Sad weekend news: Olympic diving champion Dr. Sammy Lee died in California at age 96, as reported by the LA Times.
I shared a fun, albeit brief, conversation with Lee at USA House in London during the 2012 Games. On an evening that included several Olympians visiting the house, including Shannon Miller and Prince Albert of Monaco, I spotted Lee attentively watching Olympic diving live on the monitors.
Seated on a plush couch arranged in the center of the venue's main room, Lee explained he had returned to USA House from an afternoon diving preliminary, citing he was exhausted from the commute across the pond.
I don't recall the questions posed to him -- likely centered around his coaching with Greg Louganis at Seoul 1988 (see video) -- trying to ask only during breaks in the on-screen diving action, but his response after about my third question stuck with me.
He nodded off mid-sentence.
Later in the evening, as the night's gathering was winding down and visitors made their way outdoors to await hotel transportation, Lee spotted me and apologized for dozing. We spoke about the divers on screen and that was pretty much it.
Reading the online tributes to his decades-long career, I regret not being better versed in Lee's credentials -- would like to have asked more about 1948 and 1952, coaching later athletes, his role (if any) with LA84, and his contributions to other Olympic bids, including LA2024, which Tweeted the organization's condolences on Lee's passing.
One of the Tweet responses was a follower's suggestion that an LA2024 venue bear the name "Sammy Lee Aquatics Center." I kinda like the sound of that. Photo via Olympic.org
The store did not yet have this title in stock, but thanks to a review copy from the publishing house, Self Made Hero, and its domestic distributor, Abrams, I did get to read this recent release on the heels of reviewing "Trashed" by John Backderf.
In about 150 pages, Kleist illustrates the too-short and true life of a Beijing 2008 Olympian who competed in athletics, specifically the 200m sprint. "An Olympic Dream" opens on an upbeat note as Yusuf Omar appears on the small screen in her family's Mogadishu living room with relatives and friends gathered to cheer for Samia.
While the Beijing experience inspires the stadium crowd and Yusuf Omar's new dream to return to the Olympic stage at London 2012, her Somali homecoming quickly evolves into a years-long marathon of increasingly awful challenges including gender and faith bias in her war-torn home town.
Forced to flee Somalia to find safety with family in Europe, and still clinging to her London Olympic dream, Yusuf Omar embarks on an international journey through Ethiopia, Sudan and Libya in search of sea passage to Italy. One can only imagine how much worse her final weeks must have been before boarding an overloaded watercraft akin to those in use today by Syrian refugees fleeing to Greece.
Kleist's illustrations in black pen and/or India ink bring to the page a life that is both hopeful and heartbroken. Yusuf Omar's POV is sometimes portrayed through Facebook posts or texts to family anxiously awaiting updates. Readers may almost smell the burning trash or taste the gritty dust kicked up by African winds and warlords clouding Omar's chances for a happier conclusion.
According to the book's Preface by Kleist, the author learned about Omar's fate as much of the world did following London's Games.
"Thanks to the help of journalist Teresa Krug, who had befriended [Yusuf Omar], I was able to speak personally with [Samia's] sister Hodan Yusuf Omar, who in 2006 had fled to Helsinki," wrote Kleist.
Kleist also mentioned the Olympian's actual Facebook posts provided content and context, though most of the posts in the book are fictionalized except for Yusuf Omar's plea for help while stranded in Tripoli. Krug provides a detailed Afterword for the text as well.
Though "An Olympic Dream" provides the antithesis of a happy ending for five-ringed-hopefuls, the book does provide inspiration and a look at the struggles tens of thousands still face today in Africa and Asia. Kudos to Kleist for shedding more light on this contemporary Olympic story. "An Olympic Dream" will hit Meltdown Comics and bookstores everywhere starting April 12 (pre-sales available here).
Before the London Olympics, I did not know the Spandau Ballet song "Gold." Almost every night of the Games, the BBC played this tune during their medal count segment. Catchy.
The title "Gold" also caught my attention when NPR aired a pre-Games segment introducing Chris Cleave, the award winning British author of "Incendiary" and "Little Bee." Cleave and his publisher's P.R. team were debuting the author's auric text about British cycling at the Olympics in Athens, Beijing and London.
