As a wannabe Olympic reporter accredited for but not in Tokyo, I've been percolating on an Olympic gymnastics theory -- specific to Simone Biles -- since the Olympic champion's decision to exit the team all-around competition.
After running this notion by friends for a pre-post sniff test, I'm now interested in additional perspectives. Please read then share yours with a comment.
Biles obviously captivated the media along her road to Tokyo. I lost count of the cover stories predicting her competitive dominance.
Some articles mentioned she also captivated the attention of her boyfriend, NFL player Jonathan Owens, just before and since the start to the pandemic. The couple earned a Good Housekeeping "Seal of Approval" of sorts in this fresh story since Biles' Tuesday announcement.
So, think about it. Biles and Owens, obviously in love, but facing a few weeks apart as she travelled solo to Tokyo. How would many couples spend their last private hours together after a nice meal or some Netflix and chill?
See where this is going?
My theory: Simon Biles could be pregnant.
Team USA celebration in 2016. Photo: N. Wolaver
The theory explained further: She got the news only hours before competing but after qualifying for the team all-around final. What other life-changing news might send anyone into an array of strong emotions or mental considerations?
Further still: Biles does not want to share this private news with the world. She may not even be ready to share it with Owens.
And Team USA doctors are working -- one day and training session at a time -- to be sure its safe both mentally and physically for Biles (with baby on board?) to leap, tumble, jump and do all those other things Biles does to further affirm her GOAT status in her sport.
Biles would not be the first pregnant Olympian. According to Olympedia, 22 women competed with child, some knowingly with others oblivious to the bundles of joy witnessing their mother's five-ringed feats with an insider perspective.
My theory is rooted in a prior interaction with a pregnant Team USA Olympian. A few days before the London 2012 Opening Ceremonies, I helped some colleagues at a 24 Hour Fitness press event in East London to open a private training center for Team USA, and Kerri Walsh Jennings was a paid spokesperson at the event. A broadcast outlet asked her to "show us your abs" and I was standing beside the reporter and Walsh Jennings for the flash of her belly, inspiring a premonition and question in my mind, "Has anyone competed in Olympic beach volleyball while pregnant?"
Pregnant? Yes. Five weeks.
No one questioned Walsh Jennings on this topic in the moment, but weeks after she won gold in London she disclosed her five-weeks pregnant status from the previous ab flash photo opp.
Four years later, anyone listening closely to the 2016 ESPN documentary can clearly hear me asking Walsh Jennings about her London 2012 pregnancy during her Q&A session at the Team USA Media Summit. These combined experiences for me as an Olympic writer are the foundation of my Biles pregnancy theory.
How say you, Olympic, gymnastics and Biles fans?
Whether right or wrong about this theory, wishing Biles and her teammates all the best for continued success in Tokyo! And there's no theorizing to concur: Biles is GOAT in her sport.
Image credits: Leaping photo by Danielle Parhizkaran-USA Today Network; Sports Illustrated cover photo by Kate Powers; photo of 2016 gymnasts at Team USA celebration in Washington, D.C., by Nicholas Wolaver; cheering Biles photo via The Onion; Walsh Jennings photo via this page.
Monday to Thursday brought an array of astounding moments at Rio 2016.
Trading a pin to get in for Michael Phelps' first of several new Olympic gold medal swims probably tops the list.
Witnessing follow up medals for other USA swimmers and Hungary's "Iron Lady" also proved remarkable.
I'm finding the combination of my Carioca 3 Press Mixed Zone credential, Rio Media Center badge and a pin with a smile usually does the trick to get most anywhere.
Case in point, yesterday afternoon at the women's gymnastics individual all around finals, I arrived with a new Canadian friend from USA House and in lieu of heading to my section 40 seat it was easy to stroll in to the NBC executive seating area (just outside the Olympic Family lounge) and sit a row or two from Nastia Liukin and her colleagues providing live commentary from the event.
