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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.

His first Olympic diary  -- from Sydney, Australia -- offered a unique behind-the-scenes look at the daily life of the U.S. sailors at the Games.  Now in Athens with the 2004 Team, Jonathan is back with a second installment of his Olympic Diary.

Bookmark this page and check back regularly for updates.
 

• August 30 - See You in Beijing!

• August 29 - Olympic Ambassador

• August 28 - SILVER for Tornado!

• August 27 - Hydra

• August 26 - Challenging Forecast

• August 25 - Israel's First Medal

• August 24 - Sports Illustrated

• August 23 - Team Dinner

• August 22 - Packing Up Already

• August 21 - GOLD for 470 Men!

• August 20 - Security

• August 19 - Namedropping

• August 18 - Mixed Results

• August 17 - Stand by to Stand By

• August 16 - Meltemi!

• August 15 - Weather Challenges

• August 14 - First Race Day

• August 13 - Opening Ceremonies

• August 12 - Torch Celebrations

• August   7 - Olympic Village

• August   5 - 49er Measurement

• August   4 - Simple Pleasures

• August   3 - Getting Started

August 3 - To catch everyone up on the latest events surrounding the 2004 US Olympic Sailing Team: half of the sailors have been in Athens for about two weeks, with the balance of the delegation, including yours truly, arriving last Friday.  Everyone spent Friday evening at the Olympic Village, just North of Athens, visiting the training facilities and catching a bus to the “International Zone" which has an Internet café, along with a travel agency, bank, phone store and hair salon.  Food in the Village is available 24/7 – all you can eat, and free!  The housing in the Village is adequate, but basic, although the landscaping has not been completed. 

Early Saturday, following breakfast at 0700, the sailors, along with the USA’s Diving Team, were transported to the American College of Greece for Team Processing which included a briefing by USOC officials, the “Official Team photo” as well as a stop to order your Olympic ring and watch.  Biggest highlight is the clothing allocation process where you are given a shopping cart and you then proceed through a myriad of stops to get your “official USA Olympic Team Gear.”  The last stop in processing is to decide what to send home and what to keep here.  We are required to keep the Opening Ceremonies Uniform, Closing Ceremonies Uniform, Award Uniform and warm up suit for PR opportunities.

Most importantly, the sailors are now Olympians – something they will always be as there is no such thing as an "ex-Olympian."

The last two days have been spent organizing the USA team space in the venue, container, dinghy park etc.  We rented two air conditioning units to keep Boatwright Carl Eichenlaub comfortable (and happy) as well as our storage container.  We have organized a small space for each of the 11 teams within the container and everyone has settled in.

We have also been supplied with 18 small lockers in the shower rooms -- and herein lies the first real excitement for us so far.  Late yesterday our USOC-supplied physical therapist, Scott Weiss, noticed his locker had been left open and some of his gear had been stolen.  The locker below his had been “kicked in” with the door bent in half. We filed a report with the venue management.

Today CSI-Athens showed up -- complete with a fingerprinting kit in hopes of identifying the perpetrator.  Both lockers were “dusted” which left a black filmy mess everywhere.  What really concerned the venue management was that the vandalism and theft had to have been done by an athlete or coach, or someone with an ATHOC credential.

We packed up for the night and returned to the Olympic Village for dinner and bed.  Long day -- beginning at 6:30 a.m. and it is after 11:00 pm as I conclude this report.