Intrigued by the radio review of the book and Cleave's down to earth interview, I requested a publicity copy and started reading "Gold" on the July flight to London. I finished it (via audiobook) on a late summer drive to Oklahoma, now overdue for a blog review. You could say the review's been circling in my mind like wheels in a velodrome.
Then I learned of Cleave's two Oct. 6 Atlanta book signings and seized the opportunity to interview him and gain clarity on some solid "Gold" questions. Before delving into Cleave's answers, here's my quick take, er, book report.
In his third book "Gold," Chris Cleave takes readers on a dizzying and high-speed ride into the world of Olympic track cycling.
The story opens with two of the five main characters, Team GB's Zoe and Tom; respectively, she is a first-time Olympian about to enter the Athens Olympic velodrome as hell on wheels, and he is an elder Aussie Olympian-turned-coach who missed bronze by an agonizing one-hundredth of a second -- a fourth-place one moment in time he's regrettably relived daily, hourly or worse since the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
Also competing in Athens: Jack, the rising men's track cycling star for Britain. His young wife Kate is stateside watching the cycling drama unfold on the BBC's live broadcast from Greece. Kate and Zoe are teammates and best mates, and readers soon learn the former opted out of the 2004 Games to care for her newborn daughter, Sophie. We later discover that Zoe, Kate and Jack met young, and their mutually ultra-competitive natures led to a five-ringed love triangle in their early 20's.
Following the Athens opener, more pages are filled with detail of Sophie's struggles with pediatric leukemia.
Before proceeding, let me write here that one critic at The New York Times nailed it when he wrote that "Gold" is like "Beaches" on bikes. I love that, though I don't foresee Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey portraying Olympic cyclists when "Gold" hits the big screen, which I believe it will, just in time for Rio 2016.
My only complaint about "Gold" is that at times, too many times, the would-be-tearjerk detail about Sophie's illness and treatment is over the top, more of a cringe-jerk for this blogger.
Reading the book en route to London, I winced again and again at the medical jargon and play by play of young Sophie vomiting into her toys, which happen to be a collection of "Star Wars" vehicles (the girl is a big fan of the George Lucas series).
Listening to the audiobook, too often my hands moved to cover my ears while I hummed to drown out the treatment-speak with "La-la-la-la-la." When young Sophie suffers a seizure mid-text, I could not hit fast-forward quickly enough.
On the flip side, Cleave's play by play about track cycling, elite training and all that Olympic bike champions are made of -- that was all, how do they say in England (???) -- it was all brilliant!
Reading "Gold," I could not get enough of Cleave's detailed descriptions from within the helmets and heads of its fictional Olympians. He unknowingly wrote "Chariots of Fire" on bikes. And for the record, I think "Chariots of Fire" director Hugh Hudson should also direct "Gold" for the silver screen.
During my conversation with Cleave, the author revealed extensive research went into each of his books. For "Gold," the research included several months of training with national level cyclists and coaches, which led to Cleave's excellent second by second descriptions of Olympic velodrome racing (as it turned out, Cleave also researched pediatric leukemia in as much detail).
As readers of this blog post will find in the videos of Cleave's comments, the London Games brought to Great Britain as much elation and positive energy in 2005 as in the summer of 2012. Though Cleave never attended the Olympics prior to writing "Gold," it's clear his experiences with the book and as a London 2012 spectator may lead him to attend Rio 2016 as he predicted. Will he write another five-ringed story? Probably not. Will Cleave write again about individual pursuits? Likely yes, as he hinted his next work may delve into the world of a person struggling with a long-term recovery.
But the focus of "Gold" comes down to one thing, in Cleave's words.
"I wanted to write about a rivalry," said Cleave. In the pages of "Gold" he said, "Zoe and Kate live their lives, their rivalry in very different ways."
In his remarks at one of the book signing events of Atlanta, Cleave described Zoe's path as a trail of descruction, and that through his own cycling training the author learned the "savage joy" of winning against his training partners. He touches a bit on another result of this training in the video for this post (hint: hospital).
Another off-camera conversation briefly tied back to "Star Wars" trivia. Cleave shared that his birthday is May 14, the same day as Jedi creator George Lucas, Talking Heads front man (and cyclist) David Byrne, and the author of one Olympic blogger who aspires to the same level of creativity as these fellow Tauruses (Cleave was born only hours before I was on that May morning of 1973).
