It Takes A Village

I'm a longtime critic of Olympic Villages. PyeongChang's Village team nailed it!

Since my first Games experience as an Atlanta Olympic Village housing coordinator/supervisor in 1996, I've looked at the housing areas with a manager's eye -- what works, what elements may remain in place as handed down from the Centennial Olympic Village, and what's new. 

South Korea's housing area featured some of each. 

Some additional context on my critiques: Later five-ringed travels afforded a day pass or two to the athlete housing areas at six Olympiads.  

More specifically, in Sydney I was a pre-Games Village volunteer (will never forget meeting Aussie hero Dawn Fraser on the bus one day after a shift). In Salt Lake I was just a visiting spectator (the director was a former Atlanta colleague), and later as an NOC guest it was fun visiting -- and critiquing -- the temporary homes of the Olympians in Beijing, Vancouver, London and Rio. 

Some Villages score on ambiance. Others on efficiency. Some exude an Olympic electricity while others get the job done with measured fun.

Visiting the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Village today, for the first time as a credentialed reporter, was an amazing experience. And the Korean village housing scored two big thumbs up from this blogger.

Here's a Olympic Village first: They have a robot! 

The PyeongChang Village near the mountain Alpensia venues sits along a river and in the foothills of a curving and wooded elevation, with about a dozen residential towers (600 rooms) close to a domed sports arena now serving thousands of meals per day as the main dining hall. 

After passing through security screening with fellow journalists and athletes from Team GB, Slovenia, Turkey and Ghana (yes, Ghana has a skeleton athlete), the Village Welcome Center opened into an international plaza decked out with flags of all 95 competing nations. 

And, yes, the North Korean flag enjoys a spot of prominence near the Olympic and South Korean banners. 

Olympic Villages consist of two main areas.

An International Zone featuring the team welcome ceremony stage, entertainment options and necessities like a post office, hair salon, general store and Olympic merchandise. 

All of the services for PyeongChang's athlete village are nestled into on giant tent (I understand the coastal village at Gangneung, with its 922 rooms, is similar).

Usually the adjacent Residential Zone forbids non-athletes from visiting, but today media got a rare chance to roam freely across a few acres of the Village, affording me photo opps in an athlete game room (i.e. billiards, pinball), lavanderia (since athletes, too, have dirty laundry) and the entry to the tower housing Team USA (the only larger nation in PyeongChang that did not deck the exterior walls with patriotic banners). 

I attended a couple of the Welcoming Ceremonies during which the host nation officially celebrates each arriving nation. 

Today's entrants included a lone alpine ski athlete and HRH Henri Grand Duke of Luxembourg, who were down for some pin trading, as well as Turkey, Australia, Thailand and India. 

According to the first of two Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR) competitors met today, their competitors are/were not permitted to create a team pin. Anyone got an egg timer to see how long it takes for bootleg OAR pins to show up on the scene?

While enjoying the warmth of the retail areas, I stamped my passport with an Olympic Village post office postmark and enjoyed an introduction to an Ambassador of Morocco by IOC Member Ms. Nawal El Moutawkel, who asked me to share that her home nation will enjoy an African first: a shot at hosting a future Youth Olympic Games (she also requested a shout-out to her alma matter Iowa State University). 

Pin trading was robust both outside and in the Village. It was fun running into fellow Olympin members Bud and Sid (and his wife) trading near the security entrance. 

I arrived with about 50 pocketed pins and ran out of trading material in less than 90 minutes of trekking the Village, coming home with coveted 2018 NOC pins from Ghana, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Nigeria, Uzbekistan, Austria, and Mongolia, among others, and even scored a special-design IOC snow globe pin for PyeongChang ... for the win!

Most interesting conversations: short chats with arriving Team USA alpine and snowboard athletes checking in from their Seoul-to-PyeongChang bus ride. Everyone was all smiles, happy for the nomination of luge bronze medalist and four-time Olympian Erin Hamlin, who will carry the Stars and Stripes into the stadium tomorrow night.

It's going to be a great Games!

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

Opening Ceremonies Forecast: Awesome!

Today in the Main Press Center (MPC), I learned three key facts regarding tomorrow night's Olympic Opening Ceremony.

First, in a moment akin to Charlie Bucket discovering his golden ticket to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, the Team USA press office handed me a media desk ticket to PyeongChang Olympic Stadium, so I'll be able to blog from the big event live, in person and (hopefully) in the comforts of a heated press box about 24 hours from now. Amazing!

The to-the-bone frigid mountain temperatures here bring me to the second news flash for Opening Ceremonies.

Point No. 2: It's freakin' cold here, but the South Korean national weather service predicts slightly warmer than normal temperatures -- closer to zero degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) -- for the hours-long celebration. 

They won't ignite that cauldron soon enough (sidebar: the cauldron is spectacular-spectacular!).

On a patriotic note, the third big item du jour is that Team USA luger Erin Hamlin -- in her fourth consecutive Games and first since winning bronze in 2014 -- will carry the Stars and Stripes into Olympic Stadium during the parade of nations. 

I first met Hamlin at USA House in Sochi during a press event for then-client (by-partnership-with-UEG) Citi. What a great Olympian and person to represent USA on the world's stage. Newly engaged, she is a sweetheart with a lot of support from across the nation and her home stomping grounds of Remsen, N.Y.