SNL cast member and "Ghostbuster" Leslie Jones was there as well (see woman in white hat) cheering on Team USA.
As she climbed the steep stairs in our section I loaned Jones a hand and told her my love and admiration of her comedy work (she was very friendly).
We arrived for the third and fourth rotations, and it was very satisfying to watch Simone Biles and Aly Raisman on the balance beam and floor exercise before their medal ceremony. Raisman wept with joy upon completing what may be one of her final Olympic performances. Biles was simply beaming from the end of her routines to the medal presentation.
Here's a video interview with Raisman filmed at the Team USA Media Summit in March:
In the press mixed zone at fencing (personal photos not permitted), it was great fun to see Daryl Homer make Olympic history while earning a silver medal. Standing on the athlete side of the fencing, I offered to hold the mobile phone mic of USA Today columnist Christine Brennan, who used the recording for quotes in this report filed from the venue's media center.
Chatting with Brennan after the Homer interviews, we compared notes on sharing May 14 as a birthday. She showed me a beautiful diamond and emerald ring she was given on her sixteenth birthday (my first birthday) and we talked about memories from the Los Angeles 1984 Games (her first as reporter and my first as fifth grade fan).
In general the volunteer assignments at Carioca 3 (for Rio 2016) and at USA House (for U.S. Olympic Committee) proved very rewarding so far. In addition to the in-venue access, I'm earning a better understanding of the press selection process and the immense planning behind each media zone.
My confidentiality agreement for the USA House gig prevents me from detailing much about what I've seen and who I met inside, but it is fair to say more than five top American Olympians have come up to me to ask "Nick, what are you doing here?" leaving me beaming that this blogging is gaining more recognition after eight years of chipping away.
The Los Angeles 2024 Olympic bid presentation there is magnificent, and I hope they will grant permission to film it later during the Games.
Outside of USA House on Wednesday night, as a parade of International Olympic Committee members exited to await their ground transportation, it was easy to strike up conversations with Kevin Gosper (Australia), Sergei Bubka (Russia) and several of their colleagues -- walked away with significant National Olympic Committee (NOC) pins including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Chile and several small islands. Meeting the Japanese IOC members to talk about Tokyo 2020 was enriching.
I feel pleased to have made several new friends each day. My flatmate Joanne, who is heading back to the USA this afternoon, seems to have loved her first Games experience (she just texted from the Christ the Redeemer statue where she posed for a selfie with Olympic diving legend Greg Louganis).
The long walks from transportation to the venues -- and the lack of in-venue food -- are my only complaints. But it's all good. Why Dr. Scholl's is not here peddling foot pads is beyond comprehension.
Heading soon to watch Kim Rhode in her sixth Olympic skeet shooting match. More updates during the weekend. Thank you for reading and sharing the blog!
Days one to and three at the Rio Olympics were smooth, easy and loads of fun.
Saturday afternoon, my week-one travel buddy, Joanne, joined me at Olympic archery in the world-famous Sambadromo, where we witness the men's team competition including Korea and Team USA placing one-two as the sun set.
Later that evening we made our way to the first of three nights of Olympic swimming -- with each evening, our seating in the aquatic center improved, finding our way closer and closer to the action in the pool.
What a thrill it's been to witness several medalists for Team USA, including swimmers Murphy, Ledecky, King and, of course, Phelps & Co. for the 4 x 100 men's freestyle relay.
Sunday also brought time to see women's gymnastics preliminaries after my first full shift in the press mixed zone at Carioca 3 Arena, where Massialas won silver to an Italian fencer. In our media area, we queue to coaches and officials down the proper corridor while the athletes move from one batch of reporters to the next as they exit the field of play.
Very cool to see Massialas' medals up close (though photos are not permitted while on duty).
Geography continues to be the big bear at this Olympics ... one-, two- and three-hour commute times in each direction for events or volunteering tries one's patience, as does the 2-3 km hikes from the transport to the venues.
