It has taken a while but I can now proudly announce the "birth" of my Olympic photo page. After 2 weeks of hard labour the baby came out alive and kickin'. It is 336 pictures long and weights around 20 Mb. Father and baby are very healthy and doing fine.
As neither parents not child need their rest, visiting hours have been set to 24/7, meaning you can pass by and admire the result at any time. Flowers are welcome.
Visiting address is my site.
Regards,
Roberto
PS: Those of you surfing from work might have an issue with the Flash Player not functioning. Even after apparently downloading it. A small work around which might work is using this link and clicking on "NO" when asked whether you want to install Flash Player. If that doesn't work, you'll have to watch it from home.
Monday, September 13, 2004
Friday, September 03, 2004
René's Final Symphony
This will be my last blog. It's now already a week since the Olympics ended with a more than beautiful spectacle and left us flameless. Yes, some tears in my eyes, why not? It was all so amazing and unreal, all those days. Now even when I'm back I can't explain how great it was to all the ones I talk about it. The Greek did it with pride, a lot of pride, they were proud of what they had achieved, and I think I am proud that I have added 0.0025% to all the work of the volunteers. That doesn’t seem to be much, but without me the Olympics wouldn’t be 100% but 99.9975% which is not that good result as it is now.
I would like to thank some people as they have made my life a lot more pleasant when I was in Athens, first there was Michael from transport, he provided music on the parking and always a smile, then Diederick. I know him already for years and we met each other in Athens during my first night in the HHH (were else?). He is the biggest hockey fan in Holland and I learned a lot of him just by sitting beside him at the stadium. He joined us in the nights also in the HHH. Then Manon and all her girlfriends, she was like an energy ball, didn’t stop dancing and she made me dancing too and she brought a smile on my face.
Hopefully Roberto will publish the pictures as soon as possible on the web, I didn’t even seen them myself by know and I’m getting more and more curious to see them and show them to my girlfriend and all my other friends. Roberto was also the cause I ended up in Athens for the Olympics, Thanks pal, for the idea and your company. It was (and I think I mentioned this already 20.000 times) the experience of a lifetime.
See you all somewhere, someday, somehow!!
René
I would like to thank some people as they have made my life a lot more pleasant when I was in Athens, first there was Michael from transport, he provided music on the parking and always a smile, then Diederick. I know him already for years and we met each other in Athens during my first night in the HHH (were else?). He is the biggest hockey fan in Holland and I learned a lot of him just by sitting beside him at the stadium. He joined us in the nights also in the HHH. Then Manon and all her girlfriends, she was like an energy ball, didn’t stop dancing and she made me dancing too and she brought a smile on my face.
Hopefully Roberto will publish the pictures as soon as possible on the web, I didn’t even seen them myself by know and I’m getting more and more curious to see them and show them to my girlfriend and all my other friends. Roberto was also the cause I ended up in Athens for the Olympics, Thanks pal, for the idea and your company. It was (and I think I mentioned this already 20.000 times) the experience of a lifetime.
See you all somewhere, someday, somehow!!
René
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
My Closing Cermony
Sunday was the end. All good things must come to an end (so they say). Sunday, after a few hours of work I left for the stadium to witness the Closing Ceremony. It was a bit surreal. Everybody around me was anxious to see the ceremony, but also sad at the same time as these magical "Dream Games" (quote from Jacques Rogge) were coming to an end.
You saw the ceremony on TV. What you probably didn't see where the tears in the eyes of the volunteers when the flame was blown out. I was sitting in between 4 Greek volunteers who all cried. Yes, so did I...
What you also didn't see was an Aussie waterpolo player being taken off the pitch by security right in front of me, because he kept lowering his pants, especially when pictures were being taken. Some sort of exhibitionist. Security jumped on the pitch, grabbed him and dragged him through our stands off the pitch, with his pants still around his anckles. Too bad he was out of range of my mini-flash, otherwise I would've had the funniest picture! :-)
An Aussie newspaper did notice. Check out this article.
Before the start of the ceremony, they showed the marathon on the large screens in the stadium. What a shame about the incident with the Brazilian runner and the Irish MALAKA. I read somewhere that they think it's the same guy that jumped on the F1 race track at Silverstone last year while Schumacher was passing him at 240 km/hr. No more Guinness for that dude!
Whether the Brazilian would've won, we will never know. I and everybody around me however hoped so, because of the incident. Still I'm happy he got a medal and the Coubertin award and he looked happy when entering the stadium as third. I saw that his appeal after the race was denied on Monday (as we get to inform the delegations about the decisions of the jury). The jury informed all that they 'regret the incident and appeal to the local authorities to identify and punish the person accordingly, but that the result would not be changed'.
Monday was my last day on the job. It was a bit hard getting up early in the morning as we had 'celebrated' the closing the night before. I thought that it would be a quiet day, but many delegations came by for the last bits of information (like Marathon results and split times) and some still needed to arrange pick-up and transportation of the poles. Most of this is not even our job, but we've kind of built up a reputation of arranging anything (Sorry I'm probably saying this a bit too often, but I am so proud of our team and what we have achieved. Feel free to skip this part).
Many also came by to just thank us and say goodbye. The Surinam Chef de Mission came by to say goodbye. So did the Brazilean Team Leader Paolo, Derek from Canada, Seif from Egypt (who's sister-in-law works at Rabobank Utrecht...), the team leaders from Portugal and Antigua & Barbuda and Dianne Huxley from Australia (who's partner used to work in the legal department at Rabobank Sydney). Small world huh? Or large bank?
At 14:00 hrs we closed the desk and started cleaning up. Souvenirs were taken off the wall, the last books and guides brought back to the basement and then it was over. My colleagues and I had our last "Greek" meal in the cantine, said goodbye to everyone and turned our back to the Village for the last time. Well at least I did, as most of my local colleagues will also work during the Paralympics starting next week.
As we left the place our supervisor received a call saying that the merchandise store at the Olympic Complex was selling their stock at 33% discount for volunteers. We rushed over and left with bags full of shirts and caps. You'll probably see me wearing Olympic shirts for the next 4 months... :-)
Rene joined us afterwards for a few drinks on a Greek terrace outside the hectic centre. The rest left around midnight and Rene and I just sat there with a beer and without saying much. Now that it is really over, we all of a sudden got really tired, but very very very satisfied. It was nice and quiet and we agreed that for the first time we had somewhat of a holiday feeling, sitting in the warm evening on a foreign terrace enjoying a beer.
Today it's some shopping for me and some tanning at the beach for Rene (he is of course Dutch, so no holiday can be successful without a tan). We'll meet up later with my colleagues for a farewell dinner and then we're off to the airport around 01:00 hrs, arriving in Amsterdam at 06:00 hrs. There the Rabobank awaits us. Allready today we spent an hour working as someone from the Sales Desk required our help. The Games are really really over...
Roberto
PS: This was my next-to-last posting. The only posting left is with the pictures. As I have some 700+ photo's it will take me a few days to sort these out and publish them. I'll promise to do this before next Monday.
PS2: Please refer to Onofre Pereira for the DOG party, to be held in the Old Dutch before the end of September. DOG stands for Dutch Olympic Glory and is the result of our little side bet. Brazil and Holland tied on gold medals, but Holland outperformed Brazil with 6 more silver and 6 more bronze medals. It was closer than I thought orginally and definitely closer than four years ago in Sydney. We'll enjoy a few Caipirinhas on both performances!
PS3: It was great and I hope you guys enjoying reading the blog as much as we writing it. Thanks for the comments and until next time at http://beijing2008.blogspot.com :-)
You saw the ceremony on TV. What you probably didn't see where the tears in the eyes of the volunteers when the flame was blown out. I was sitting in between 4 Greek volunteers who all cried. Yes, so did I...
What you also didn't see was an Aussie waterpolo player being taken off the pitch by security right in front of me, because he kept lowering his pants, especially when pictures were being taken. Some sort of exhibitionist. Security jumped on the pitch, grabbed him and dragged him through our stands off the pitch, with his pants still around his anckles. Too bad he was out of range of my mini-flash, otherwise I would've had the funniest picture! :-)
An Aussie newspaper did notice. Check out this article.
Before the start of the ceremony, they showed the marathon on the large screens in the stadium. What a shame about the incident with the Brazilian runner and the Irish MALAKA. I read somewhere that they think it's the same guy that jumped on the F1 race track at Silverstone last year while Schumacher was passing him at 240 km/hr. No more Guinness for that dude!
Whether the Brazilian would've won, we will never know. I and everybody around me however hoped so, because of the incident. Still I'm happy he got a medal and the Coubertin award and he looked happy when entering the stadium as third. I saw that his appeal after the race was denied on Monday (as we get to inform the delegations about the decisions of the jury). The jury informed all that they 'regret the incident and appeal to the local authorities to identify and punish the person accordingly, but that the result would not be changed'.
Monday was my last day on the job. It was a bit hard getting up early in the morning as we had 'celebrated' the closing the night before. I thought that it would be a quiet day, but many delegations came by for the last bits of information (like Marathon results and split times) and some still needed to arrange pick-up and transportation of the poles. Most of this is not even our job, but we've kind of built up a reputation of arranging anything (Sorry I'm probably saying this a bit too often, but I am so proud of our team and what we have achieved. Feel free to skip this part).
Many also came by to just thank us and say goodbye. The Surinam Chef de Mission came by to say goodbye. So did the Brazilean Team Leader Paolo, Derek from Canada, Seif from Egypt (who's sister-in-law works at Rabobank Utrecht...), the team leaders from Portugal and Antigua & Barbuda and Dianne Huxley from Australia (who's partner used to work in the legal department at Rabobank Sydney). Small world huh? Or large bank?
