Olympic Diary

When US SAILING’s Olympic Director, Jonathan Harley, accompanies the 2000 Olympic Sailing Team to Sydney it will be the fifth time in his 20-year career at US SAILING that he has coordinated the logistics for U.S. athletes competing in the Olympic Regatta. His Olympic diary will provide a birdseye view of what is happening Down Under. Bookmark this page and check back regularly for updates starting August 30, 2000, when the team goes through processing in San Diego before leaving the next day for Sydney.

December 4, 2000

Last week I had the privilege of visiting the White House with the Olympic and Paralympic Teams. Representing the Olympic Team was JJ Isler, Pease Glaser, Magnus Liljedahl, Craig Healy, John Lovell and Charlie Ogletree. The Paralympic Team was represented by Tom Brown, Paul Callahan, Keith Burhans, Corky Aucreman and Jim Leatherman.

The Paralympic Team arrived Monday afternoon, with the Olympic Team members arriving Tuesday. We all stayed at the Marriott Park Hotel. Upon arrival it looked as if we were going through Team processing all over again. There were different stations to visit where commemorative items were distributed: posters, magazines, t-shirts and a 2000 Team watch.

Tuesday evening there was a banquet sponsored by Korbel Champagne -- The Korbel Dinner of Olympic Champions. It was held in the largest ballroom at the Marriott and there were seats for 1200. About 800 Olympic and Paralympic athletes were in attendance, and each sport was allowed to send one administrative individual.

Following an excellent meal, at which all the US SAILING Olympians and Paralympians sat together, there were introductions of well-known Olympic athletes from Bonnie Blaire to John Nabor to Ralph Boston and many more. The emcee for the evening was NBC-TV announcer Tim Ryan and the keynote speaker was NBC-TV sportscaster Jimmy Roberts. Jimmy spoke of special Olympic moments in his career beginning with the "Miracle on Ice" at the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, and ending with his coverage in Sydney.

There was a lot of electricity in the air and it was quite an exciting evening. Following the official program an excellent band "Nick and the Nice Guys" entertained, frequently joined onstage by celebrating athletes. The dance floor was always crowded and at times the paralympians and their wheelchairs occupied the entire dance floor.

The next morning it was off to the White House to meet the President. Prior to departure each individual had to show a picture ID and be checked off a Secret Service list before boarding a bus. With a police escort the 30-bus convoy headed for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. A bomb sniffing dog inspected each bus at the entrance, and after passing through a metal detector we were on the South Lawn where there were beautiful vistas of the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial. This was the day to own stock in Kodak, as at every opportunity athletes were snapping pictures of themselves and teammates with the White House as a backdrop.

After about an hour the athletes were requested to assemble on the steps and President Clinton, Mrs. Clinton and Chelsea arrived and were presented official USA Team Jackets. The President gave a brief speech and then left to greet everyone individually inside the White House.

While on the busses heading to the White House we were all presented with a blue White House card and asked to put our name and sport on the back. This was used to announce us to the President in the receiving line. As I approached the President an individual took the card, made sure the name and sport was readable, passed it to an announcer and as I shook the President's hand I heard, "Jonathan Harley, Sailing."  The President shook my hand and said "Congratulations," a picture was taken and I was on to another room all in about 5 seconds. We all visited some other rooms, took more pictures, and then it was back on the busses to the airport for the trip home.

All in all it was a very interesting visit. The highlight for me, other than the obvious, was getting all the US SAILING athletes together at dinner. It is a very interesting group of individuals and at the dinner when all medallists were asked to stand and be recognized it was wonderful to see Tom Brown standing alongside Magnus, JJ and Pease.

October 3, 2000
Today was mostly a clean-up day. USOC phones were returned to Bankstown, about a 45 minute drive west. The trip was made extra long due the AUS version of a "ticker tape parade" through the streets of downtown Sydney. Many diversions (detours) were in place and the whole trip took 2 1/2 hours.