Some of this is to be expected, however, and we've paced ourselves in spite of four very late nights. Monday was a designated "recovery day" and this morning I am jazzed for a full day of volunteering up the street at USA House.
It is so ... on! Raked in about 140 new pins so far. Running into old friends while meeting many new ones everywhere.
More updates to follow soon. Thank you for reading! Photos by Nicholas Wolaver
The first time I heard about "The Bronze" -- the new comedy that spoofs Olympic gymnastics -- it had just debuted at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.
Following some studio troubles and distribution issues, it took longer than anticipated to finally see it, but I recently enjoyed a media preview screening just in time for its limited release (pushed back yet again) on Friday.
It's too bad this five-ringed flick may not get a broader audience; the film is packed with many funny moments, some very funny.
But over time, "The Bronze" may gain a cult following on par with other sports-skewering late night comedies like bowling's "Kingpin" or golf's "Caddyshack."
Early scenes introduce viewers to the young Hope Annabelle Greggory, an Olympian from small town Ohio competing at the Rome 2004 Olympics. In case you weren't sure: Unlike other recent releases "Race" and "Eddie The Eagle," "The Bronze" is not based on a specific Olympian, nor are its Olympic scenes based on real-life.
After Hope's ankle audibly snaps during her televised balance beam routine, the would-be Kerri Strug guts through one more routine to secure a bronze medal and win America's sweetheart status, in the process upstaging fellow U.S. gymnasts who took home the gold.
Flash forward 10 years: Adult Greggory (Melissa Rauch), now pushing 30, has long-since gotten sponsorship offers or appearance fees. Donning her Team USA uniform, she fills her days with trips to the mall in search of free food, shoes and other Olympic hero spoils she negotiated through questionable means (some X-rated).
When she's not cruising the mall or small town Ohio streets in her bronze and rusting Buick, Hope spends time stealing greeting card cash from her postal dad's mail truck and hiding out in her trophy-filled basement room, at times masturbating to stuck landings in her own competition videos.
Getting the picture? America's sweetheart ... gone wild!
Viewers may recognize Hope's father Stan (Gary Cole) from his previous authoritarian role in "Office Space" (yeah, that manager with the TPS reports and great coffee mug).
Though Stan loves Hope, he's reached the end of his rope in trying to nudge her out of the nest. Then opportunity knocks!
Through a series of unfortunate events centered on her former coach's suicide and an unexpected inheritance secretly promised to her, Hope reluctantly accepts a coaching gig to train America's next sweetheart gymnast -- high schooler Maggie Townsend, Hope's heir apparent -- in time for the Toronto 2016 Games.
Though gaining a small fortune is Hope's only real motivation, for her own dark amusement she unleashes a spectrum of awful pranks undermining her naive protege's training through bad diet, condoning premarital sex and bottled water spiked with ecstasy, all while fending off an encroaching U.S. Gymnastics coaching nemesis dead-set on luring Maggie over to his camp.
Refraining from more screenplay details, I'll just state that by the time an intense gymnastics sex scene and the Toronto Games are underway, sportsmanlike conduct is long gone and Hope's back story on her vault from sweetheart to seductress is fully disclosed, with many hilarious if raunchy, er, Rauch-y one-liners delivered. There are a few times when this joke or that joke are just slightly overcooked, but overall most lines aren't forced.
I really took a shine to the dancer-turned-actress Haley Lu Richardson as Maggie, an ever-chipper yet gullible athlete looking to Hope for advice.
Between Maggie's Christian one-liners ("cursing hurts God's spirit") and cluelessly suggestive secret hand signals (finger poking her other hand's encircled fingers) she earned some of the biggest laughs.
My prediction is that others will one day recall this Richardson comedy debut the way folks already reminisce about Jonah Hill in "Superbad."
Thomas Middleditch as the awkward gym owner (and lifetime small town Hope fan) provides a dose of sensitivity that also will make folks smile.
