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2004 Olympic Diary
For the sixth time in his 24-year career
with US SAILING, Olympic Director Jonathan Harley is accompanying the
USA's Team to the Olympic Games. |
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August 18 – Another typical day at the sailing venue.
Lots of activity early as boats head out for racing in very little wind
followed by 4/5 hours of “down time” to work on paperwork and do
errands. My wife and daughter had the day off from their volunteer jobs
and were invited on the VIP spectator boat of ISAF vice-president George
Andreadis. They had a wonderful day.  Katie
Richardson and I caught up on paperwork, and some preparations for the
Paralympics. In addition we went off shopping and to do some banking.
Everyone here in Athens loves to be paid in cash, so we visit the ATM
almost every day, and we needed to get extra cash for some outstanding
local invoices. We also purchased supplies for the team as well as food
for some coaches and athletes not staying in the village.Results for the day were very mixed as our Yngling team won race one today, but struggled in race two. Meg Gaillard had a 3 in race one, but struggled in race two; Mark Mendelblatt had a 6 in race one; our 49er Team had a good day going but an OCS in their third race of the day dropped them down the standings. When all the boats returned ashore at about 4:30 p.m. it was time to get into PR mode. NBC TV wanted to interview our Yngling crew as theirs was the featured race-of-the-day. Other press wanted to speak with Tim and Pete, Mark and Paul and Kevin. Lots of juggling but eventually everything worked out. Our 470 women were in a protest so Fred, Gary and Skip worked hard to prepare Katie for the 1815 hearing. They were successful and the British boat was DSQed. As it was a relatively early evening, my family and I headed to the Placka, a very busy, and crowded section of downtown Athens – with a scene very similar to Newport on a summer night! Walking up the street we spotted a man wearing a polo shirt with Houston Yacht Club on it, and it turned out to be Katie McDowell’s father with his wife and her sister. Two blocks later we saw a woman in the crowd wearing a t-shirt with a huge US SAILING logo on the back. With the crowds, we never caught up to her to be able to find out who she was.  We
had gone to the Placka to see one of the ATHOC workers from the sailing
venue media center who hosts a radio show at night. Her station,
primarily an English music station with Greek/English speaking hosts,
was broadcasting live from the SWATCH Ionic Center. Sandy interviewed
the three of us live on the radio. We had a great time and headed home
just as the 11:00 p.m. noise curfew required them to turn the volume
down! |