Bills were paid, refunds collected and deposited, some last minute shopping was completed, and excess gear was loaded into the container.

It is amazing to see the dinghy park looking like a desert with a lone GER Tornado the only boat left. Someone left a skeleton on a post, which reminds me of the old west and miles and miles of NOTHING.

The hardstand (blacktop) is empty awaiting the arrival of the Paralympic Sonars and 2.4 Metres.

All that seems to remain are the colorful logos of the 2000 Olympic Sailing Regatta.

The final shot of yours truly is taken by Mark Rigoni of P&O Nedlloyd, SOCOG’s shipping company, and probably the VERY last individual to vacate the venue.

I'm off to bed . . . tomorrow I have 24 hours of travelling to get home, and this will be my last report until I return to the U.S.A.  So a great big G'day from Sydney.

October 2, 2000

After the pre-planning we put into the return shipping yesterday, today we managed to pull everything together as we loaded the better part of eight, yes eight, 40 foot containers. The count of boats loaded is as follows: four-Europes; three 49ers; two Tornados; one Soling; one Star; three Finns; two Lasers; six 470s; three Mistral boards; seven coach boats, and all the related gear that goes that goes with such an "armada".

It took most of the day to accomplish the task at hand with some of us remaining at the venue, some at Randwick Army Base (Container Heaven!) with Skip Whyte our designated towboat captain. We managed this only with the help of the staff still here -- Gary Bodie, Luther Carpenter and Skip Whyte, and athletes Charlie Mckee, John Lovell, Charlie Ogletree and Courtenay Dey.

Its nice to have this all done, so that tomorrow we can all concentrate on some individual "stuff". We have all been here for at least five weeks (and counting!) and we all want to get our last minute shopping completed and get on the way home!!!!!!!!

October 1, 2000 - Closing Ceremonies

Today was probably one of the busiest since we arrived; made doubly hard by the aftereffects of some well deserved "late night partying". There were containers to pack, reports to file, athletes to get to the airport, cell phones to return, tickets to Closing Ceremonies to distribute, last minute Christmas shopping to complete, and say good by to new friends, and hope to see some again in the near future. All this made more difficult as numerous roads near the Rushcutters Bay venue were closed in preparation for the Men's Marathon, which winds its way through Sydney and finishes at the Olympic Stadium in Homebush.

The whole team worked hard all day to get as much done as possible, as almost everyone wanted to make Closing Ceremonies as it generally is much less formal and is a celebration of the friendship between athletes. The countries do not walk in as individual countries, the athletes march in as OLYMPIC ATHLETES, a name they will all have for life.

Some of our team have already left Sydney, some leave in the morning (Monday) and the rest will be gone by the end of the week. The venue is like a wasteland. It always amazes me how quickly everything is packed up and out, but then I remember how quickly we do everything and as there are coaches and administrators I've known since 1984, we are all pretty experienced by now.

Gary Bodie, Luther Carpenter, Skip Whyte and yours truly will all remain until the 4th to ensure we have all boats and gear packed safely and securely and all equipment is scheduled to arrive at the correct destination. We are also shipping some equipment to Europe so we can begin the next quadrennium. Athens 2004 is only 3 years and 10 months away, and by the time ISAF determines the classes of boats for 2004 we will be another 2 months closer to the Games. The decision by ISAF is to be made in Scotland on November 19, 2000.

It has been a long, hard, four and a half weeks since I started this reporting, which started out to be an occasional report. Those of you who have followed it closely know it has been a daily report for 32 straight days, generally filed between 10:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. each day before going to bed. My partner in this project, as well as in life, has been my wife Jan, who would receive these reports as she was trying to get our daughter off to school each morning between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. She would check every report to ensure it was correct for spelling, and made sense. She would then post to the US SAILING web page and insert the photos into the text. I hope we have given everyone a flavor of the GAMES not regularly found in daily racing results. I will continue to add to these reports for about the next week, most likely on an irregular basis. I would also like to thank everyone who sent notes/e-mails expressing their appreciation for the reports.