At a press conference in MPC this morning, Hamlin answered questions about the announcement.

When I asked her how the flag bearer selection might rank in terms of life moments, as compared to qualifying for her first Games or winning bronze in Sochi, Hamlin said she's taking a wait-and-see approach to determine where the experience fits.

"It's up there pretty good," said Hamlin. "Winning a medal and accomplishing my athletic goals is a different feeling than being honored with something by my peers. It's exciting in the same aspects at being able to represent the U.S., and just being a part of the whole thing is awesome, so just gonna keep all of the [life moments] on the same level -- I haven't done it yet, so maybe [carrying the flag] will get it a couple notches higher afterwards."

Hamlin is the fourth U.S. luge athlete to be selected for Winter Olympic flag bearing duties. She said she won't change her routine now through Friday night, but maintaining her world champion shoulder and arm strength will be in the back of her mind while holding Old Glory aloft, not to mention managing a few butterflies in her stomach while billions of people are watching.

"The nerves will be flying for sure," said Hamlin. "

Olympic ticket and Erin Hamlin photos by Nicholas Wolaver. Weather image via PyeongChang 2018. 

From Russia With Love

Valentine's Day in the Olympic City was lovely though work-filled before a little bit of fun.

It was great to see the Russian President for the third time in a week when Putin visited USA House, this time all-smiles (he also visited neighboring Canada House).

As they say in the musical from my home state, if we keep meeting like this, "People Will Say We're In Love."

The media relations team for Citi (for which I am contributing a few freelance hours) worked through a busy day of interviews for athletes Evan Lysacek, Erin Hamlin and Dan Jansen to discuss the Citi Every Step program.

My main media hit du jour was with The Weather Channel whose producers invited Lysacek to discuss the men's figure skating finalists.

It was good to see Al Roker again (I only seem to visit his set during the Winter Olympics, starting with Roker's visit to B.C. Canada Place in Torino).

The Weather Channel's on-screen set is in "The Hollywood Squares" media platform near the Olympic Cauldron, and as we exited Evan's Weather interview several other NBC affiliates confirmed on-the-spot interview requests -- a golden afternoon for any Olympic publicist.

Later, back at USA House, I spoke with Lysacek and Hamlin about wardrobe malfunctions for the Winter Games, and their comments are included in the following post written as the next Glam.com contribution submitted for approval:

You’re a Winter Olympian who reached the pinnacle of your sports career. You have the world on a string!

But what’s to be done when the string on your competition uniform starts to unravel? You don’t want to destroy this sweater!

Wardrobe malfunctions are a reality for elite athletes in Sochi.



Photo via AFP/ScanPix

There are self-inflicted costume issues. Russian speedskater Olga Graf was so elated after earning a medal she unzipped her suit to reveal her “commando” competition style during the first week of the Games.

The word on the street is some of Jamaica’s bobsled team gear wound up in Australia rather than Sochi. Lesson to future Olympians: Pack official gear in carry-on luggage.

Aside from human errors in Olympic attire, according to some Team USA athletes, the accidental wardrobe malfunction can take place in any sport, often at the worst possible time. Who could forget Tanya Harding’s laces going bad in Lillehammer?

During a walk between venues in Sochi, Olympic champion figure skater Evan Lysacek said tears, rips or split pants are the most common for male skater wardrobe woes, while for women’s figure skaters, shoulder strap breaks or the slip of a low-cut top are issues for some. Though Lysacek said he never suffered a wardrobe malfunction of his own, he witnessed a few athletes work through quick fixes.

“I’ve seen others make a quick change,” said Lysacek. “You have to be prepared for anything.”

You’d think that with a custom-designed costume costing thousands of dollars, the expensive threads might stay in one piece and on the athlete.

“I worked with Vera Wang on all of my costumes,” said Lysacek. “They were all one-of-a-kind designs but they fit within with just an inch [of adjustability].”

Lysacek added that Wang personally designed and fitted his uniforms, a special experience with the added benefit of minimizing potential problems.

Sled athletes also face winter wardrobe malfunctions.

Luge Olympic medalist Erin Hamlin, who earned a bronze for Team USA, said in her third sliding run in Sochi she noticed a problem with her “bootie” – her competition shoes.

“They can break and the problem can definitely affect your slide, [so] I always have extras just in case,” said Hamlin. “Though in our sport our scores are not affected by the [cosmetic] design of the uniform, there are other factors that can affect speed for which we are judged.”

Both Hamlin and Lysacek are athletes for Citi Every Step, an Olympic-related program through which athletes invite fans to click their shared support of non-profit sport initiatives. Hamlin is supporting  USA Luge Slider Search while Lysacek designated Figure Skating In Harlem to receive benefits when fans click to direct Citi funds (disclosure: Citi Every Step is a client for which this Glam.com contributor is providing freelance P.R. counsel in Sochi).

Illustrating Hamlin’s remarks about uniforms and speed, perhaps the worst type of wardrobe malfunction in Sochi is a technical one. On Saturday, U.S. Speedskating announced their athletes want to stop using the 2014 Under Armour-designed suits, now blamed for less-than-stellar times in a sport for which thousandths of a second determine medalists.

At least the speedskaters uniforms weren’t like the see-through yoga pants that earned headlines in 2013.

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver except the Olga Graf image via AFP