In the weeks since meeting Cleave in Atlanta, his other books made it only my library reserve list. If you enjoyed his prior works, you will likely embrace "Gold" as well. And if you are new to Cleave's style, "Gold" is a good entry point to his works. Happy reading!
Photos and videos by Nicholas Wolaver
P.S. Driving away from the Cleave interview, my route took me past a pawn shop for which a man donned signs advertising "We Buy Gold!" With a straight face I rolled down the window and offered him an autographed copy of Cleave's book. Pregnant pause ... then the sign guy laughed as loud as anyone I've heard in a long time.
Thursday was just another (extraordinary) day in London.
After trading pins at the Coca-Cola Olympic Pin Trading Centre at London Olympic Park, strolled over to synchronized swimming's team event. My expectations for the event were low, but my Olympic royal sighting wish list was completed when Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (Kate Middleton) popped up on the big screen cheering on Team GB in the pool (her husband Prince William was at women's beach volleyball on Wednesday).
Though I was not able to get a decent photo on my own (Christmas wish list: new camera), I did get to speak again with Prince Albert of Monaco, who was seated with Kate, as he exited the venue (good thing the pin he gave me at USA House remained on my lanyard).
"This is the most popular pin of the Games," I said, thanking him again for the prized pin.
As the sun set over Olympic Park, my attempt to enter Olympic Stadium was aborted by a queue volunteer, but even my rejection from the venue led to a serendipitous Olympic moment as I spotted a young blond woman who was recognizable but not quite known (she had on a distinctive "Aa" athlete credential).
Would she do an Olympic blog interview, I inquired.
"Sure," she said.
Stupid me, though -- my first question to her was, "As an Olympian, what was your favourite moment or experience of the Games?"
Instantly her eyes widened, shocked by the silly question.
"Winning a medal, of course!" she said.
Only then did it finally click -- the interview in progress was with Team GB Olympic gold medalist Laura Trott, winner of two medals in the Olympic Velodrome earlier this week!
"Duh!" I said, apologizing profusely.
Like me, Trott was attempting to enter the Olympic Stadium sans ticket. Trott and her boyfriend -- another medalist (I think) whose name I did not catch -- got stopped by the same purple-clad volunteer "bouncer" on the bridge to the venue.
Before others started to recognize her (I do not think the volunteer realized who she was), Trott shared that her Olympic medals remain in the Olympic Village, she was blow away by the public reaction and new celebrity for Olympic cycling, and she is loving every minute of the Olympic experience.
Trott's boyfriend is one lucky fellow. As the pair locked lips -- I mean, movie love scene liplock -- and they embraced while waiting for confirmed access to the venue, after a few private minutes (er, private if you don't count me gawking from 10 steps away), a small mob of U.K. fans started asking for autographs and photos while stunned volunteers. Finally hip to the Olympic champion in their midst, the Games volunteers worked to get security to help the Olympians access the venue.
Photo opp!
And still there was more to the evening -- taking in the Olympic Park after dark, Team USA won gold in women's water polo so I was able to chat with waiting fans including past Olympic water polo athletes and anxious family members.
And then there was the BBC broadcast booth at Olympic Park, in which Team GB Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis taped a victory interview before waving to thousands of mad (I mean, losing there sh*t over ther moon elated) British fans cheering up to the penthouse studio platform above.
And the Legend -- Usain Bolt -- won gold in the 200m final inside the stadium, yielding deafening cheers from Olympic Stadium. Bravo, Bolt. I hear folks in Jamaica are losing it!
It's the middle of the night in London. I'm in my hotel near Paddington Station while across town in the Olympic Village, I suspect Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor are still celebrating.
Paraphrasing Lionel Richie, they are once, twice, three time a lady's gold medalist in Olympic beach volleyball. Kudos to this Team USA duo -- Olympic champions for the third consecutive Games -- and to their teammates April Ross and Jennifer Kessy, winners of the silver medal.
Congratulations are also in order for the Brazilian medal winners Larissa Franca and Juliana Felisberta Da Silva who earned da bronze.