It was fun spotting Olympic cameos by Dominique Dawes, Olga Korbut and Dominique Moceanu, and most of the music is apt. Fans may enjoy Doris Day crooning "Why-o-why-o did I leave Ohio?" and the end credits rolling to a Rauch gymnastics rap ("I'm a bronze ass beeochh!") are nice finishing touches.
"The Bronze" leaves no doubt its "R" rating is appropriate, so some Rio 2016 Olympic hopefuls may have to wait for theatre access. I suspect the DVD will put the "nasty" into artistic gymnastics while leaving room for rhythmic or trampoline sequels.
If you're from Edmond, Okla., like me, chances are good you may have a Shannon Miller story or two from her years growing up and meeting the world from right there in the Sooner State.
For many, introductions to the gymnastics champion took place during U.S. Olympic Festival '89, the U.S. Olympic Committee's version of the Games held in non-Olympiad years from 1978 to 1995.
For 10 days that July, Oklahoma City was in the spotlight, and Miller was one of the hometown favorites, a pre-teen with some international training under her belt.
By the time Miller made her first Olympic team in 1992, I was acquainted with her mother via a few Olympic pin trades.
And when Edmond's own Olympian returned from Barcelona with five medals, it was fun to volunteer as the town threw her a massive parade, presented a key to the city, and gave her a set of keys to a new car Miller was not yet licensed to drive.
These and many other small town memories -- and her many remarkable gymnastics feats -- are detailed in Miller's words on the pages of her recently published autobiography "It's Not About Perfect" now available from Thomas Dunne Books. A few book tour stops remain scheduled this summer.
A review of the book follows after a few more paragraphs of my own Shannon Miller memories.
Though we shook hands once as Miller signed autographs for Atlanta Committee for the Olympics Games (ACOG) staff during spring 1996, and though I cheered for her with the rest of America when the Magnificent Seven won gold in the Georgia Dome, after the Centennial Games there were fewer occasions when Miller gained attention.
The main reminders arrived when driving back into Edmond, where there are billboard-sized signs celebrating the hometown hero, and a section of Interstate I-35 is officially named the "Shannon Miller Parkway."
The city also installed a massive bronze sculpture of Miller atop a balance beam/globe in a park beside the Edmond Public Library, another occasional reminder, but only while visiting family there.
It took 16 years before Miller and I spoke for the second time at USA House in London. I'm embarrassed to admit that during the conversation with Miller and her husband, I had no idea she survived cancer (!!!) nor did I realize she was reporting from the Games as a gymnastics commentator.
So when the new book publicity team scheduled a phone interview and provided a review copy in April, I was thankful for the opportunity to inquire more about Miller's post-Olympics life now centered in Jacksonville, Fla. It took a few weeks to finish, but I enjoyed reading Miller's autobiography after that conversation from the parking lot of the Edmond Starbucks.
By phone, Miller explained her aspirations for what readers may gain from 'It's Not About Perfect."
"No matter what [one's] struggle is, I hope readers will take a nugget or lesson and find they are not alone," said Miller, who added that the book writing process was "therapeutic" and "cathartic" on many fronts. "Growing up, I did not stop to smell the roses along the way, and this 'real' book was fun to write, to look back."
Miller said the blog she started during cancer treatment, and the reader feedback she received from the e-book that followed, in-part served as the new book's starting point. To fill in more details, she spent time interviewing her parents and family, gaining new perspectives in her career from a time when she was hyper-focused on competition.
Miller's focus now centers on her two children and the business she founded with her husband, Shannon Miller Lifestyle.
"We started [the business] before my diagnosis, and being a [cancer] survivor reinforced our focus on health," said Miller.
The company presents kid fitness awareness programs aimed at combating childhood obesity, mostly in the local Jacksonville community.
Her writing aside, my take on Miller's work now is that she is all about the present and future in lieu of often looking back on her Olympic career. She often came back to parenting and juggling the many balls of running a business during the discussion.
