One of my favorite Olympic observations took place at Beijing 2008, not far from the Main Press Center and Water Cube.
Dozens of pin collectors -- some veteran, others new to the hobby -- were viewing one another's boards of trading material.
A Chinese collector took notice of a 1970s throwaway pin I offered, featuring the words "Born to Skate" (likely a roller-skating reference).
"What is skate?"
This memory came to mind yesterday as a trio of Team USA skateboarders -- Poe Pinson, Paige Heyn and returning Olympian Mariah Duran, exited the Paris Olympic Village to head out for an afternoon skate about Paris.
Before they set out, I caught up to Pinson and Duran and quizzed them about their arrival at the Village, which turned out to be two days ago (18 July).
Though lowkey (perhaps day two of jetlag), they were positive about the entire experience, with Heyn joining the conversation to mention she looked forward to visiting the athlete hair and nail salon -- the main Village feature about which she had heard -- at some point before the opening ceremony.
With several local French children and kids from neighboring apartment blocks surrounding us, all three Olympians started handing out free swag, including skateboard pins and some Tech Deck miniature plastic boards.
"J'aime le Etats-Unis!"
And then they were off -- the trio of skaters set out on what turned into a 2.5-hour ride (I spotted their return from the corner of an eye but did not speak with them again).
Other observations du jour: A large batch of Dutch athletes (two busloads) though my Olympic crush Femke Bol was not among them (a Team NL official mentioned she'd arrive later), Team Mexico unveiled what may be their Opening Ceremonies sombreros (much to the delight of the local kids who got to wear them), and some trading with volunteers or staff from the International Olympic Committee, Intel and NOCs from Aruba, Montenegro, Team GB and others.
Best moment: Conversation with Venezuela's two-time judo Olympian Anriquelis Barrios, who completed interviews with AFP and me before gifting a Team Venezuela pin in exchange for a blog pin (both featuring the Paris mascot).
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.
Saturday will be epic. Two HUGE Olympic events with some of the most beautiful women in the world (if only my girlfriend could be here, too!).
With an early morning wake up call set for 7 a.m., I'll walk from Paddington Station to Hyde Park for the women's triathlon competition.
Hyde Park is gorgeous. The closest thing to it in the U.S. is Forest Park in St. Louis, site of the 1904 Summer Olympics and the 1994 U.S. Olympic Festival (one of the best summers ever working at the athlete village at Washington University). From my hotel to the park's northern gate, there are thousands of sycamore trees with Fiat- or refrigerator-sized trunks, and the park's expansive lawns and massive shade and lakes also take me back to western St. Louis.
The 2012 Olympic triathlon venue also reminds me of the lakefront parks in Chicago and Milwaukee, where Team USA's triathlete Gwen Jorgensen grew up and works at Ernst & Young. At the Team USA Media Summit in Dallas, Jorgensen spoke about her upbringing and how the company gave her time to train for the London Olympics. I really, really hope she does well tomorrow.
On an Underground train tonight, a member of Team GB's triathlon support team said their girls will give Jorgensen a tough run for the medals. Go, Gwen, GO!
For months I've been dreaming about tomorrow's Olympic tennis competition, too. Saturday afternoon I have a ticket to Centre Court at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London. The best possible women's final is set: Maria Sharapova versus Serena Williams. Amazing. I've been watching Wimbledon tennis since 1976 and meeting Boris Becker today in London was tremendous. Hope the family is able to tune in back home.
I am convinced that Prince William and Kate will be in either or both of the venues on Saturday, and my crappy camera and borderline Flip camera better be on game for any sightings. My blog question for Kate pertains to the Olympic torch relay -- also, I typically do not ask for photos with celebrities but will make and exception in this case. Well, actually, I'd make an exception for a photo with Sharapova or Williams, too (twist my arm). The tennis ticket also includes the mixed doubles medal round, so there will be plenty of time for strawberries and cream.
A contact from the Wimbledon Museum today confirmed details of their Olympic exhibition "Tennis at the Olympics," so I hope for media access to see their rare 1908 Olympic tennis memorabilia from the first time Olympic tennis took place in London.
If Jorgenson and or Williams are victorious, a return visit to USA House is on deck for Saturday night. If it's Sharapova, see you tomorrow night at Russia House (also in Hyde Park), where that nation's medalists appear nightly.
But if Kate invited me to tea, well, I suppose that would do just fine.
London Olympic swimming -- that's one ticket I've not invested in for this Olympiad. For me, seeing Michael Phelps' final race in Beijing may never be topped in terms of extraordinary tickets landing in my lap (though several event tickets popping up in London are close runner-ups).
With a ticket to women's gymnastics yesterday, there was no way to get to swimming in time for what became Phelps record-tie and new Olympic record-setting swims that make him the most decorated Olympian of all time.
But in the London Media Centre I was tuned in to the races and saw the BBC's "breaking news" of Phelps' remarkable achievement. What a great victory! And only a couple hours before, I spotted the previous all-time Olympic medals record holder at the women's gymnastics team final (the announcers did a nice introduction of her to the audience).
Olympic records are falling all over. Today's cycling road event includes recent Tour de France victor, Team GB cyclist Bradley Wiggins, chasing the British record for most Olympic medals (up to this point held by rower Steve Redgrave). London is Wiggins' fourth Olympiad after Sydney, Athens and Beijing.
I've seen Phelps in person three times so far -- twice in Beijing in competition, once in May at the Team USA Media Summit in Dallas. When I presented him a pin for this Olympic blog, he stated he remembered it. Whether true, or he was just being polite, I appreciate his positive feedback.
Congratulations to Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympic medalist in history.
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
Posts