At 14:00 hrs we closed the desk and started cleaning up. Souvenirs were taken off the wall, the last books and guides brought back to the basement and then it was over. My colleagues and I had our last "Greek" meal in the cantine, said goodbye to everyone and turned our back to the Village for the last time. Well at least I did, as most of my local colleagues will also work during the Paralympics starting next week.
As we left the place our supervisor received a call saying that the merchandise store at the Olympic Complex was selling their stock at 33% discount for volunteers. We rushed over and left with bags full of shirts and caps. You'll probably see me wearing Olympic shirts for the next 4 months... :-)
Rene joined us afterwards for a few drinks on a Greek terrace outside the hectic centre. The rest left around midnight and Rene and I just sat there with a beer and without saying much. Now that it is really over, we all of a sudden got really tired, but very very very satisfied. It was nice and quiet and we agreed that for the first time we had somewhat of a holiday feeling, sitting in the warm evening on a foreign terrace enjoying a beer.
Today it's some shopping for me and some tanning at the beach for Rene (he is of course Dutch, so no holiday can be successful without a tan). We'll meet up later with my colleagues for a farewell dinner and then we're off to the airport around 01:00 hrs, arriving in Amsterdam at 06:00 hrs. There the Rabobank awaits us. Allready today we spent an hour working as someone from the Sales Desk required our help. The Games are really really over...
Roberto
PS: This was my next-to-last posting. The only posting left is with the pictures. As I have some 700+ photo's it will take me a few days to sort these out and publish them. I'll promise to do this before next Monday.
PS2: Please refer to Onofre Pereira for the DOG party, to be held in the Old Dutch before the end of September. DOG stands for Dutch Olympic Glory and is the result of our little side bet. Brazil and Holland tied on gold medals, but Holland outperformed Brazil with 6 more silver and 6 more bronze medals. It was closer than I thought orginally and definitely closer than four years ago in Sydney. We'll enjoy a few Caipirinhas on both performances!
PS3: It was great and I hope you guys enjoying reading the blog as much as we writing it. Thanks for the comments and until next time at http://beijing2008.blogspot.com :-)
Bazar Bizarre
What happens in the Village after the games are over? Take a wild guess! It's time for the Bazar Bizarre!
This 'bazar' is a huge black market in front of the athlete's dining hall where athletes and volunteers exchange competition shirts, track suits, caps, shoes, volunteer uniforms, etc. I even saw a hockey goal keeper exchanging his glove with a runner from Kiribati. Do they even know what hockey is in Kiribati???
It's a big mess! Imagine people from 200 different countries and cultures gathering in a unorganised manner to exchange stuff. Most don't understand each other and most have different approaches to a market place. European markets tend to be a bit more polite and quiet, whereas a Middle Eastern, African or South American market are very loud and agressive.
A young Dutch hockey girl tried to exchange a short, but ran away on the border of tears. When I asked her what the problem was, she just sobbed: "I want to exchange my short, but they are all screaming and grabbing me...". Poor girl. I offered my assistance as a 'veteran' South American market visitor, but she had lost her appetite.
Then there was this Korean judge who tried to exchange his uniform. Judges mostly wear a two-piece suit. Problem is that not only do very few athletes have a need for a suit, but competition suits are often in these horrible pastel colours. His was some aquamarine blue. Probably looked good at the venue, but makes you look like a clown in the real world. Needless to say, he wandered around for some 4 hours without any luck...
As with any market, the different items have different values. Track suits are the most 'expensive', especially if it is of a major country. These often are from top brands and with better quality. Popular items are from the US, Great Britain, Canada, Japan, Italy and Germany.
Scarcity is also a value driver. As the Americans were mostly stationed outside the Village, their uniforms were scarce. Also the Jamaican stuff was scarce as they had mostly left, even before the Closing Ceremony. The fact that they're sponsored by Puma and have nice contrasting colours also increases their value.
The Dutch items were also very popular for two reasons: the bright orange colours always attract attention and the Dutch athletes mostly held on to their uniforms for emotional purposes. For example, the girl I mentioned earlier was only offering her training shorts. In Holland we call that: "Voor een dubbeltje op de voorste rij willen zitten" (="trying to get a front row seat for a penny").
And then... then there were the Brazilians! What can I say? Anybody who has lived in Brazil will immediately smile when reading this. I know I had to!
The Brazilians are serious professional black market players. In Brazil, wherever there's an opportunity to sell something outside the normal channels, you can bet someone will jump on top of it. Same here.
They came strong! Very strong! And they weren't looking for exchanging. They were there to SELL and SELL only! And sell they did! About 40 or so (including the entire womens football team and coaches) showed up with bags and bags full of Brazilian Olympic clothing. It was organised chaos!
The coaches were directing the players across the market place, screaming and shouting. I think they did more directing on the market place than during the Olympic Football final. Shirts and jackets were going for anything between 15 and 40 euros, including the Nike stuff. The entire Brazilian delegation is sponsored by their local sports brand Olympikus, apart from the football team which has a contract with Nike.
If someone had bought something for 20 euros and someone else offered 25, they found a way to strip the original buyer of the item to sell it to number two for 25. They did it so cunningly, that the original buyer ended up with something else without even being upset by it. I tried taking some pictures, but also here they were very alert. Whenever a camera was in view they pretended to rub their forehead, so they wouldn't be recognisable on the picture. You never know whether that pic ends up in a Brazilian newspaper.
I just stood there watching the scene for an hour or so with a huge smile on my face. Bazar Bizarre Brasileiro!
Roberto
PS: The relay team decided against the bodypaint for two reasons: the answer from the IAAF was open ended regarding permission and 2 runners didn't want to do it to avoid breaking their concentration.
This 'bazar' is a huge black market in front of the athlete's dining hall where athletes and volunteers exchange competition shirts, track suits, caps, shoes, volunteer uniforms, etc. I even saw a hockey goal keeper exchanging his glove with a runner from Kiribati. Do they even know what hockey is in Kiribati???
It's a big mess! Imagine people from 200 different countries and cultures gathering in a unorganised manner to exchange stuff. Most don't understand each other and most have different approaches to a market place. European markets tend to be a bit more polite and quiet, whereas a Middle Eastern, African or South American market are very loud and agressive.
A young Dutch hockey girl tried to exchange a short, but ran away on the border of tears. When I asked her what the problem was, she just sobbed: "I want to exchange my short, but they are all screaming and grabbing me...". Poor girl. I offered my assistance as a 'veteran' South American market visitor, but she had lost her appetite.
Then there was this Korean judge who tried to exchange his uniform. Judges mostly wear a two-piece suit. Problem is that not only do very few athletes have a need for a suit, but competition suits are often in these horrible pastel colours. His was some aquamarine blue. Probably looked good at the venue, but makes you look like a clown in the real world. Needless to say, he wandered around for some 4 hours without any luck...
As with any market, the different items have different values. Track suits are the most 'expensive', especially if it is of a major country. These often are from top brands and with better quality. Popular items are from the US, Great Britain, Canada, Japan, Italy and Germany.
Scarcity is also a value driver. As the Americans were mostly stationed outside the Village, their uniforms were scarce. Also the Jamaican stuff was scarce as they had mostly left, even before the Closing Ceremony. The fact that they're sponsored by Puma and have nice contrasting colours also increases their value.
The Dutch items were also very popular for two reasons: the bright orange colours always attract attention and the Dutch athletes mostly held on to their uniforms for emotional purposes. For example, the girl I mentioned earlier was only offering her training shorts. In Holland we call that: "Voor een dubbeltje op de voorste rij willen zitten" (="trying to get a front row seat for a penny").
And then... then there were the Brazilians! What can I say? Anybody who has lived in Brazil will immediately smile when reading this. I know I had to!
The Brazilians are serious professional black market players. In Brazil, wherever there's an opportunity to sell something outside the normal channels, you can bet someone will jump on top of it. Same here.
They came strong! Very strong! And they weren't looking for exchanging. They were there to SELL and SELL only! And sell they did! About 40 or so (including the entire womens football team and coaches) showed up with bags and bags full of Brazilian Olympic clothing. It was organised chaos!
The coaches were directing the players across the market place, screaming and shouting. I think they did more directing on the market place than during the Olympic Football final. Shirts and jackets were going for anything between 15 and 40 euros, including the Nike stuff. The entire Brazilian delegation is sponsored by their local sports brand Olympikus, apart from the football team which has a contract with Nike.
If someone had bought something for 20 euros and someone else offered 25, they found a way to strip the original buyer of the item to sell it to number two for 25. They did it so cunningly, that the original buyer ended up with something else without even being upset by it. I tried taking some pictures, but also here they were very alert. Whenever a camera was in view they pretended to rub their forehead, so they wouldn't be recognisable on the picture. You never know whether that pic ends up in a Brazilian newspaper.
I just stood there watching the scene for an hour or so with a huge smile on my face. Bazar Bizarre Brasileiro!
Roberto
PS: The relay team decided against the bodypaint for two reasons: the answer from the IAAF was open ended regarding permission and 2 runners didn't want to do it to avoid breaking their concentration.
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Getting Emotional
Tonight is the closing ceremony, which will be somehow emotional for me. All these days spent among all these Athletes, I met so many nice people and had wonderful conversations, I don't want it to stop !
Yesterday was a day which will go into the books as one of those days which starts with a smile but unfortunately ended with a teardrop. I arrived for my last day in the Olympic Village, transport was preparing the "project" to get all the Athletes to the closing ceremony and all the Athletes themselves were very relaxed as most competitions are done by now. When picking up my present (all volunteers got a beautiful, hmmm, swatch and a pin, I even got two pins), there was a queue just in front of the place were they said I should go to pick up the present, when asking what the queuing was for they told me they were giving away tickets for the Stadium that night. I nicely waited and received also my ticket. This was my chance to see OAKA, the Olympic Venue.