This was my third consecutive Olympics to witness Walsh and May-Treanor take home the gold. In Athens 2004, on a beach beside the Mediterranean Sea, the U.S. duo brought home their first Olympic victory. Four years later, in the pouring rain at a theme park venue in Beijing, they won again. In both cities, it took until the next day to interact with the Olympic champions (in Athens, a the TODAY Show set, repeated in Beijing).
Tonight I enjoyed the competition from section 109, stayed for the medal ceremony (captured on video from behind the U.S. flag raising during the national anthem for Team USA), then hung out until most of the purple-clad venue volunteers exited the building. With a combination USA House badge and London Media Centre badge in tow, and a couple of Olympic pin trades later, I found myself outside the Horse Guard's Parade venue media centre in which the medalists were interviewed by the world's media.
Outside a small group of teenage fans awaiting the medalists for a chance photo or autograph, and I captured video of all four U.S. medal winners as they exited the media tent. Check out Kerri Walsh sporting her three-peat Olympic medal, which she describes as a "mission accomplished" feat that made her say "... it's like I don't have a head on my shoulders!" and stating of the gold medal "she's beautiful."
I will post each of the videos to YouTube (but tonight just doing the best of them -- it's awfully late).
As in Athens, Walsh proved to be a class act taking time to inspire a generation (the theme of the London 2012 Olympic Games) by signing autographs and posing for photos with young fans (it was nice to see all of Team USA do this after their press conference).
Congratulations to the three-time Olympic Champions in women's beach volleyball.
Boris Becker's resume includes many accolades: Olympic gold medalist (men's doubles tennis in Barcelona 1992), Olympian at Los Angeles, Seoul and Barcelona, Wimbledon champion (1985, 1986, 1989), and winner of the Australian Open (1991, 1996) and U.S. Open (1989).
Now a London-based businessman who set up house (one of many in several nations) a few blocks from Wimbledon, Becker now wants you to Visit Britain.
Today in London, Becker took part in a Visit Britain press conference announcing his role as an Ambassador for the organization charged with generating tourism. Becker joins Olympic boxing champion Lennox Lewis and golfer Colin Montgomerie as part of Visit Britain's "GREAT Britain, You're Invited" campaign.
With about 25 reporters in attendance, media viewed Becker's short campaign film then Becker took questions about his many connections to London and Great Britain. For instance, two of his children are in school here, he resides near Centre Court at Wimbledon, and his company and many business interests are in the city Becker describes as among the most cosmopolitan in the world. He also joked that he is one German who British love.
When I asked Becker to detail his many Olympic experiences, he answered describing Olympic tennis as a demonstration sport at the Los Angeles 1984 Games, and brief details about his part in the 1988 and 1992 German teams at Seoul and Barcelona, respectively. From a 1992 New York Times article I knew Becker resided in the Olympic Villages, and he shared details in the video response (the aforementioned article also talks about a very long men's tennis match played in Barcelona Olympic competition, much like today's lengthy men's singles semifinal match for London Olympic tennis players Roger Federer and Juan Martin Del Potro (Federer won).
Becker also answered questions about his role in the 2012 Olympic Torch Relay, stating he got the call and invitation to participate about three days ahead of its arrival in the London suburbs.
He said winning at Wimbledon on July 7, 1985, was like being born again or "a second birthday" and that winning the Olympic gold with his tennis nemesis-turned-doubles-partner Michael Stich was another life-changing experience.
"Carrying the torch was a near-life changing [experience]," said Becker.
The one glitch of the Visit Britain press event came from a German news outlet who posed questions about Becker's personal life and recent reports he was in default on property in Majorca (a question on the heels of a tourism trade reporter's inquiry about Becker's British holiday wish list for which Becker claimed not to be a beach person). Becker cringed but took the high road and politely moved on to answering other questions (though Becker apparently had a stern word or two for the German reporter immediately after the press conference). Schadenfreude!
Visit Britain has a lot of cool stuff going on so be sure to check out their site www.VisitBritain.org for some very cool stuff, including the Becker video.
Photos by Nicholas Wolaver, except the torch relay photo via LOCOG
Sunday morning in London brought a bright blue sky and the big day for my first sporting event ticket of the 2012 Olympics -- shooting.
My first visit to an Olympic shooting venue, I did not know what to expect. Let me say the experience blew my mind!