When asked about her days competing in Atlanta, Miller said although she travels through the city often and has friends in town, her main memories are from 1996 Games-time and during two reunions with fellow Magnificent Seven members.
"We stood in the Georgia Dome and Centennial Olympic Park," said Miller of the gatherings. "It was [my] first real time to see it."
Sculptor Shan Gray created the Shannon Miller bronze on view in the Olympic
champion's home town, Edmond, Okla. The version on left is a miniature cast
before the full-size statuewas installed in a park beside the main public library.
Photos by Nick Wolaver
Miller also makes it to Edmond from time to time, most recently while in Oklahoma to promote the book, which I enjoyed reading on several fronts.
In addition to "filling in the blanks" on Miller's career and work between the Olympiads in which she competed, I enjoyed learning more about Miller's athlete:coach relationship with Steve Nunno, and the bonds she forged with several fellow athletes and supporters.
In the book, Miller and co-author Danny Peary, a sports writer with extensive film writing credentials, did a nice job weaving precise gymnastics results and stats with the gymnast's vivid recollections -- or at least her memories of critical moments from several competitive years.
Following a detailed section about winning the team gold in Atlanta, at the start of Chapter 27, Miller takes readers behind the scenes of her first golden evening of the 1996 Games.
"That night there was a whirlwind of activity that ended with a late-night party at Planet Hollywood. But in the back of my mind I heard Steve's words, "It's not over." Before leaving the Georgia Dome, I spent time with him and Peggy [Liddick], who were proud and congratulatory by also squeezed a few corrections into our conversation. It would be years before I truly understood the impact we had on the lives of others."
Miller follows up this team high with descriptions of the individual event struggles that followed, concluding on a fortunate higher note with her individual gold medal on the balance beam and score of 9.862.
Almost perfect.
Later in the book, many of the challenges and triumphs of Olympic and other international competitions helped Miller find her internal voice to beat cancer, and though the reading of Miller's gymnastics career injuries (nastiest: a dislocated shoulder) and chemotherapy treatments made me cringe a few times, I appreciated Miller sharing the internal monologue that helped her find inspiration from within to keep moving forward in spite of extreme pain, exhaustion and illness.
Like the title suggests, "It's Not About Perfect" isn't, but due only to minor faults.
In a technical points sense, the copy editors missed a grammar item on page 103, with Miller "sneaking peaks"at Svetlana Boginskaya" during competitions. This error of peeks certainly piqued my interest.
The other slight deduction came through omission of an element in Miller's game of life.
Though I understand the myriad reasons -- including likely non-disclosures or other legal terms of divorce settlements, not to mention the topic being as personal or even more personal than recovering from cancer -- it was surprising Miller did not delve more into struggles from her first marriage and what she learned during this challenging period of her young adult years. Readers learn about the celebrity appearances and higher ed work in Oklahoma and later Boston, where Miller may prove helpful for the 2024 Olympic bid (when and if they bid committee engages her as they should), but readers don't find much about the difficult choices made that ultimately ended a marriage.
Though Miller's book writing goal was not to educate younger Olympic champions on the perks and perils of living in the spotlight, and I "get it" why this was left out (except for a handful of mentions), the relationship regrets might have been helpful for a latter gymnasts now tumbling through post-Games choices. I also thought Miller's readers who may be struggling with a bad marriage might find words of inspiration. Not a major deduction but missed opportunity to score higher.
Overall the book is an excellent read earning a 9.85 from this blogger.
Given Peary's film background, it won't surprise me when and if "It's Not About Perfect" eventually turns into a screenplay. Miller's story as the most accomplished American gymnast and cancer survivor would make for a compelling silver screen version after we see what evolves as Miller's next big accomplishments.
Until then, I highly recommend the text version of "It's Not About Perfect" not only for Olympic fans but also for fans of living one's life to its full potential.