Track and field is not really my kind of sport, too many things are happening on the court, one is throwing something, another one tries to jump and all of a sudden some guys start running, all at the same time.
But I got the ticket and went to the stadium. I think Roberto tried to explain the feeling when entering the complex in one of his first blogs, but believe me it is better. The true olympic spirit can be found were the flame is burning. Standing underneath it is an unforgettable experience. When entering the stadium it was amazing to see such a crowd cheering. My first moment of total euphoria was when I recognised Serge Bubka, he did the medal ceremony for men's pole vault and when I was young I was a huge fan of him.
Then the circus started, 4x100 meters was a finish which could not be described, I couldn't see who had won and according to the screens in the stadium nobody at home also.
Then a nice Russian Lady tried to jump 2.10, which is almost the size of our tall Volleyball friend Kay van Dijk. Unfortunately she didn't make it, but it is great to see the interaction between player and coach in this sport, and you realise how important that guy is.
Then the 5.000 meters, the Moroccan El Guerrouj writes history by winning the 1.500 AND the 5.000 in one Olympics.
The women had to run 4x400, and Hellas had qualified. All the crowd went crazy, but unfortunately something went wrong and they ended up FAR, and I mean FAR behind the entire field (I think the others were already drinking coffee).
Then the 4x400 men, the Americans almost went for a world record, man they were FAST. If you are so near it seems they fly instead of run. Pfew, my experience was complete.
Afterwards a couple of volunteers decided to go for a drink in Psiri, I joined. One night without HHH couldn't do any harm (I thought). When leaving Tango, a nice little bar in Psiri, we already smelt something, it was not quite the normal Curry or Gyros smell. Teargas was thrown everywhere. Some guys were running and throwing bottles at something (didn't went out to check it, if you don't mind) and more teargas was thrown. RIOT time in Greece. Hell in Hellas! Reason for this is the nice Mr. Colin Powell who had decided to come to Athens. Already the day before the entire centre was closed because of this announcement (never saw so many soldiers in a city centre at once) and now there are demonstrations against his arrival everywhere, with a sort of apocalypse yesterday. Man, I can't get used to teargas, my eyes were burning like hell and one moment I even thought I couldn't get any fresh air anymore. In the metro home we heard that Powell had decided not to come to
Athens. Really smart Mr. Powell, first cause a lot of troubles and then decide to hide, hey, he learned something from his boss.
So the day ended with a tear (unfortunately). Well, not really. When going out for a drink, we have the ritual to end in OKI (yes, I read that magazine also), a sandwich bar which is opened 24 hours a day. The stuffing is great, you can put everything in it, and he makes it to some kind of toasted sandwich, two nights ago I was a little bit to enthusiastic (maybe shouldn't have taken the last 20 beers) and ordered a big bomb. I decided to have fries, an egg, sausage, some kind of meat which is gyros but doesn't look like it, tomatoes, cheese, ham and some kind of vegetable of which I thought would be healthy as stuffing (I'm not sure I added some more fries to it or
not). The guy Already warned me that I would explode when I would eat it, but who cares, me only lives once. I survived, and believe it or not, the sandwich was one of the best I ever had !!
Also yesterday (I'm down to three ingredients now) the sandwich brought back
a smile on my face. Sitting on the side of the fountain of Platia Kipseli, eating my toasted sandwich made me already a little emotional, the games are going to end
today, today is the last day for me to enjoy an event which I only can describe as a once of a lifetime experience, it can't get any better, I'm sure it can't.
Rene
Yesterday was a day which will go into the books as one of those days which starts with a smile but unfortunately ended with a teardrop. I arrived for my last day in the Olympic Village, transport was preparing the "project" to get all the Athletes to the closing ceremony and all the Athletes themselves were very relaxed as most competitions are done by now. When picking up my present (all volunteers got a beautiful, hmmm, swatch and a pin, I even got two pins), there was a queue just in front of the place were they said I should go to pick up the present, when asking what the queuing was for they told me they were giving away tickets for the Stadium that night. I nicely waited and received also my ticket. This was my chance to see OAKA, the Olympic Venue.
Track and field is not really my kind of sport, too many things are happening on the court, one is throwing something, another one tries to jump and all of a sudden some guys start running, all at the same time.
But I got the ticket and went to the stadium. I think Roberto tried to explain the feeling when entering the complex in one of his first blogs, but believe me it is better. The true olympic spirit can be found were the flame is burning. Standing underneath it is an unforgettable experience. When entering the stadium it was amazing to see such a crowd cheering. My first moment of total euphoria was when I recognised Serge Bubka, he did the medal ceremony for men's pole vault and when I was young I was a huge fan of him.
Then the circus started, 4x100 meters was a finish which could not be described, I couldn't see who had won and according to the screens in the stadium nobody at home also.
Then a nice Russian Lady tried to jump 2.10, which is almost the size of our tall Volleyball friend Kay van Dijk. Unfortunately she didn't make it, but it is great to see the interaction between player and coach in this sport, and you realise how important that guy is.
Then the 5.000 meters, the Moroccan El Guerrouj writes history by winning the 1.500 AND the 5.000 in one Olympics.
The women had to run 4x400, and Hellas had qualified. All the crowd went crazy, but unfortunately something went wrong and they ended up FAR, and I mean FAR behind the entire field (I think the others were already drinking coffee).
Then the 4x400 men, the Americans almost went for a world record, man they were FAST. If you are so near it seems they fly instead of run. Pfew, my experience was complete.
Afterwards a couple of volunteers decided to go for a drink in Psiri, I joined. One night without HHH couldn't do any harm (I thought). When leaving Tango, a nice little bar in Psiri, we already smelt something, it was not quite the normal Curry or Gyros smell. Teargas was thrown everywhere. Some guys were running and throwing bottles at something (didn't went out to check it, if you don't mind) and more teargas was thrown. RIOT time in Greece. Hell in Hellas! Reason for this is the nice Mr. Colin Powell who had decided to come to Athens. Already the day before the entire centre was closed because of this announcement (never saw so many soldiers in a city centre at once) and now there are demonstrations against his arrival everywhere, with a sort of apocalypse yesterday. Man, I can't get used to teargas, my eyes were burning like hell and one moment I even thought I couldn't get any fresh air anymore. In the metro home we heard that Powell had decided not to come to
Athens. Really smart Mr. Powell, first cause a lot of troubles and then decide to hide, hey, he learned something from his boss.
So the day ended with a tear (unfortunately). Well, not really. When going out for a drink, we have the ritual to end in OKI (yes, I read that magazine also), a sandwich bar which is opened 24 hours a day. The stuffing is great, you can put everything in it, and he makes it to some kind of toasted sandwich, two nights ago I was a little bit to enthusiastic (maybe shouldn't have taken the last 20 beers) and ordered a big bomb. I decided to have fries, an egg, sausage, some kind of meat which is gyros but doesn't look like it, tomatoes, cheese, ham and some kind of vegetable of which I thought would be healthy as stuffing (I'm not sure I added some more fries to it or
not). The guy Already warned me that I would explode when I would eat it, but who cares, me only lives once. I survived, and believe it or not, the sandwich was one of the best I ever had !!
Also yesterday (I'm down to three ingredients now) the sandwich brought back
a smile on my face. Sitting on the side of the fountain of Platia Kipseli, eating my toasted sandwich made me already a little emotional, the games are going to end
today, today is the last day for me to enjoy an event which I only can describe as a once of a lifetime experience, it can't get any better, I'm sure it can't.
Rene
And the Hits Keep on Coming!
Just a few days ago I thought that as the Games were coming to an end and our desk is becoming quieter and quieter, so would the things we experience. Not entirely true!
Yesterday was one of those days where a lot happened. The day started calmly. Waking up, relaxing, doing a blog and then off to work. First I had to pass by the stadium as all volunteer receive a "limited edition" volunteer pin (less than 48.000 made) and a Swatch volunteer watch.
At the stadium all was quiet as there were no morning or afternoon events. It was so quiet I could wander in and around the stadium and take some pics. Yes, I took one of myself on the medal podium. Gold, of course!
From there I went to the Village. There they were handing out free tickets for the volunteers for the athletics that night. Rene picked one up and left for the stadium. As I had to work I skipped it.
The Guatamala assistant to the Chef de Mission passed by to give me a Guatemala shirt for all the good help. She, Melanie, and I had spoken a lot on the phone regarding several issues and she was so sweet to express her thanks through this shirt. What a darling!
Than the organisation changed the transport schedule for the Marathon. As the marathon finishes between 20 and 21 hrs at Panthinaiko Stadium and the Closing Ceremony starts in the Olympic Stadium at 21:00 hrs we had to call all delegations participating in the marathon to inform them that people attending the marathon finish would not be able to participate in the ceremony. That is over 50 calls!
Then came the best part of my day. They were holding lottery's for leftover tickets and I won a ticket to the Closing Ceremony tonight! YES! YES! YES!
After work we all decided to hit the town together. Some 30 volunteers from the different SIC desks joined and we had a blast in the Tango bar dancing. Well, from Rene's posting you can read what happened afterwards. Our little farewell party resulted in lots of tears in our eyes...
Well, I'm off to the Village now to say goodbye to some of the colleagues doing their last shift and then it's off the Closing Ceremony! (I'm so happy!)
See Ya!
Roberto
Yesterday was one of those days where a lot happened. The day started calmly. Waking up, relaxing, doing a blog and then off to work. First I had to pass by the stadium as all volunteer receive a "limited edition" volunteer pin (less than 48.000 made) and a Swatch volunteer watch.
At the stadium all was quiet as there were no morning or afternoon events. It was so quiet I could wander in and around the stadium and take some pics. Yes, I took one of myself on the medal podium. Gold, of course!