It was a rocky start, however, when I realized at 8 a.m. that the start time was 9 a.m. and the Underground ride would be more than one hour (BLAST!).
Though London offers no bullet train service to The Royal Artillery Barracks, on the far east side of the city (even further than the Olympic Park), the tube-to-venue bus ride was brief, and I snapped several sunny shots around and inside the beautiful ultra-modern venue.
My general admission ticket included skeet shooting access, with a grandstand revealing three skeet and trap fields of play and nearly-full seating. The preliminary segment wrapped up with Team USA's Kimberly Rhode -- the five-time Olympian featured in a massive USA Today article last weekend -- in the lead with a near-perfect score.
Lunchtime arrived and I searched for ... wait for it ... bangers and mash, but settled for fish & chips (my first taste of this popular staple of the London experience). For those visiting Olympic venues in London, you may also enjoy the side of mashed peas (delicious!).
About this time, storm clouds moved in and a cloudburst sent many folks for cover. The rain did a high calibre number on my shoes, but my umbrella saved the day, and the vacant, damp seating yielded surprising access to the front row.
Imagine my delight to learn that my seatmates from the USA were Richard and Sharon Rhode, the parents of Kimberly. Rick and Sharon detailed their excitement, anxiousness and elation about the day, and they also told stories from travels to Atlanta, Sydney, Athens and Beijing for Kimberly's previous medal-earning Olympic competitions. Enjoy the video! Also, be sure to look for the LA Times' interview with Rick and Kimberly (shook hands with Bill Dwyre, the columnist from Los Angeles).
So there I was, seating by the parents of the medal favorite to my left ... wait for it ... riding shotgun and the shotgun competition at the London Olympics. All around us sat fellow Team USA supporters (I estimate about 25 of us, including several folks from Georgia like me). To my left sat a half-dozen Slovakia fans humming their national anthem. I love the Olympics!
Bonus -- the rain stopped just in time for the big final round.
It did not take long for Kimberly Rhode, Wei Ning of China, Marina Belikova of Russia, Chiara Cainero of Italy, Christine Wenzel of Germany and Danka Bartekova of Slovakia to blow through the final round. And in the fourth station of the competition, Rhode's parents were a bit more tense (Sharon explained it was the most challenging stage of the competition), but Kimberly kept nailing every shot.
She shoots, she SCORES!
So proud we were to learn by station five Rhode won the gold with China taking the silver. Russia and Slovakia began a sudden-death-pressure shoot-off, with Belikova missing her last shot, giving our neighbors seated to the left a huge occasion to celebrate as we had for Rhode.
Bravo, Kimberly Rhode! Her smile beamed as some blogger in the audience cheered "We love you, Kimberly!" drawing laughter from the crowd.
With "The Star Spangled Banner" playing as Old Glory ascended the flag pole, Rhode wiped away tears as did China's silver medal winner Ning and Bartekova donning her bronze. What a moment! So proud.
Rhode's post-competition actions also impressed me deeply. After completing a wave of media interviews in the venue's mixed zone for reporters and athletes, Rhode heard from anxious U.S. fans asking for autographs and a photo with Rhode.
Rhode not only stayed to sign every autograph and pose for may photos, but for kids in the venue she placed her brand new London Olympic gold medal around their necks and invited the young fans to hold her medal ceremony flowers. So polite and inspiring. Again, bravo Kimberly Rhode! A true Olympic champion.
My fellow International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH) friend Brian Carberry is quick to point out that Rhode is the second Olympian in two days to win an medal in five consecutive Olympics. Though she did not five-peat, Rhode now has three gold, one silver and one bronze in her trophy case. And she has another opportunity to medal in London next weekend, according to her parents.
Rhode not only won gold, but she also shot a near-perfect 99 out of 100, equaling her own world record.
So excited I am by her victory, it's time to rifle through my bag for the Kim Rhode "blinkie" pin her mother gave to me in the stands. Time to wear it with pride.
A public relations executive by day, small-time eBayer by night and weekends, lifetime member of the International Society of Olympic Historians (ISOH) and full-time Olympic enthusiast who also looks at "BoingBoing-style" unusual news with interest. Please e-mail me at olympiada@yahoo.com or if you can't get enough try my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/people/Nicholas_Wolaver/713593008
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