Outdoors: Norm O'Reilly's Olympic Diary - Day 15

Sunday, August 15, 2004 - 05:00 AM

The first weekend of the Olympic Games was a wonderful experience for a first-time spectator like me. Through the accreditation I am very fortunate to have; I have access to the Aquatics, Athletics and Triathlon venues. To my surprise, I recently discovered that aquatics accreditation doesn’t simply incorporate swimming, it also includes Diving, Water-Polo and Synchronized Swimming – all sports I’ve never before seen live.

With the excitement of the Games and being here driving me, I’m basically not sleeping at all: we are down to about 10 hour daily work shifts plus another 10 watching and traveling to events doesn’t leave much time to sleep!

Diving

In trying to take advantage of my accreditation, I took in synchronized diving on Saturday night. It was quite an experience… Contrary to how I’d perceived it on TV, diving is quite a spectacle with the hard bodies, high dives and marvelous feats. Canadian Alexandre Despaties (a medal threat in singles diving) and Synchronized diving (although I couldn’t quite understand the judging!) adds another viewing dimension as you watch for the ‘synchronicity’ of the two divers.

There is also the jeering and cheering of the judges to influence decisions and complain about poor ones that is really quite fun. Some notes:

 Friends saw me cheering on CBC.

 I sat not far from Pat Riley (NBA basketball coach) – he is clearly a big diving fan judging from how wildly he was cheering.

 Photos with flashes are not allowed in the diving venue (I guess they throw off the divers). Thus, given that I don’t know how to turn the flash off on my camera (!), I have no photos of diving. Sorry.


Swimming

Now this was an incredible experience for me. As a former competitive swimmer (Lindsay Lightning Bolts and the University of Ottawa), the idea of watching the world’s best at the Olympics was marvelous. Fortunately due to my work scheduling, I was able to take in swimming on both days over the weekend. Regrettably, Canadians didn’t have a good weekend in the pool.

Highlights were seeing Ian Thorpe (Australia’s famed ‘Thorpedo’) win the 400m free and Michael Phelps of the USA take the 400m Individual Medley. Phelps – at only 19 years old – is widely expected to be the next great American swimmer. What was most incredible though was the accreditation I have. I watched the events from the front row, just about a metre from the edge of the pool. I have access to the warm-up area, warm-up pool and often cross paths with the legends of the sport.

For many this wouldn’t mean much but for me it is truly incredible. On Sunday, I was also able to take in Matt Rose – the former Lightning Bolt from Lindsay – in the 100 metre backstrock. Here is a him in action…he’s 2nd from the top. The photo (from a regular camera) also shows how close I was!