From there I went to the Village. There they were handing out free tickets for the volunteers for the athletics that night. Rene picked one up and left for the stadium. As I had to work I skipped it.
The Guatamala assistant to the Chef de Mission passed by to give me a Guatemala shirt for all the good help. She, Melanie, and I had spoken a lot on the phone regarding several issues and she was so sweet to express her thanks through this shirt. What a darling!
Than the organisation changed the transport schedule for the Marathon. As the marathon finishes between 20 and 21 hrs at Panthinaiko Stadium and the Closing Ceremony starts in the Olympic Stadium at 21:00 hrs we had to call all delegations participating in the marathon to inform them that people attending the marathon finish would not be able to participate in the ceremony. That is over 50 calls!
Then came the best part of my day. They were holding lottery's for leftover tickets and I won a ticket to the Closing Ceremony tonight! YES! YES! YES!
After work we all decided to hit the town together. Some 30 volunteers from the different SIC desks joined and we had a blast in the Tango bar dancing. Well, from Rene's posting you can read what happened afterwards. Our little farewell party resulted in lots of tears in our eyes...
Well, I'm off to the Village now to say goodbye to some of the colleagues doing their last shift and then it's off the Closing Ceremony! (I'm so happy!)
See Ya!
Roberto
Did you know...?
... that an average pole vaulter uses 8 poles? But this varies between 2 and 14 per athlete. Decathletes use about 5 on average.
... that the Olympic Complex has two training/warm-up tracks? And there's an underground tunnel leading from the training picthes to the dressing rooms of the stadium.
... that the stadium has almost a complete track right underneath the track you see on television? That's for the last minute warm up. Or did I mention this before?
... that the athletes after their event are quarantined for the doping test? They can be accompanied by only one person before having completed the test.
... that the height of the hurdles are different for every event? Steeplechase, womens 100m, mens 110m, womens 400m and mens 400m hurdles all have their own height.
... that before actually getting to the track, the athletes are gathered in two different call rooms subsequently?
... that the bottles they use for the marathon and race-walking are provided by the organisation? And that they need to hand in the full bottles at our desk on the morning before their race?
... that there is a full video service available for the athletes and officials? They can request any piece of video (e.g. their own race) and it will be provided for them.
... that not only are the condoms for free in the village, but also the lubricants? I'm not kidding!
... that the most used medical service during every Games are the dental services? Many athletes don't have good dental services or insurance in their country and as it is free in the Village...
... that almost the entire hospital staff consists of volunteers? I've been told that only two people are paid there.
... that the Village has two ATM's, but as Visa is a main sponsor you can only withdraw cash with a Visa card? So obviously most athletes need to go into town to get cash. I wonder what effect this has on the goodwill of Visa...
... that athletes get tickets for other events almost for free? And that all venues have a special seating area for athletes and officials.
... that all delegations are handed two mobile phones by the organisation upon arrival? Also all their NOC assistants (mostly volunteers) have an Olympic mobile phone. These are the numbers we use whenever we need to call them.
... that the Village restaurant is open for 24 hours? And that they have almost every type of meal available. Including a McDonalds.
... that our building is just like a bank? You have the front office, operations, risk management and IT. Just like back home...
... that Chinese and NBA basketball star Yao Ming is literally and figuratively the biggest star of the Village. Everybody looks up to him...
... that tomorrow is my last shift of the Games? :-(
Roberto
PS: But not my last posting, as I will have to sort out my 500+ pictures to put the best ones online. Keep an eye on this site or lopezramirez.net for the pics.
... that the Olympic Complex has two training/warm-up tracks? And there's an underground tunnel leading from the training picthes to the dressing rooms of the stadium.
... that the stadium has almost a complete track right underneath the track you see on television? That's for the last minute warm up. Or did I mention this before?
... that the athletes after their event are quarantined for the doping test? They can be accompanied by only one person before having completed the test.
... that the height of the hurdles are different for every event? Steeplechase, womens 100m, mens 110m, womens 400m and mens 400m hurdles all have their own height.
... that before actually getting to the track, the athletes are gathered in two different call rooms subsequently?
... that the bottles they use for the marathon and race-walking are provided by the organisation? And that they need to hand in the full bottles at our desk on the morning before their race?
... that there is a full video service available for the athletes and officials? They can request any piece of video (e.g. their own race) and it will be provided for them.
... that not only are the condoms for free in the village, but also the lubricants? I'm not kidding!
... that the most used medical service during every Games are the dental services? Many athletes don't have good dental services or insurance in their country and as it is free in the Village...
... that almost the entire hospital staff consists of volunteers? I've been told that only two people are paid there.
... that the Village has two ATM's, but as Visa is a main sponsor you can only withdraw cash with a Visa card? So obviously most athletes need to go into town to get cash. I wonder what effect this has on the goodwill of Visa...
... that athletes get tickets for other events almost for free? And that all venues have a special seating area for athletes and officials.
... that all delegations are handed two mobile phones by the organisation upon arrival? Also all their NOC assistants (mostly volunteers) have an Olympic mobile phone. These are the numbers we use whenever we need to call them.
... that the Village restaurant is open for 24 hours? And that they have almost every type of meal available. Including a McDonalds.
... that our building is just like a bank? You have the front office, operations, risk management and IT. Just like back home...
... that Chinese and NBA basketball star Yao Ming is literally and figuratively the biggest star of the Village. Everybody looks up to him...
... that tomorrow is my last shift of the Games? :-(
Roberto
PS: But not my last posting, as I will have to sort out my 500+ pictures to put the best ones online. Keep an eye on this site or lopezramirez.net for the pics.
SIC - Athletics Desk
I realise I never wrote about my colleagues, so I'll dedicate this posting to them: the best SIC Desk in the Village! This is according to the Chef de Missions and Team Leaders. Cool huh?
We have about 15 people and some I haven't worked long enough with to really remember a lot about them. There was this girl that showed up for only 2 shifts during the entire Games. She volunteered, but got a new job just before the Games, so she couldn't work a lot.
First we have the George's. That is Yiorgos "Junior" and Giorgos "Senior". Junior is not only younger in age but definitely in attitude. He is totally in love with Germany and Holland and wishes he could live there. He loves the music (his favourite band in the world is Blof...) and especially the girls. I once called him the Wannabe German. Switched hair colour twice during the games. First he went for the Pamela Anderson Peroxide look and when trying to return to his original dark colour, ended up with some sort of vague undefinable yellowish glow. Which, by the way, matches his volunteer uniform nicely...
Senior is a few years older and a calm guy. He is the ultimate Pin Hunter. He'll do everything and anything for a pin. Probably sell his mother too! Both George's are very hard workers that show up almost every day. And we have a lot of fun together. I especially like them, because one thinks I'm 28 and the other 24... :-)
Then there are two other guys: Christos and Valantis. What can I say? Remember I mentioned earlier that someone told me that Greek men don't like to work... One spends his entire shift reading newspapers and making personal phone calls on the office phone. The other must have some hand disease, since he keeps them protected in his pocket most of the shift. Friendly guys, but of little use...
The other two guys are Alexi and a bearded guy, who's name I can't seem to remember. I haven't worked a lot with them, but the times I did were good. Alexi is a popular guy that always arranges stuff for others. He got us on the stands that night we saw the 100m Mens Final. The other is a silent worker. I call him Silent Bob. He actually looks like him.
Last but not least of the men is Theodorus. An older guy who once played in the Greek national Volleyball team. Uncle Theo. Your typical nice old man. Too bad he pulled out last week with health problems. Get well Theo!
And then there are the girls...
Let's start with The Goddess Panagiota. I once made the unforgiveable mistake of not greeting her by accident. She was so upset I had to make up by kissing her feet (figuratively, that is). Since then I must worship her. Hence her nickname. A very sweet young girl.
We also have our own Call Center Katharina. She's a mother of a 5 year old and someone who doesn't accept any BS. Whenever delegations need to be called to remind them of their mess-ups, Katherina is the one. You should hear her telling off the Team Leaders on the phone. Don't mess with her!
The only other "foreigner" on the desk is Katherina #2. Actually she's half German, half Greek. A very pretty blonde girl. Yes, you guessed it: She's the prime target of Yiorgos Junior, but he's not being very successful at it. I call her The Flirt, since she loves to flirt with people, especially if they have something she wants. This sounds bad, but isn't meant that way. It's not her fault men are weak. I like her a lot. If only she was a bit older... :-)
Then you have Vivi and Eftegia. I probably totally miss-spell these names, but who cares! Two nice friendly girls that work hard. Again, I haven't worked a lot with them, so I have very little anekdotes about them to share.
The above mentioned are all volunteers. We have two paid coordinators. One of them is La La La La Lola (sing along). A nice woman who's second in charge. She tends to panic a bit when things get hectic, but other than that she's very helpful and goes out of her way to accomodate others.
Last, and definitely not least is Mina. I can think of 100 nicknames for Mina and none of them would describe her fully. She's The Boss, The Top Dog, The Arranger, The Ultimate Coordinator! If she were a musician, she would be drummer, guitarist, bass player, keyboard player, saxophonist and singer at the same time. She'll probably do the background vocals too!
If ever I've seen a project manager, she's the one. Continuously on the phone, arranging everything and anything. She works 24 hours per day and I think the entire Games would be lost without her. And in between all this calling and arranging, she finds the will to remain friendly, calm and diplomatic. In her normal life, she's a physical education teacher. I think she'll miss the craziness of the Games when returning to school. We all love her. If only she wasn't married already... :-)
I'm just kidding Mina. You are great and you have a very nice husband, who I met yesterday evening when we all went for a "farewell" party in town. All the best and let's keep in touch!
To all the rest of my colleagues who read this: You are great and we've had the best of times together! And most importantly, also the delegations think you're the best!
Keep in touch!