Book cover image via Thomas Dunne; Other photos by Nicholas Wolaver
With the 2015 Sundance Film Festival kicking off next week, today brought a perceived urgency to search for new Olympic-inspired movies on the docket for the big event in Park City.
As noted in festival preview posts of recent years, Utah's mountain resort -- home to several 2002 Winter Games venues and Team USA training sites -- offers a picture postcard locale at which to debut features and documentaries by accomplished and emerging filmmakers.
From what I can tell, the 2015 schedule at Sundance includes only two five-ringed films. The first appears to be an edgy comedy titled "The Bronze" highlighting the trials and tribulations of a once-famous 2004 Olympic gymnast who achieved much acclaim as a teenager with a third-place finish.
The story jumps ahead 10 years to find the former star now crestfallen, surly and living in her parents' basement as a rising gymnastics talent comes knocking for career advice from the woman she idolizes.
Some aspects of "The Bronze" brought to mind the 2011 film "Young Adult" minus the divorce element. Here's hoping the current release has a few more laughs.
The other Sundance entry -- which also potentially highlights athlete idol worship -- is titled "The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul," a documentary short from Australia.
From the brief details found so far, it looks like up to six girls from across the divided national are vying for the opportunity to portray the 1994 Olympic gold medalist in women's figure skating. Interesting.
I reached out to the publicity contact for both films, hoping more details may arrive soon. Until then, here's the festival's YouTube links regarding "The Bronze" for a sneak peek.
My birthday in 2012 included an introduction to a young woman who impressed me.
At the U.S.O.C. Media Summit for London, reporters and bloggers in Dallas last May 14 met the pre-Games, pre-meme, pre-medal-winning McKayla Maroney.
Maroney impressed not only for her athletic accomplishments, but also for her poise as a media-ready Olympian. Here was a young woman with her sights on Olympic gold and savvy eye on post-Games endorsement opportunities. Interviewing her briefly as her media Q&A wrapped, I walked away thinking, "Here's an athlete who not only studied, say, Mary Lou Retton's field of play prowess but also how the perfect 10 gymnast managed the glory beyond the Wheaties box."
Watching reruns of Retton interviews at LA84 XXVth Gala affirmed this.
So instead of blogging about Maroney last summer, I kept these observations on the back burner waiting to see how she'd fulfill her potential.
It was thrilling to see Maroney and the team in person as they captured team gold in London, and exciting to see the "not impressed" phenomenon across social media and the Oval Office.
That was just the preamble. The Maroney marketing machine is launching officially this week.
As reported by the New York Times, Maroney landed a major (and likely lucrative) endorsement deal tied to several soda brand names and a new 10 calorie line that builds on the Dr. Pepper 10 calorie beverage. Maroney will greet Penn Station visitors and fans on Thursday in a temporary "Ten Station" arrangement to encourage sampling and social media photo sharing of consumers who are "impressed" with new low-cal flavors of 7Up, RC Cola, A&W Root Beer and other flavors with "TEN" branding.
I'm impressed. It will be even more impressive if Maroney arrives at Penn Station in a gold singlet, jogging like Bo Derek on a beach. That would be a "Ten" move. Though not what Dr. Pepper inTENds.
Speaking of Bo Derek, why isn't she on board for the 10 calorie drink campaign?
Though much credit is due for the successful negotiation of this post-London Maroney endorsement, folks in the five-ringed scene have got to wonder as I do why the gymnast went with a non-Olympic beverage brand for her debut deal. Everyone knows Coca-Cola sponsors the Olympic Movement (all the way back to 1928, the same year women's gymnastics entered the Olympic program in Amsterdam).
Is McKayla consciously signaling to big red, make 7Up Yours?
The press release announcing the deal and Thursday's festivities gives no decisive clues.
This week one of Maroney's "Fierce Five" teammates, Aly Raisman, secured a spot on the next "Dancing With The Stars" season, following Shawn Johnson's footsteps. It will be impressive to learn Maroney's next move on the endorsement front.
