The Closing Ceremonies
The games are over. My time here in Greece is over and now I get to finally head home to my husband.
Athens is going to be in debt for years to come, but they gave a welcome we will remember. I happened to be in Sydney in 2000. The Aussies opened their hearts and homes to the visitors that came to see the games. The warm relaxed people of Australia made me and my husband feel like honorary citizens. I never thought that their hospitality would be surpassed by another country than the Games that were in Atlanta. Gotta love Southern Hospiltality. But the Greeks have done just that. They have shown the world that anythying is possible with a strong enough woman behind it all.
A few years ago, Greece almost had their chance pulled at hosting the games, but the woman who made sure the Olympics came home again, also made sure to keep them in Athens when the ATHOC fell apart. Gianna Angeloplous-Daskalaki took the reigns and revamped the city to be a more metropolitan place while keeping the history alive. I lived in Athens briefly in 97 and it has changed greatly since then. It's still the beautiful city I remember, but it is also better.
I spent most of my time at the Beach Volleyball venue and I had a ball. From the volunteers to the press I sat around, it was an open place. I joked with the guys from one of our major magazines to small reporters like myself that just got lucky. One gentleman from Italia had fun trying to get me to blush for almost 16 days. He finally was able to get me to blush during the women's bronze medal match. I told him that he could try again should we both be in Torino for the 2006 winter games. I still have the friends I made at the Opening ceremonies and a couple invitations to try to change my views on their respective counties. Like I would ever get my husband to agree to visit Jordan or Iran. That would never happen.
It was strange. For those of us that were at all 16 days of the games, much like the athletes milled around on the floor of the stadium, we all chair hopped around saying goodbye to friends we had made. I will remember the Aussie journalist, Steen, that had way too much fun playing with the braids I aquired on my 4th day here because of heat. I will never forget Paulina who was the first woman from her respective magazine in Serbia to go the games as a journalist. She was bright and had a wicked sense of humor. But those I will remember the most is the group I lived with here. 10 journalists from different parts of the US living in a house where they know no one except maybe someone from their home paper. I knew one of our photojournalists. Frank is from Chicago and normally hangs out with me at Cubs games. We all came to the house over three days and were quite tenative around each other. We learned our bounderies quickly and this morning were all teary eyed when saying goodbye. At least the ladies were. Cheryl is a Track and Field goddess from LA. She knew stats that no normal human could know about the T&F events. Tommy is an ex-gymnast who went to grad school on a lark and is now a well known sports photojournalist out west. He and I argued the new format for Gymnastics for a while. He is completely hopeless with a grill and mustn't be trusted to watch chicken breasts grilling. Then we had the terrible twosome from Miami. Dave and Mike are a pair of twins who happen to be humanties writers. Don't leave them near the bar, or you are heading back to the store for more alcohol. The last pair was a married couple from Dallas who are near the end of their careers and played Mom and Dad to a bunch of 30 year olds. Tiffany and John made sure that we were well fed and griped at us when we did our nightly food runs at 1 am.
I am heading home now... I have my souveniors packed away. Pins from different countries and news outlets decorate my briefcase. There are about 50 new entries into my Email address book and even more added to my cell phone for international text messaging. The memories of May and Walsh winning the Gold in Beach Volleyball will be with me till my death. My tan will fade, my sunbleached highlights will grow out and the sundresses and sandals I bought will eventally be put away, but the faces of a country who opened their arms and made all of us feel at home will be with me forever. Not even Bob Costas's voice will make me forget this wonderful people I was able to get to know again.
Now back to my regularly scheduled life.
Athens is going to be in debt for years to come, but they gave a welcome we will remember. I happened to be in Sydney in 2000. The Aussies opened their hearts and homes to the visitors that came to see the games. The warm relaxed people of Australia made me and my husband feel like honorary citizens. I never thought that their hospitality would be surpassed by another country than the Games that were in Atlanta. Gotta love Southern Hospiltality. But the Greeks have done just that. They have shown the world that anythying is possible with a strong enough woman behind it all.
A few years ago, Greece almost had their chance pulled at hosting the games, but the woman who made sure the Olympics came home again, also made sure to keep them in Athens when the ATHOC fell apart. Gianna Angeloplous-Daskalaki took the reigns and revamped the city to be a more metropolitan place while keeping the history alive. I lived in Athens briefly in 97 and it has changed greatly since then. It's still the beautiful city I remember, but it is also better.
I spent most of my time at the Beach Volleyball venue and I had a ball. From the volunteers to the press I sat around, it was an open place. I joked with the guys from one of our major magazines to small reporters like myself that just got lucky. One gentleman from Italia had fun trying to get me to blush for almost 16 days. He finally was able to get me to blush during the women's bronze medal match. I told him that he could try again should we both be in Torino for the 2006 winter games. I still have the friends I made at the Opening ceremonies and a couple invitations to try to change my views on their respective counties. Like I would ever get my husband to agree to visit Jordan or Iran. That would never happen.
It was strange. For those of us that were at all 16 days of the games, much like the athletes milled around on the floor of the stadium, we all chair hopped around saying goodbye to friends we had made. I will remember the Aussie journalist, Steen, that had way too much fun playing with the braids I aquired on my 4th day here because of heat. I will never forget Paulina who was the first woman from her respective magazine in Serbia to go the games as a journalist. She was bright and had a wicked sense of humor. But those I will remember the most is the group I lived with here. 10 journalists from different parts of the US living in a house where they know no one except maybe someone from their home paper. I knew one of our photojournalists. Frank is from Chicago and normally hangs out with me at Cubs games. We all came to the house over three days and were quite tenative around each other. We learned our bounderies quickly and this morning were all teary eyed when saying goodbye. At least the ladies were. Cheryl is a Track and Field goddess from LA. She knew stats that no normal human could know about the T&F events. Tommy is an ex-gymnast who went to grad school on a lark and is now a well known sports photojournalist out west. He and I argued the new format for Gymnastics for a while. He is completely hopeless with a grill and mustn't be trusted to watch chicken breasts grilling. Then we had the terrible twosome from Miami. Dave and Mike are a pair of twins who happen to be humanties writers. Don't leave them near the bar, or you are heading back to the store for more alcohol. The last pair was a married couple from Dallas who are near the end of their careers and played Mom and Dad to a bunch of 30 year olds. Tiffany and John made sure that we were well fed and griped at us when we did our nightly food runs at 1 am.
I am heading home now... I have my souveniors packed away. Pins from different countries and news outlets decorate my briefcase. There are about 50 new entries into my Email address book and even more added to my cell phone for international text messaging. The memories of May and Walsh winning the Gold in Beach Volleyball will be with me till my death. My tan will fade, my sunbleached highlights will grow out and the sundresses and sandals I bought will eventally be put away, but the faces of a country who opened their arms and made all of us feel at home will be with me forever. Not even Bob Costas's voice will make me forget this wonderful people I was able to get to know again.
Now back to my regularly scheduled life.