Roberto
We have about 15 people and some I haven't worked long enough with to really remember a lot about them. There was this girl that showed up for only 2 shifts during the entire Games. She volunteered, but got a new job just before the Games, so she couldn't work a lot.
First we have the George's. That is Yiorgos "Junior" and Giorgos "Senior". Junior is not only younger in age but definitely in attitude. He is totally in love with Germany and Holland and wishes he could live there. He loves the music (his favourite band in the world is Blof...) and especially the girls. I once called him the Wannabe German. Switched hair colour twice during the games. First he went for the Pamela Anderson Peroxide look and when trying to return to his original dark colour, ended up with some sort of vague undefinable yellowish glow. Which, by the way, matches his volunteer uniform nicely...
Senior is a few years older and a calm guy. He is the ultimate Pin Hunter. He'll do everything and anything for a pin. Probably sell his mother too! Both George's are very hard workers that show up almost every day. And we have a lot of fun together. I especially like them, because one thinks I'm 28 and the other 24... :-)
Then there are two other guys: Christos and Valantis. What can I say? Remember I mentioned earlier that someone told me that Greek men don't like to work... One spends his entire shift reading newspapers and making personal phone calls on the office phone. The other must have some hand disease, since he keeps them protected in his pocket most of the shift. Friendly guys, but of little use...
The other two guys are Alexi and a bearded guy, who's name I can't seem to remember. I haven't worked a lot with them, but the times I did were good. Alexi is a popular guy that always arranges stuff for others. He got us on the stands that night we saw the 100m Mens Final. The other is a silent worker. I call him Silent Bob. He actually looks like him.
Last but not least of the men is Theodorus. An older guy who once played in the Greek national Volleyball team. Uncle Theo. Your typical nice old man. Too bad he pulled out last week with health problems. Get well Theo!
And then there are the girls...
Let's start with The Goddess Panagiota. I once made the unforgiveable mistake of not greeting her by accident. She was so upset I had to make up by kissing her feet (figuratively, that is). Since then I must worship her. Hence her nickname. A very sweet young girl.
We also have our own Call Center Katharina. She's a mother of a 5 year old and someone who doesn't accept any BS. Whenever delegations need to be called to remind them of their mess-ups, Katherina is the one. You should hear her telling off the Team Leaders on the phone. Don't mess with her!
The only other "foreigner" on the desk is Katherina #2. Actually she's half German, half Greek. A very pretty blonde girl. Yes, you guessed it: She's the prime target of Yiorgos Junior, but he's not being very successful at it. I call her The Flirt, since she loves to flirt with people, especially if they have something she wants. This sounds bad, but isn't meant that way. It's not her fault men are weak. I like her a lot. If only she was a bit older... :-)
Then you have Vivi and Eftegia. I probably totally miss-spell these names, but who cares! Two nice friendly girls that work hard. Again, I haven't worked a lot with them, so I have very little anekdotes about them to share.
The above mentioned are all volunteers. We have two paid coordinators. One of them is La La La La Lola (sing along). A nice woman who's second in charge. She tends to panic a bit when things get hectic, but other than that she's very helpful and goes out of her way to accomodate others.
Last, and definitely not least is Mina. I can think of 100 nicknames for Mina and none of them would describe her fully. She's The Boss, The Top Dog, The Arranger, The Ultimate Coordinator! If she were a musician, she would be drummer, guitarist, bass player, keyboard player, saxophonist and singer at the same time. She'll probably do the background vocals too!
If ever I've seen a project manager, she's the one. Continuously on the phone, arranging everything and anything. She works 24 hours per day and I think the entire Games would be lost without her. And in between all this calling and arranging, she finds the will to remain friendly, calm and diplomatic. In her normal life, she's a physical education teacher. I think she'll miss the craziness of the Games when returning to school. We all love her. If only she wasn't married already... :-)
I'm just kidding Mina. You are great and you have a very nice husband, who I met yesterday evening when we all went for a "farewell" party in town. All the best and let's keep in touch!
To all the rest of my colleagues who read this: You are great and we've had the best of times together! And most importantly, also the delegations think you're the best!
Keep in touch!
Roberto
Saturday, August 28, 2004
Presents
These last few days the office is getting quieter and quieter. Most sports are done, so their respective desks have been closed. Athletics runs until the last day (tomorrow) with the Mens Marathon as the last event.
So, we're now mostly busy with transport of athletes and officials to Marathon and Panathinaiko and with the hand-out and intake of marathon drinking bottles. These are all provided by the organisation and need to be filled, labelled and handed in before the race at our desk.
And then there is the return of the pole vault sticks ("poles"). That is quite a messy task as these poles are piled up in one stack after transport back from the stadium. And yes, of course some NOC's simply forget to pick up their poles...
We are now holding our own Olympics. Yesterday we had the Olympic Chair Dance contest and today we'll probably come up with some other 'event'. And now that their done, several delegations pass by to say goodbye and leave some presents for the "good job done". Pins, keychains, caps and T-shirts. As we have quite a large group we end up holding a lottery to see who gets to keep it.
The organisation is also handing out presents for the volunteers. After this blog I'm off to the stadium to pick up my Volunteer Pin and Volunteer Swatch Watch. And then it's off to the Village for my next-to-last shift. My last shift is Monday and my flight back is Tuesday night at 03:00 hrs. Let's see if I'll be fit enough to show up at work on Wednesday morning 3 hours after arrival at Schiphol...
Cheers,
Roberto
PS: Just a cool picture to liven up the blog... ;-)
So, we're now mostly busy with transport of athletes and officials to Marathon and Panathinaiko and with the hand-out and intake of marathon drinking bottles. These are all provided by the organisation and need to be filled, labelled and handed in before the race at our desk.
And then there is the return of the pole vault sticks ("poles"). That is quite a messy task as these poles are piled up in one stack after transport back from the stadium. And yes, of course some NOC's simply forget to pick up their poles...
We are now holding our own Olympics. Yesterday we had the Olympic Chair Dance contest and today we'll probably come up with some other 'event'. And now that their done, several delegations pass by to say goodbye and leave some presents for the "good job done". Pins, keychains, caps and T-shirts. As we have quite a large group we end up holding a lottery to see who gets to keep it.
The organisation is also handing out presents for the volunteers. After this blog I'm off to the stadium to pick up my Volunteer Pin and Volunteer Swatch Watch. And then it's off to the Village for my next-to-last shift. My last shift is Monday and my flight back is Tuesday night at 03:00 hrs. Let's see if I'll be fit enough to show up at work on Wednesday morning 3 hours after arrival at Schiphol...
Cheers,
Roberto
PS: Just a cool picture to liven up the blog... ;-)
Sign Here Please!
Well, that was my second hockey match in my life. I've now seen the Dutch national womens team lose two finals. First was the final of the Rabobank World Championship in Utrecht, which they lost against Australia and now the Olympic final. At least the first one was a deserved loss, but this second one...
It reminded me of the World Cup 74 when Cruijff & Co. dominated the tournament but forgot to beat (who else?) Germany! The experience itself was fun. The stadium packed with mostly Dutch people, some Germans and a few Greeks who seemed to be lost. They had no clue what field hockey was about. They probably thought they had tickets to a NHL Ice Hockey final.
After the game it was straight to the HHH again. There the party had started with DJ Ronald Molendijk assisted by Judoka and Olympic medallist Dennis van der Geest, who plays a mean groove himself. The hockey girls arrived later and did some crowd surfing in there. Mijntje Donners (the captain) held s speech trying to sound satisfied with silver, but it was very obvious that she was being diplomatic. Her whole body language, face and intonation screamed out: "MALAKA! We should've taken the gold!"
Of course, the men did the same thing. Difference is that the expectations were lower and the Aussies were slightly better. So there was more of a celebration afterwards.
The HHH is now officially the Hottest Ticket in Town. I say officially because two days ago the largest newspaper here did a comparative study of all the national houses. Something like the Algemeen Dagblad Nationale Haringtest. In summary, the German House was stiff, the Canadians couldn't party and the Swedes were all too drunk. The HHH was rated highest in atmosphere, party fever, crowd and presence of athletes. Finally we got another gold!
(while I write this our Mountain Biker Bart Brentjes is in the leading group of 3)
The result of this "test" was that the HHH yesterday was full of foreign TV crews trying to capture the atmosphere. In between TV crews, athletes, artists, sponsors, politicians and the unavoidable me-is-so-important people there was hardly any room left for actual fans.
The athlete crowd is growing. Now also the Italian, German and Samoan athletes have found their way to the Beer Hut. Caimin Douglas, the last runner of the Dutch 4x100m relay team used to be my teammate at Willemstad 2 (a football club from Curacao) and he showed up at the HHH after their unfortunate Baton-Gate incident. We finally met, as he already knew I was there through his trainer. I think he must've been beaten up the head with the relay stick once too often, because all of a sudden he seems to remember having scored more goals than I at Willemstad... ;-)
We were having a chat when suddenly Edgar Davids appeared to greet him and discuss the failed handover. Davids flew in specifically to watch the relay team as he knows most of the guys. So there I am discussing athletics with a former teammate and Hollands captain. Believe me, anything they say about Davids and his media image is totally, completely besides the truth. A very relaxed and friendly guy who showed no annoyance at all when being asked for signatures or pictures. And that happened quite often.
A lot of people also approached me to request something. No, it wasn't my signature. That privilege seems to be reserved for tax auditors, court officers and project managers wanting approval of their project plan... :-)
No, the most common request is: "Can I buy your Volunteer shirt?". The funny thing is that this question is only asked at the HHH. Nowhere else! Mostly by middle-aged, Botox-stuffed, fake tanned women that think everything is for sale. NO, THE SHIRT IS NOT FOR SALE!
Phew, what a relief...
Roberto
PS: Just quickly checked the result of the mountainbiking. Bronze!
