The Games, the moments, and just being there
On the eve of the Rio Games, how about a Top 10 list of Olympics moments, from a distinctly personal Hamilton Spectator point of view:
1. Take your Silver and Shut up
Sitting maybe 100 rows up, but with a perfect view of the final pass, I had to check my start sheet to make sure I had the American and Canadian men’s 4x100 relay teams in the right lanes. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Canada had a clear lead with Donovan Bailey, the fastest man in the world, taking the baton from Bruny Surin, the former fastest man in the world. The Americans, particularly Spectator Games veteran Jon Drummond, had been bragging all week but this was the first time they had ever lost an Olympic 4 x 100 in which they weren’t disqualified. And they were destroyed.
2. The Greatest Women’s Soccer Game Ever Played
And what a site for it: Manchester’s Old Trafford. U.S. vs. Canada in the semifinals of the 2012 Olympic women’s soccer tournament. Canada hadn’t beaten the U.S. since 2001 and didn’t on this night, but should have.
Three times the legendary Christine Sinclair gave Canada a lead.
Three times the Americans came back to tie. But the third — a penalty kick in the 80th minute by U.S. star Abby Wambach — should never have happened. The Norwegian referee, shaky all game, called a foul against Canadian goalie Erin McLeod that is simply never called. Eventually, the Americans won in the 33rd minute of extra play but the Canadians had won the hearts of an entire nation.
3. “Are you Bleepin’ Bleepin’ Me?”
I blurted out exactly that same shocked phrase I had when you could see Jarome Iginla had slipped the puck out to Sidney Crosby for the 2010 Golden Goal as I did two years later in Coventry, England when the ball squibbed out to Canada’s Diana Matheson in the 92nd minute of the Olympic bronze medal soccer game, with a gaping French net. She tapped it home and a team which been in eliminated in three straight games at the most recent World Cup, including a 4-0 loss to France, had won a medal despite being in the French end of the field only twice in the second half. It sort of made up for the Travesty at Old Trafford.
4. I hate the Smell of Potassium Nitrate In the Morning
And it was all over downtown Atlanta in the very early hours of July 27, 1996. A homemade bomb exploded at Centennial Park killing Alice Hawthorne and injuring 111 others. I got there — via a cab that, at my urging, hit speeds of over 150 km/h — only 10 minutes or so after the explosion and spent four hours interviewing eyewitnesses and survivors.
5. Her Majesty’s a Pretty Nice Girl
And she didn’t have a lot to say at the Opening Ceremonies in London, but in a single hour she won an entire nation back after years of estrangement in the wake of Lady Di’s death. Queen Elizabeth was a willing participant in a memorable video appearing to show she and James Bond star Daniel Craig skydiving into the stadium, and then a spotlight showed the real Queen arriving at her seats in the same outfit she was wearing in the film. The crowd went bonkers and just like that, all was forgiven.
6. Of course. It had to be him
The identity of the cauldron lighter at the 1996 Games was a well-guarded secret but when Muhammad Ali took the torch, all of Atlanta spontaneously cheered and wept. It sent chills through the sporting world and reminded us that although he was the Louisville Lip, it was Atlanta where he returned to the ring from a forced three-year absence in protest of the Vietnam War. I was in the most popular bar in Atlanta watching it on TV, and people were sobbing, hugging each other …. then falling over.
7. What Paddles Around, Comes Around
Watching the hometown boy Mark Oldershaw, who went to school with my son, somehow find the energy to outstroke a couple of strong challenges
down the final 250 metres and win a bronze medal in the C-1000 in London resonated strongly. His grandfather, Bert, whom all of us in Spectator sports knew well, had finished fifth in kayak at the 1948 Games in London and his three sons, including Mark’s coach and father Scott, had all paddled in the Games. And, in touching symmetry, Mark had Bert’s 1948 paddle, signed by everyone in his race, with him in the Olympic Village.
8. Home, Far Away
Venue PA announcers at the London Games really tried to make events intimate and, almost informal, and the women’s basketball announcer really took to Hamilton’s Shona Thorburn and Guelph’s Natalie Achonwa, who had lived in Hamilton as part of Basketball Canada’s NEDA program. The Canadians fared much better than expected and the announcer would always save his loudest voice for “Shona passes to Natalie underneath, for another basket.” It happened many, many times.
9. Double, Double Toil and Trouble
Washrooms at the Atlanta Games were all outside: port-a-potties, and outdoor communal sinks. Trouble was Hotlanta sits under a broiling sun in July/August, and all the outhouses were a dark, dark sun-attracting green. The heat inside? It virtually boiled the contents beneath the toilet seats like the witches’ cauldron in Macbeth.
10: And In the End …
Myself, veteran Olympic writer Cam Cole and several others got to the London Opening Ceremonies (best-ever in my opinion) three hours early, which left lots of time for work … and talk. I was telling them how I was compiling a list of my top 100 songs for my kids and also was including my top lines in music, with only one having a ranking: No. 1. And that was the Abbey Road closer “And in the end, the Love you take is equal to the love you make.” Hours later, Paul McCartney, whom I’d never seen perform, came out and sang a line by itself. Guess which one. The other guys looked at me like I was psychic.