Photos by Nicholas Wolaver, the White House and Reuters/Brian Snyder. Photo illustration of "10" movie poster via IMDB, Reuters/Brian Snyder and this blog
It's November 2. Happy birthday, Phoebe Mills, the Olympic bronze medalist with 40 reasons to celebrate!
When I was 15 and it was spring of 1988, Mills emerged as a contender for the Seoul Olympics gymnastics competition around the time a newspaper ad appeared in the Daily Oklahoman inviting folks to volunteer for U.S. Olympic Festival '89. Chatting with a friend, I signed up to donate time stating, "Maybe this is one way I could meet that cute gymnast (who is my age), Phoebe Mills."
That volunteer gig changed my life, and on an early volunteer assignment we sat in a rain-soaked tent at the State Fair of Oklahoma recruiting more volunteers and watching Mills win bronze on the balance beam via NBC's Olympic coverage. So cool!
Of course, a few months after Seoul, Mills wrapped up her gymnastics career before the '89 Festival (drat!), but I did meet one of her sisters, a figure skater, when she competed in Oklahoma City. Phoebe was nice enough to reply to a fan letter I sent to her, and that was pretty much the end of that.
Until ...
Fast forward to the summer of 1993, during which I picked up a Texas Torch Relay volunteer spot for U.S. Olympic Festival '93 in San Antonio (another life-shaping experience that influenced my selection of public relations/journalism pursuits). When the relay ended at the gleaming new Alamodome (the Olympic Festival opening ceremony was the venue's debut event), in the press box I learned Phoebe Mills returned to Olympic pursuits as a competitive diver (hooray!).
It was a bummer to learn, however, I'd miss her diving competition by a day or two (with the Torch Relay complete, I went on back to Oklahoma early during the Festival, seriously bummed).
Just a college year later, during the summer of 1994 (best ... summer ... ever, working as U.S.O.F. employee in the Olympic Village at Washington University in St. Louis, site of 1904 Olympic competitions), the stars aligned, sort of, and I shared a brief, albeit embarrassing, introduction to Phoebe Mills. Hopefully she does not remember this intro.
You see, one morning in the Olympic Village dining hall, I dragged myself (dog tired) in to breakfast, and while dispensing grape juice or some other beverage, half-awake I looked up to find Phoebe Mills standing beside me in line at the juice bar. Hello!
In an instant I thought, "Finally, I can tell this person she changed my life! If I hadn't volunteered in 1989, specifically to meet her, my Olympic aspirations might have remained dormant. I'm your No. 1 fan! Thank you for changing my life, Phoebe! You're beautiful ... (etc. etc. more embarrassing crush stuff)."
If only I had spoken up!
Sadly, these thoughts were all for naught as in my dazed and surprised state, the grape juice I dispensed overfilled my glass, pouring over my clueless hands and cascading into a messy pool at our feet.
Mortified, I stepped away apologizing, retreating to retrieve an Olympic Village mop, and by my blushed return, Phoebe Mills vanished from the dining hall and my message of thanks remained only in my brain. Until now.
I appreciate that Phoebe Mills, the newest 40-something Olympian, was driven during the 1980s in gymnastics and that she inspired me (and I suspect thousands of other fans) to step into the Olympic circles and get involved with this great Olympic Family. I am thankful that Phoebe's family pushed her, and her fellow Olympic siblings, as members of a peer family in the Midwestern U.S. (still have the magazine article about their collective five-ringed aspirations).
I also wish our paths had crossed again at one of the eight Olympics and two Olympic bids at which I worked or volunteered over the years (we had a near-miss again in Salt Lake as we apparently were on the same Park City bus but I was on a new-fangled cell phone too many aisles away).
It is really cool that Phoebe continued with athletic pursuits after gymnastics, first as a diver and then as a snowboarding entrant (it's my understanding she now is an attorney and/or board member with the U.S. Snowboarding team). See, she turned out to be beautiful and athletic and smart, too! Bravo!