It reminded me of the World Cup 74 when Cruijff & Co. dominated the tournament but forgot to beat (who else?) Germany! The experience itself was fun. The stadium packed with mostly Dutch people, some Germans and a few Greeks who seemed to be lost. They had no clue what field hockey was about. They probably thought they had tickets to a NHL Ice Hockey final.
After the game it was straight to the HHH again. There the party had started with DJ Ronald Molendijk assisted by Judoka and Olympic medallist Dennis van der Geest, who plays a mean groove himself. The hockey girls arrived later and did some crowd surfing in there. Mijntje Donners (the captain) held s speech trying to sound satisfied with silver, but it was very obvious that she was being diplomatic. Her whole body language, face and intonation screamed out: "MALAKA! We should've taken the gold!"
Of course, the men did the same thing. Difference is that the expectations were lower and the Aussies were slightly better. So there was more of a celebration afterwards.
The HHH is now officially the Hottest Ticket in Town. I say officially because two days ago the largest newspaper here did a comparative study of all the national houses. Something like the Algemeen Dagblad Nationale Haringtest. In summary, the German House was stiff, the Canadians couldn't party and the Swedes were all too drunk. The HHH was rated highest in atmosphere, party fever, crowd and presence of athletes. Finally we got another gold!
(while I write this our Mountain Biker Bart Brentjes is in the leading group of 3)
The result of this "test" was that the HHH yesterday was full of foreign TV crews trying to capture the atmosphere. In between TV crews, athletes, artists, sponsors, politicians and the unavoidable me-is-so-important people there was hardly any room left for actual fans.
The athlete crowd is growing. Now also the Italian, German and Samoan athletes have found their way to the Beer Hut. Caimin Douglas, the last runner of the Dutch 4x100m relay team used to be my teammate at Willemstad 2 (a football club from Curacao) and he showed up at the HHH after their unfortunate Baton-Gate incident. We finally met, as he already knew I was there through his trainer. I think he must've been beaten up the head with the relay stick once too often, because all of a sudden he seems to remember having scored more goals than I at Willemstad... ;-)
We were having a chat when suddenly Edgar Davids appeared to greet him and discuss the failed handover. Davids flew in specifically to watch the relay team as he knows most of the guys. So there I am discussing athletics with a former teammate and Hollands captain. Believe me, anything they say about Davids and his media image is totally, completely besides the truth. A very relaxed and friendly guy who showed no annoyance at all when being asked for signatures or pictures. And that happened quite often.
A lot of people also approached me to request something. No, it wasn't my signature. That privilege seems to be reserved for tax auditors, court officers and project managers wanting approval of their project plan... :-)
No, the most common request is: "Can I buy your Volunteer shirt?". The funny thing is that this question is only asked at the HHH. Nowhere else! Mostly by middle-aged, Botox-stuffed, fake tanned women that think everything is for sale. NO, THE SHIRT IS NOT FOR SALE!
Phew, what a relief...
Roberto
PS: Just quickly checked the result of the mountainbiking. Bronze!
Thursday, August 26, 2004
Tom Tom Tom
Thanks to all of you who have sent me those nice messages, I can't reply to all of them, but it is much appreciated and I really had a Birthday feeling yesterday.
Tonight will be the final of the women hockey and even Roberto has got tickets. We will do our best to scream this team to a gold medal ! After the gold of Anky yesterday this would be worth another celebration.
Roberto and I never wrote about the third person in our appartment. We are staying in the centre of Athens and we are sharing our apartment with Tom. He is a very nice 63 year old man, who is also volunteer for the transport department. If you think we are experiencing a lot in Athens you have to read the following story about Tom.
The other day when Tom and I had visited a hockey game, I had to work. He thought to take a nice walk around Monestiraki, when a guy asked him to join him for a drink. Normally he would never have done this, but as he not had eaten yet he might have been a little bit not so concentrated. After walking to a cellar near the square he had an orange juice. Then all of a sudden some ladies showed up and... well Tom realised he was not in the nice little bar he expected to be. He wanted to leave the cellar immediately but the bouncer asked him to pay 160 euro for his drink. He only
had 45 in his pocket so they took that and threatened him that he should bring the rest of the money the next day. Realising he was robbed he walked home. Unbelievable but you can't go to the police for this sort of things.
The next day he went to work. He had to go to a Hotel were transport arrives at a certain time for all those people who don't stay in the Olympic Village. A bus arrived and Tom wanted to go and look inside the hotel if there might be some persons still waiting. The doors were all of glass and one door was for exit and one door for entering the Hotel. In his enthusiasm he ran up the stairs and unfortunately took the exit door instead of the entrance door. This door did not go in the direction he expected but with the speed he had, a correction was not possible. A big bang was the result.
After a few minutes an ambulance arrived to take him to the Olympic Hospital for a check. Nothing really serious, they took pictures of his arm and an MRI scan of his head, and decided to let him go home. He had to walk with a thing to support his arm for several days and I think he is OK now.
Tonight we go to the Hockey game with Tom, we enjoy his presence, and I hope he will not add any more stories which we have to publish on this blog.
Rene
Tonight will be the final of the women hockey and even Roberto has got tickets. We will do our best to scream this team to a gold medal ! After the gold of Anky yesterday this would be worth another celebration.
Roberto and I never wrote about the third person in our appartment. We are staying in the centre of Athens and we are sharing our apartment with Tom. He is a very nice 63 year old man, who is also volunteer for the transport department. If you think we are experiencing a lot in Athens you have to read the following story about Tom.
The other day when Tom and I had visited a hockey game, I had to work. He thought to take a nice walk around Monestiraki, when a guy asked him to join him for a drink. Normally he would never have done this, but as he not had eaten yet he might have been a little bit not so concentrated. After walking to a cellar near the square he had an orange juice. Then all of a sudden some ladies showed up and... well Tom realised he was not in the nice little bar he expected to be. He wanted to leave the cellar immediately but the bouncer asked him to pay 160 euro for his drink. He only
had 45 in his pocket so they took that and threatened him that he should bring the rest of the money the next day. Realising he was robbed he walked home. Unbelievable but you can't go to the police for this sort of things.
The next day he went to work. He had to go to a Hotel were transport arrives at a certain time for all those people who don't stay in the Olympic Village. A bus arrived and Tom wanted to go and look inside the hotel if there might be some persons still waiting. The doors were all of glass and one door was for exit and one door for entering the Hotel. In his enthusiasm he ran up the stairs and unfortunately took the exit door instead of the entrance door. This door did not go in the direction he expected but with the speed he had, a correction was not possible. A big bang was the result.
After a few minutes an ambulance arrived to take him to the Olympic Hospital for a check. Nothing really serious, they took pictures of his arm and an MRI scan of his head, and decided to let him go home. He had to walk with a thing to support his arm for several days and I think he is OK now.
Tonight we go to the Hockey game with Tom, we enjoy his presence, and I hope he will not add any more stories which we have to publish on this blog.
Rene
Facts & Figures 2
As promised, here's part 2 of the Olympic Facts & Figures. Actually only facts, but that shouldn't spoil the educational value of this posting.
- Most used word over here is "Malaka". It is mostly frequented by taxi drivers when they're cut off by some other road hazard. I guess it is best translated in English as an antomical part used by your intestines as an 'exit'. However, it is also used as an intimate greeting among friends... (?!?)
- Most of the volunteers are female. Actually, most of the organisation is female. When asking whether this was on purpose, I got two answers. My manager explained that unemployment is quite high for girls who just finished their universities, so applying for a job at ATHOC was a very popular move. The other explanation was that Greek men are very lazy and don't like to work. Let's put it this way: in my experience at the desk, both explanations seem valid...
- The volunteer canteen at the Village serves only Greek food. This is quite a shame as an international event like this seems to be the perfect opportunity to serve a different culinary experience each day. The quality? Not good. The mousakas and souflakis are so bad that my local colleagues refuse to call it Greek food. Yesterday I actually had breakfast in the village for the first time. I think the pancake they served was actually used as a discus the night before in the stadium.
- Everything is quite Greek here. Signs, notices and daily volunteer newsletters in the Village are written in Greek. Last week, ten minutes before Pieter van de Hoogebands golden race I got stuck in the toilet. The door wouldn't open from the inside. After making a lot of noise for 3 minutes, someone came to open it for me. How stupid of me! There was a sign on the door saying not to lock it as it wouldn't open from the inside. If only I could read Greek...
- And yes, the televisions in the athletes appartments only show Greek stations. So these days all non-Greeks athletes are learning everything there is to know about wrestling. If only they understood Greek...
- The placing of the NOC's in the Village is done geographically. So all Caribbean delegations are located in the same block. Holland is stuck in between Germany and Belgium. Brazil and Argentina are brotherly next to each other and the British are an island by itself far away from the continent. Nothing new here... ;-)
Roberto
PS: Oh yeah, before I forget. Regarding the ongoing story of the bodypainted relay team: They've now told me they probably wouldn't do it anymore as some athletes were wondering whether it would distract themselves from a good performance. Or is this just an excuse used to avoid having the news leaking out? We'll see very soon...
- Most used word over here is "Malaka". It is mostly frequented by taxi drivers when they're cut off by some other road hazard. I guess it is best translated in English as an antomical part used by your intestines as an 'exit'. However, it is also used as an intimate greeting among friends... (?!?)
- Most of the volunteers are female. Actually, most of the organisation is female. When asking whether this was on purpose, I got two answers. My manager explained that unemployment is quite high for girls who just finished their universities, so applying for a job at ATHOC was a very popular move. The other explanation was that Greek men are very lazy and don't like to work. Let's put it this way: in my experience at the desk, both explanations seem valid...
