August
11, 2004
Atlanta 1996: Dr. Bass with
Justin
Huish, double gold medallist in men's archery.
REMEMBERING PAST OLYMPIC MOMENTS
As my Olympic experiences grow, so, too, do the athletes
that I remember. In Atlanta, it was Justin Huish,
an archer that I interviewed in preparation for the Games. I spoke to
him, his parents, his friends. And then he won two gold medals, one of
which he let me try on, and I sat with him for a few minutes at the
Closing Ceremony. I haven't seen him since, but I know that he's had a
bit of a rough time since his days of Olympic glory. In Sydney, a
profile by Jimmy Roberts of Eric Moussambani,
a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea, showed us all a lot about the spirit
of the Olympics. In the Research Room, we first encountered Eric when
we phoned his national delegation to ask who was carrying its flag in
the Opening Ceremony. It would be a swimmer, we were told, a swimmer
named Eric Moussambani. Turns out, he swam the 100m freestyle, but he
swam it rather slowly. He had only learned how to swim some eight
months earlier, and had trouble finding a pool long enough to practice
in. While other swimmers set or equaled 15 world records in the water
in Sydney, Eric, swimming by himself because the others in his heat had
been disqualified, posted one of the slowest times in the history of
the Olympics, almost topping 2 minutes - just 8 seconds off Ian Thorpe's
world record pace for the 200m. But he finished, the crowd applauded,
and he became part of Olympic history.
News now comes that Moussambani, who has cut his time in
half in the 100m free, will likely not be able to come to Athens
because he has run into some Olympic red tape - his credential was
never validated because his National Olympic Committee lost his
passport photo and could not submit his paperwork on time. He told the
Sydney Morning Herald, "I
have been training very hard for three years . . . and my goal was
wanting to go to Athens and to show the people I can do better and I
can do something." I think he already has, whether he makes it to
Athens or not.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Be
sure to check back often
for Dr. Amy Bass's updates
to her Online CNR
Olympic Diary.