Closing Ceremonies begin in 30 minutes. I am passing up attending the ceremonies to watch the festivities on TV, and the closing fireworks on the Sydney Harbour Bridge from our front porch at 48 New Beach Road. I will enjoy a nice glass of fine Australian wine, and celebrate the memories of a GREAT Olympic Games from Sydney, Australia, and a very successful U.S. Team.

About this time in the Olympic cycle, I get asked a lot "Aren't you glad the Olympic Games are over?" To which I respond, "The Games are NEVER over . . . they just come along every four years!" Next project for me will be the US SAILING Meeting in New Orleans.

For those of you who enjoy statistics we finished third in sailing medals with four, behind GBR with five and AUS with four. (AUS won two Gold to our one). I also just learned that of all USA 2000 Olympic sports we finished fourth in the medal count, behind Swimming, Athletics and Wrestling. Not a bad way to start the new millennium!

September 30, 2000 - Gold Medals!

September 30, 2000 - Medal Ceremonies

September 30, 2000 - Mark & Magnus win the Star Gold Medal!

September 29, 2000

Today started out with an early morning phone call to try to arrange a live interview between Bob Merrick and the local NBC affilliate in Providence, RI.

This was followed by a USOC Team Leaders meeting in the athlete’s village which meant a 40 minute ferry ride followed by a 20 minute bus ride as many roads were closed due to the men's 50 k walking event.

The USOC staff are planning the departure from the village for 650+ athletes and staff and the logistics are staggering. Bags need to be delivered five hours prior to flight time, and athletes are requested to be at the airport FOUR hours prior to departure. EVERY FLIGHT TO ANY DESTINATION LEAVING SYDNEY ON OCTOBER 1-2-3 ARE COMPLETELY BOOKED. It will be a logistical nightmare if things are not followed to the letter.

As far as racing goes the Lasers and Europe's finished today with John Myrdal finishing 13th and Courtenay Dey finishing 16th. Placings in the Lasers may change as there are numerous protests. In the Finn class Russ Silvestri is one of nine sailors with a shot at a medal with two races to go.

In the Star class Mark Reynolds climbed back into medal contention with a 2-4-1 and now seems assured of a medal although the color has not been determined. BRA leads by 5 points over GBR and USA, with one race to go.

Container loading also began today and as we have eight containers to load we will have our work cut out for us over the next few days.

Medal Ceremonies will take place tomorrow and closing ceremonies on Sunday then its final packing and HOME.

September 28, 2000 - Silver Medals for 470s!

What a day for the good old USA! TWO silver medals in 470 M&W. Mark Reynolds won the only Star race today, John Myrdal finished with a 2-1 for the day and seems to have moved back into contention, HOWEVER the day belonged to the USA 470 sailors.

It started out with the 470 Women's race and the AUS team lead from wire to wire. The USA did not look too good early on and at one point was in 11^th (out of 19 boats) and out of medal contention. However, they started their comeback and moved to 10th at the next mark, then eighth and looked to be in position to claim the Bronze. Then, on the last two legs they moved up to sixth, a position they held until the finish. I was watching on the TV monitors in the athlete’s lounge and as JJ and Pease crossed the finish line the screen flashed "USA Silver medal". It was an incredible feeling to see them come so far and do so well.

As I may have mentioned previously I don't generally go out on the water to watch, and today was the reason why. I was the only USA sailing delegation member to greet the "Silver Medal winning 470 Women's team on the dock". Everyone else was out for the 470 men's race, or watching other classes race. Shortly thereafter Gebi arrived and Carl Eichenlaub also arrived to greet the girls.

With no one else around I was pressed into service as an escort for JJ who needed to be drug tested. The process took about an hour, and then came the press conferences and press interviews. A very busy day for all concerned.

