek at U.S. Speedskating's new "Colbert-infused" uniforms -- I can hardly wait to learn The Colbert Nation's national anthem to be played just after "The Star Spangled Banner" when the U.S. wins gold.

Anyone can lend their support to the team by answering U.S. Speedskating's "win a trip to Vancouver" contest now in progress. The Colbert Nation's logo is now part of the contest page on U.S. Speedskating's website, and is sure to be added to the site's main sponsor page soon. Somebody get Stephen Colbert to Milwaukee/West Allis, Wis., on the ice at The Pettit National Ice Center!

Bravo, Stephen! Bravo -- That's The WØRD.

Photo via The Hollywood Gossip website; and photo via Yahoo! News, AP Photo, Comedy Central and Kris Long

Better Know An N.O.C. -- Zimbabwe

As noted last week, some Olympic wit is inspired by Stephen Colbert's outstanding "Better Know A District" series.

So with the One Happy Island of Aruba and its national Olympic committee (NOC) as the premiere NOC featured, I kicked of this blog's "Better Know An N.O.C."

Today's B.K.A.N.O.C." (from the other end of the English alphabet spectrum): Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe is situated in the southern part of Africa, and via the International Olympic Committee's recently upgraded website, I just learned that Zimbabwe has numerous gold, silver and bronze medal winners spanning three Olympiads.

At the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Zimbabwe fielded a team of women's hockey players who took home the gold (who knew?! -- apparently the IOC, and some tough women in Zimbabwe!).

More recently, in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2004 Athens Olympics, Zimbabwe's "national treasure" Kirsty Coventry swam for no fewer than 11 (!!!) medals, including four gold, six silver and one bronze medal in the pool. This lady could be a perfect date for Michael Phelps!

OK, I admit now to being under a rock -- seriously, until tonight I had no clue about Ms. Coventry's feats, which are World Class.

Now one must also wonder, were the members of the 1980 gold medal field hockey team the previous "national treasure(s)" until Ms. Coventry dove into Olympic competition?

Zimbabwe did not yet enter any winter Olympiads, but their summer Games attendance is consistent since 1980. The NOC office is in the capital city Harare.

Interesting to note that resemblance of Zimbabwe's iconic balancing rocks to the VANOC logo for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games (the Inukshuk).

Photos via Kirsty Coventry's Facebook profile and via Samwise Gamgee via Wikipedia. Additional sources include NBCOlympics.com (a past client of Edelman, the P.R. firm where I work), as well as Olympics.org and Wikipedia.

One Happy Island

I've been knocking around ideas for the blog.

Inspired by Stephen Colbert's outstanding "Better Know A District" series, here's the first edition of "Better Know An N.O.C."

Premiere "B.K.A.N.O.C." National Olympic Committee: Aruba

The Comite Olimpico Arubano is based in the capital city Oranjestad, which is one of the island's only cities. Still in the running to claim its first Olympic medal, this "One Happy Island" first competed in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.

According to the NBC Sports Beijing Olympic sites, Aruba's baseball players qualified to play on The Netherlands' Olympic baseball teams (unfortunately, Netherlands Baseball only reached 7th place in the Beijing Olympic baseball tournament according to this site).

Aruba is a beautiful tropical paradise, with about the most consistently gorgeous weather (I loved the constant breezes, big surf on the deserted eastern shore, and snorkeling). The casinos in the tourist district are a great place to learn (to lose some money at) roulette!

Photo via a fellow Flickr user