- The volunteer canteen at the Village serves only Greek food. This is quite a shame as an international event like this seems to be the perfect opportunity to serve a different culinary experience each day. The quality? Not good. The mousakas and souflakis are so bad that my local colleagues refuse to call it Greek food. Yesterday I actually had breakfast in the village for the first time. I think the pancake they served was actually used as a discus the night before in the stadium.
- Everything is quite Greek here. Signs, notices and daily volunteer newsletters in the Village are written in Greek. Last week, ten minutes before Pieter van de Hoogebands golden race I got stuck in the toilet. The door wouldn't open from the inside. After making a lot of noise for 3 minutes, someone came to open it for me. How stupid of me! There was a sign on the door saying not to lock it as it wouldn't open from the inside. If only I could read Greek...
- And yes, the televisions in the athletes appartments only show Greek stations. So these days all non-Greeks athletes are learning everything there is to know about wrestling. If only they understood Greek...
- The placing of the NOC's in the Village is done geographically. So all Caribbean delegations are located in the same block. Holland is stuck in between Germany and Belgium. Brazil and Argentina are brotherly next to each other and the British are an island by itself far away from the continent. Nothing new here... ;-)
Roberto
PS: Oh yeah, before I forget. Regarding the ongoing story of the bodypainted relay team: They've now told me they probably wouldn't do it anymore as some athletes were wondering whether it would distract themselves from a good performance. Or is this just an excuse used to avoid having the news leaking out? We'll see very soon...
The End is Near
It's now Thursday and - including today - only 4 days of competition left. This also means that a lot of the athletes are done and are now enjoying a small holiday in Athens.
The Village is turning more and more into a Club Med. It must be horrible for those athletes that compete on the last day. 80+ % of the people around them are done. They go sightseeing, flirt around and party at night. Try to stay focused in those surroundings!
And yes, they party! According to our guest columnist some already do it during their games, but most definitely do it after their games. The HHH (now know as the Holland Homesick Hut) crowd is getting fitter by the day. Not because the crowd is heavily into aerobics, but because the crowd consists more and more of athletes. Of all nationalities.
The pioneers were obviously the Dutch, followed quickly by the Aussies, who will always show up where there is a party. They probably remember it from Sydney 2000. They also bring along their inflatable mascotte. There are now almost as many plastic kangaroos as people in there...
The next nationality to appear massively were the locals. Only supporters though. No Greek Athlete spotted yet. This resulted in two night of massive Euro2004 chanting ("Hellas, Ole Ole!") and the logical general ban for large groups of Greek boys at the HHH.
Now that the focus is back on the Olympics, the next bunch of sporters arrived: the Green and Yellow Brazilian Army. I already reported on Xuxa and his pool posse, but now the handballers have found their way too. First there was their coach, who I had a brief chat with about the status of handball in Brazil. He is very confident that Brazil will have a real shot at a handball medal four year from now as the sport is developing quickly in Sambaland. Onno, another bet for Beijing 2008?
After the coach tested and approved the beer on Tuesday, the entire handball team appeared yesterday. Imagine 15 Brazilian men and dozens of Dutch blonde party girls in one room. Not a good combination! Or maybe a very good combination, depending on your viewpoint...
After having celebrated Rene's birthday at midnight two nights ago, I left the HHH around 01:00 as my alarm clock was set at 05:20 for the morning shift. The next morning I arrived at the village at 07:00 and as I was waiting for the security check, I look around with sleepy eyes and behind me in the queue was a Dutch volleyballer who just arrived at the village in the same bus. And he was in the HHH when I left! (they're not hard to spot as they're not really tiny).
I guess he was doing the "Walk of Shame". That is the early morning trip back home after you've had a really good night the night before, when you share busses or trams, smelling of beer and smoke, while everybody around you is freshly showered.
Our desk now also turned into some sort of TIP (Tourist Info Point) as many people - now done with their events - pass by to ask us what to see around the city and how to get there. I sent the Antillean delegation yesterday to (obviously) the Acropolis and to Pireaus to catch a boat to the nearby islands. I also suggested the HHH to them and to my surprise they had never heard of it. Phew, at least the real Antillean delegation did come here with serious performances on their mind. As opposed to the baseball team, according to our guest columnist.
(I just had to mention this of course...)
Tonight I'm actualy going to a hockey match. Yesterday I bought a ticket to the ladies final. I know absolutely nothing about hockey, so I'm going for the atmosphere and to hopefully witness a Dutch gold medal live!
Roberto
PS for my colleagues: Don't forget the Caipirinha party in the Old Dutch soon!
The Village is turning more and more into a Club Med. It must be horrible for those athletes that compete on the last day. 80+ % of the people around them are done. They go sightseeing, flirt around and party at night. Try to stay focused in those surroundings!
And yes, they party! According to our guest columnist some already do it during their games, but most definitely do it after their games. The HHH (now know as the Holland Homesick Hut) crowd is getting fitter by the day. Not because the crowd is heavily into aerobics, but because the crowd consists more and more of athletes. Of all nationalities.
The pioneers were obviously the Dutch, followed quickly by the Aussies, who will always show up where there is a party. They probably remember it from Sydney 2000. They also bring along their inflatable mascotte. There are now almost as many plastic kangaroos as people in there...
The next nationality to appear massively were the locals. Only supporters though. No Greek Athlete spotted yet. This resulted in two night of massive Euro2004 chanting ("Hellas, Ole Ole!") and the logical general ban for large groups of Greek boys at the HHH.
Now that the focus is back on the Olympics, the next bunch of sporters arrived: the Green and Yellow Brazilian Army. I already reported on Xuxa and his pool posse, but now the handballers have found their way too. First there was their coach, who I had a brief chat with about the status of handball in Brazil. He is very confident that Brazil will have a real shot at a handball medal four year from now as the sport is developing quickly in Sambaland. Onno, another bet for Beijing 2008?
After the coach tested and approved the beer on Tuesday, the entire handball team appeared yesterday. Imagine 15 Brazilian men and dozens of Dutch blonde party girls in one room. Not a good combination! Or maybe a very good combination, depending on your viewpoint...
After having celebrated Rene's birthday at midnight two nights ago, I left the HHH around 01:00 as my alarm clock was set at 05:20 for the morning shift. The next morning I arrived at the village at 07:00 and as I was waiting for the security check, I look around with sleepy eyes and behind me in the queue was a Dutch volleyballer who just arrived at the village in the same bus. And he was in the HHH when I left! (they're not hard to spot as they're not really tiny).
I guess he was doing the "Walk of Shame". That is the early morning trip back home after you've had a really good night the night before, when you share busses or trams, smelling of beer and smoke, while everybody around you is freshly showered.
Our desk now also turned into some sort of TIP (Tourist Info Point) as many people - now done with their events - pass by to ask us what to see around the city and how to get there. I sent the Antillean delegation yesterday to (obviously) the Acropolis and to Pireaus to catch a boat to the nearby islands. I also suggested the HHH to them and to my surprise they had never heard of it. Phew, at least the real Antillean delegation did come here with serious performances on their mind. As opposed to the baseball team, according to our guest columnist.
(I just had to mention this of course...)
Tonight I'm actualy going to a hockey match. Yesterday I bought a ticket to the ladies final. I know absolutely nothing about hockey, so I'm going for the atmosphere and to hopefully witness a Dutch gold medal live!
Roberto
PS for my colleagues: Don't forget the Caipirinha party in the Old Dutch soon!
Guest Column
Today a special treat. About a week ago, after the Holland-Greece baseball match (final result: "endeca - miden"), we ran into a Dutch guy living in Athens. In the year before the Games he was a columnist for the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad writing about the city and its preparations for the Games. I gave him the URL for this blog and he reacted two days later via email, telling us he liked the blog and offered to write a column for it. Obviously we couldn't refuse a real columnist on our amateur blog.
Below is his contribution. It's not very favourable to the Dutch baseball team and quite hurts me as co-islander of most of the team. Personnally I can't verify the claims as the HHH has a seperate restricted VIP area for the Dutch delegation. As Antillean, I can only hope the truth is far from below story.
Whatever the case, his column makes good reading. It is in Dutch, so for you non-Dutch speaking readers: Pech gehad! :-)
- From our local corespondent -
Als Nederlandse 'Athener' is de hele Olympische Spelen tot nu toe een groot feest. Naast de verschillende partijtjes sport is het voor mij ook eens heel anders om te kijken hoe Athene, ook anders kan zijn. Aan entertainment geen gebrek wel aan efficient (wereld)stadsleven. Hoe het ook kan in chaotische Athene is nu dagelijks een heerlijke orde van de dag . Met een andere pet op is het dus nog meer genieten van de Olympische Spelen 2004.
Ondanks dat ik tijdens de Spelen 'vrijaf' ben, ben ik ook erg benieuwd hoe 'collegae', de Nederlandse media reageert op Griekenland en Athene. Ondanks dat Athene het heel goed doet zal het goede nieuws altijd verdrongen worden voor de schandaaltjes en negatief nieuws. Alles wordt opgehangen aan de maatstaf, het "magische" Sydney. Met respect voor cultuur, gewoonte, mentaliteit en bevolking is dit het vergelijken van peren met appels.
In deze blog is al het nodige verhaalt over het HHH, de sportkantine voor Oranje. Een fantastisch fenomeen. Voor mij erg welkom want bitterballen, frikandel en sate is juist het enige wat ik mis in Athene. Nu eet ik me drie ik in het rond aan al deze kantine-happen. Met perspas kom je ook nog eens in wat andere hoekjes en zie je nog meer BG-ers (Bekende Gezichten, ik ben erg slecht in namen en drie jaar weg uit Nederland helpt ook niet).