While visiting family in Oklahoma last week, I stopped by the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, which is now nestled in the science museum in Oklahoma City. But there was no mention of Phoebe Mills! Hello, will someone in the international gymnastics community wake up and nominate Mills for the Hall of Fame?!? She's a bronze medalist, after all. Duh! Wake up, H.O.F., and get this nomination started, pronto!
Just now online, a quick search yielded Mills' name among the inductees for the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame (whew!).
Writing this post tonight, there was also a reminder that in London at USA House this summer, I shook hands with Bela Karolyi, the famous coach of Nadia, Mary Lou Retton, Mills and other U.S. women's gymnasts, and asked him specifically about Phoebe, "Do you keep in touch?"
Karolyi smiled, then sort of winced and said in that Bela voice, "Not as often as I should."
Here's hoping on this milestone birthday year he remembered to reach out and catch up with Mills.
Phoebe Mills turns 40 today. Happy birthday and thank you.
The North Greenwich Arena (a.k.a. O2 Center) is often the stage for the world's top female performers including Madonna, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Britney Spears, Rihanna and Katy Perry.
Tonight in London, Team USA launched the world tour for women's gymnastics with a gold medal performance on the world's stage: The London Olympics.
Congratulations to the new Olympic Champions of women's artistic gymnastics: Gabrielle Douglass, McKayla Maroney, Alexandra Raisman, Kyla Ross and Jordyn Wieber. The arena was teeming with Team USA supporters and local fans cheering on Team GB, which placed an honorable sixth in team competition.
During the event I was able to switch seats, moving close to one apparatus then another, starting with Team USA's vault performance (bravo, Maroney with a 16.233 score, the highest of any gymnast in the arena!) then a change to parallel bars, where Wieber, Ross and Douglas scored 14.666, 14.933 and 15.200, respectively.
Russia, China, Team GB and Romania traded spots for medal contention during the evening, and it was a surprising silver result for Russia considering Anastasia Grishina completed a brilliant routine only to tumble in her final landing on floor exercise (lots of team tears followed, though they may have been a mix of joy for maintaining a medal while not achieving gold). China also competed well but fell behind Romania.
Team USA had the final competitor of the evening on floor exercise, leading to a tearful victory huddle of cheering coaches and gymnasts encircled by TV cameras.
I spotted Bela Karolyi in a press box, sort of lording over all he surveyed -- it was interesting to me he seemed to have no interest in the Romanian team he once coached, and even across the arena you could sense him reliving his coaching glory days.
It was also very cool that the venue announcers introduced the Olympian with the most all-time Olympic medals, Larisa Latynina, the Soviet Union gymnast who earned 18 medals from 1956 to 1964. The audience cheered with Latynina on the big screen and she waved in appreciation, all unfolding only a couple of hours before Michael Phelps surpassed her record across town.
Team USA impressed me not only as competitors but also as Olympic Champions with high ranks for sportsmanship. After the bronze medalists from Romania and silver medalists from Russia received their medals, the U.S. Gymnastics women first shook hands with their fellow competitors before stepping up to receive their gold medals. I applaud this diplomacy.
I also have to wonder, however, why the Team USA wardrobe folks gave the girls SILVER team jackets to wear into the victory ceremony. Colour blind, anyone?
Shawn Johnson was not too far from my final seat, and she cheered and looked on with great enthusiam for the 2012 Olympic gymnasts. But you have to wonder what was on Johnson's mind in terms of what could have been.
While supporting all of the winners on this diverse gymnastics team, it pleases me most that Maroney succeeded in their company -- after meeting this home-schooled athlete at the Team USA Media Summit in Dallas in May, this young woman struck me as a rising star with all the right stuff to be a champion. I predict she will continue to succeed with all of her teammates.
Best of luck to all of the women's gymnastics athletes in individual competition!
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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