They held up the 470 men's race until the women had finished and the TV monitors showed Paul and Bob in first and AUS in 9th, which put us in first. However as the race progressed Paul maintained his lead but AUS kept picking off boats and moved back into gold medal position by the finish. Paul did all he could but the Aussies were not to be denied.

It was a much more hectic scene on the dock when the men arrived as most other Teams had arrived ashore, and the other team members had returned to the venue. Lots of phone calls home to relatives and friends followed as well as the official SOCOG Press conference, followed by a picture taking session.

A great day for the USA and we have now won three medals, one more than at the ‘96 Olympics, and we still have four classes racing.

The schedule for tomorrow calls for racing for the Europe, Finn, Laser and Stars, as well as the Soling Match Racing. It will be a full day of racing as the regatta draws to a conclusion. It’s been a very long 4 weeks, and everyone is ready to conclude and come home.

September 27, 2000 - No Wind

Not too much to report today as there was NO wind and all racing was cancelled, except for the 470 Women. They left the dock, but might get cancelled on the water.

It was a good day to take shore side pictures of the whole sailing organization relaxing waiting for wind.

Andy Kostanecki, USOC secretary, and OSC Chairman from 1985-1988, stopped by to check out the venue as he will be the Chef de Mission (Team Leader) for the USA Paralympic Team in October.

I also had a chat with Paul Henderson, ISAF President, about the future of coaches and coaching at the Olympic Games. Paul is concerned that some of the smaller nations will not be able to compete with the larger, wealthier nations. Sailing in the Olympics should not be "an arms race" with every large country having multiple coaches for each class.

ALL RACING WAS JUST CANCELLED FOR THE DAY. This will cause a backlog of races and will put a strain on the race management teams as there will be a tremendous effort to get in all eleven races in each class. The anticipation for the 470 M&W will begin again tomorrow morning.

September 26, 2000

Today started out with heavy rain, and did not look promising for sailing, but by race time rain had stopped and five fleets sailed.

Stars raced outside and Mark Reynolds finished with a 6-10 which still leaves him within striking distance of the leaders. He did avoid any conflicts on the race course as I saw three boats with MAJOR damage. One severely bent mast, one boat with a bow that looked like a sharks jaw, and another boat with a six inch indentation in the hull. Late night work for the boatwrights, but not Carl Eichenlaub.

Carl, who has been a member of every Olympic, Pan Am and Goodwill Games team since 1976, had the day off. He works tirelessly to keep our fleet up and ready to race, and would rather be busy than sit around. Sometimes we need to hold him back as he might get overworked with outside jobs, to which he rarely says no.

Carl is probably the best known member of the US Olympic Team. Generally he can be found sitting in the back of our container, surrounded by his tools/equipment ready to spring into action. He is always ashore and generally is the first to greet the sailors returning from racing, victorious or not. As you may know Carl has been awarded the prestigious Nathaniel Herreshoff Trophy by US SAILING. President Jim Muldoon called Carl in Sydney to inform him of the honor and Carl was surprised to say the least. We are working hard to get Carl to the Annual General Meeting in New Orleans to accept the award. However, in true Carl fashion he is concerned for the sailors at the Paralympic Games, as he is due to return to Sydney to, yet again, volunteer his talents to help USA athletes in their quest to be the very best. I first met Carl at the 1984 Olympic Games and my stories of Carl would fill a book. Suffice it to say he is truly "one of a kind".

Racing on other courses had mixed results, with Courtenay getting a 15-6; Russ finishing 2-16, and John Myrdal finishing second in his only race as the wind died off completely late in the day. Tomorrow is the big day for our Men's and Women's 470 teams, as they both stand in medal contention, with Paul/Bobby second and JJ/Pease third.

A group of friends (journalists) have invited me to their "Ministry of Truth" meeting tonight, so I might have all the answers to everything Olympic by tomorrow. I just hope the initiation is something I can survive.