Na mijn eerste Olympische wedstrijd (honkbal NL-Gr 11-0) herkende ik wel gelijk de hele honkbalploeg. Ik zat vlak boven de dugout en gezichten vergeet ik minder snel. Niet zo leuk voor de honkballers want van deze 'sporters' neem ik maar eens lekker afstand. Die coach, 'Eenhoorn', maar roepen dat het echte sporters zijn en slechts 1 keer zijn wezen eten in het Olympia restaurant van het HHH. Nou dus niet. Zuipen en wijven versieren. Bij mijn vrouwelijke collega moest een 'home-run' voor nog meer entertainment leiden. En Eenhoorn gewoon zeggen in het AD dat het volwassen kerels zijn en dat de HHH bezoekjes niet de aanleiding waren voor de afdroogpartijen. Te beginnen bij Canada. Amehoela, goede mediatraining die Eenhoorn.
Vandaag lees ik voor in het AD dat de honkballers balen dat ze hier tot en met maandag moeten blijven. Ja het wordt ze letterlijk en figuurlijk te heet onder de voeten.
En nu ze uitgeslagen zijn blijven de poepers weg uit het HHH. Ze hebben het bij mij helemaal afgedaan. Geen sporters en die horen niet thuis in deze mooie Olympische stad.
We gaan hier nog even door. De hockeyfinales nog voor de deur. Het kan mij niet lang genoeg duren. Altijd OS in Athene.
Michel van den Berg
Columnist
Below is his contribution. It's not very favourable to the Dutch baseball team and quite hurts me as co-islander of most of the team. Personnally I can't verify the claims as the HHH has a seperate restricted VIP area for the Dutch delegation. As Antillean, I can only hope the truth is far from below story.
Whatever the case, his column makes good reading. It is in Dutch, so for you non-Dutch speaking readers: Pech gehad! :-)
- From our local corespondent -
Als Nederlandse 'Athener' is de hele Olympische Spelen tot nu toe een groot feest. Naast de verschillende partijtjes sport is het voor mij ook eens heel anders om te kijken hoe Athene, ook anders kan zijn. Aan entertainment geen gebrek wel aan efficient (wereld)stadsleven. Hoe het ook kan in chaotische Athene is nu dagelijks een heerlijke orde van de dag . Met een andere pet op is het dus nog meer genieten van de Olympische Spelen 2004.
Ondanks dat ik tijdens de Spelen 'vrijaf' ben, ben ik ook erg benieuwd hoe 'collegae', de Nederlandse media reageert op Griekenland en Athene. Ondanks dat Athene het heel goed doet zal het goede nieuws altijd verdrongen worden voor de schandaaltjes en negatief nieuws. Alles wordt opgehangen aan de maatstaf, het "magische" Sydney. Met respect voor cultuur, gewoonte, mentaliteit en bevolking is dit het vergelijken van peren met appels.
In deze blog is al het nodige verhaalt over het HHH, de sportkantine voor Oranje. Een fantastisch fenomeen. Voor mij erg welkom want bitterballen, frikandel en sate is juist het enige wat ik mis in Athene. Nu eet ik me drie ik in het rond aan al deze kantine-happen. Met perspas kom je ook nog eens in wat andere hoekjes en zie je nog meer BG-ers (Bekende Gezichten, ik ben erg slecht in namen en drie jaar weg uit Nederland helpt ook niet).
Na mijn eerste Olympische wedstrijd (honkbal NL-Gr 11-0) herkende ik wel gelijk de hele honkbalploeg. Ik zat vlak boven de dugout en gezichten vergeet ik minder snel. Niet zo leuk voor de honkballers want van deze 'sporters' neem ik maar eens lekker afstand. Die coach, 'Eenhoorn', maar roepen dat het echte sporters zijn en slechts 1 keer zijn wezen eten in het Olympia restaurant van het HHH. Nou dus niet. Zuipen en wijven versieren. Bij mijn vrouwelijke collega moest een 'home-run' voor nog meer entertainment leiden. En Eenhoorn gewoon zeggen in het AD dat het volwassen kerels zijn en dat de HHH bezoekjes niet de aanleiding waren voor de afdroogpartijen. Te beginnen bij Canada. Amehoela, goede mediatraining die Eenhoorn.
Vandaag lees ik voor in het AD dat de honkballers balen dat ze hier tot en met maandag moeten blijven. Ja het wordt ze letterlijk en figuurlijk te heet onder de voeten.
En nu ze uitgeslagen zijn blijven de poepers weg uit het HHH. Ze hebben het bij mij helemaal afgedaan. Geen sporters en die horen niet thuis in deze mooie Olympische stad.
We gaan hier nog even door. De hockeyfinales nog voor de deur. Het kan mij niet lang genoeg duren. Altijd OS in Athene.
Michel van den Berg
Columnist
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Fast, Faster, Fastest!!!
Two days ago I had the day off, so I decided to abuse my accredition to go take some nice pictures at the OAKA complex (where the Olympic Stadium is). Yiorgos, a colleague from the Athletics desk decided to join me, and we arrived there around 18 hrs.
We spent the next hour or so wandering around on the complex taking picture after picture. As Athletics was going on we wanted to go into the stadium but were told that our accridation wouldn't get us on the stands. We needed tickets! Quite strange as we are allowed almost anywhere, including the dressing rooms of the athletes.
We decided to walk around the stadium and to visit our colleagues from the Athletics TIC desk (Technical Information Centre). They are located in the stadium underneath the stands and provide mostly start lists and results and handle some last minute requests, like arranging Coaches Seating Area passes. We also wandered around in the hallways of the stadium, bumping into one athlete after the other. I even shared a bathroom visit with Michael Johnson, who's there for the BBC. I beat him in the 300ml Urine Bowl Sprint... :-) (Sorry, getting a bit cheeky here)
At some point a colleague called us and told us he would get us on the stands. Originally in the Athletes spectator area, but as that was quite full, he dropped us in a spectator box at the 50 meter line. And it was the night of the Mens 100m Final!!!
First we saw the Dutchman Liefers make the Mens 1500m Final, some big guy win the Hammer Throw and saw two Swedes win gold (Mens High Jump and Mens Triple Jump). As we were surrounded by Swedish supporters, you can imagine that the sights were not only on the pitch...
And then there was the 100 meters. Earlier in the night we saw the semis where all favourites made the final. It was the final event of the evening, the topping on the cake. The 8 gladiators came on the track some 20 minutes before the start, doing their stretching and some practise starts. As the Hammer Throw finished before schedule, there was nothing else going on at the stadium. All 140.000 eyes (assuming that no cyclopses were present) were focused on the sprinters. The stadium DJ put on the famous 'Sirtaki' and the crowd clapped along the rhythm. A few sprinters decided to do their warm up on the beat of this song which increases in speed continuously. The crowd went nuts!
I assume most of you saw the race on TV. Seeing it in the stadium is amazing. 70.000 people being as quiet as can be in anticipation of the "on your marks... go!" and the erruption of noise as soon as the start shot is heard. What a climax! Things to do before you die: Watch an Olympic Mens 100 meters Sprint Final live!
After seeing one of the fastest 100 meters of all time, it was time for us to participate in one of the slowest 100 meters of all time: Between the stadium and the exit, but not before Yiorgos scored an autograph from Ato Boldon (twice Olympic 100m medal winner for Trinidad & Tobago). Ato was a bit in a hurry and tried avoiding having to sign too many papers. It's a good thing he went 'incognito' by wearing a sports shirt with Boldon written on the back...
On the way to the exit the Swedes decided to provide some of the entertainment by massively jump into the fountain to celebrate their two gold medals, singing, jumping, chanting and circling around the 20 meter high fountain. Obviously the Greeks responded with their favourite Euro2004 chant, as they do whenever some fans decide to celebrate a medal. Yes, also in the HHH.
Talking about the HHH. It is the hottest ticket in town. Many athletes are done with their events and now visit the place nightly. And not only the Dutch ones. Last night the entire Brazilian swim team was there, including Peter "Xuxa" Dral, known locally in Brazil as Fernando Scherer. Xuxa is leftmost on below pic.
That's it for this long posting. I need to get on my way to the Adidas store as yesterday I was told that volunteers get 35% discount.
Cheers,
Roberto
PS: I took 90+ pictures at OAKA, now totalling 350. Too bad I can't post them here, but there will be an on-line gallery within a few days after my return.
We spent the next hour or so wandering around on the complex taking picture after picture. As Athletics was going on we wanted to go into the stadium but were told that our accridation wouldn't get us on the stands. We needed tickets! Quite strange as we are allowed almost anywhere, including the dressing rooms of the athletes.
We decided to walk around the stadium and to visit our colleagues from the Athletics TIC desk (Technical Information Centre). They are located in the stadium underneath the stands and provide mostly start lists and results and handle some last minute requests, like arranging Coaches Seating Area passes. We also wandered around in the hallways of the stadium, bumping into one athlete after the other. I even shared a bathroom visit with Michael Johnson, who's there for the BBC. I beat him in the 300ml Urine Bowl Sprint... :-) (Sorry, getting a bit cheeky here)
At some point a colleague called us and told us he would get us on the stands. Originally in the Athletes spectator area, but as that was quite full, he dropped us in a spectator box at the 50 meter line. And it was the night of the Mens 100m Final!!!
First we saw the Dutchman Liefers make the Mens 1500m Final, some big guy win the Hammer Throw and saw two Swedes win gold (Mens High Jump and Mens Triple Jump). As we were surrounded by Swedish supporters, you can imagine that the sights were not only on the pitch...
And then there was the 100 meters. Earlier in the night we saw the semis where all favourites made the final. It was the final event of the evening, the topping on the cake. The 8 gladiators came on the track some 20 minutes before the start, doing their stretching and some practise starts. As the Hammer Throw finished before schedule, there was nothing else going on at the stadium. All 140.000 eyes (assuming that no cyclopses were present) were focused on the sprinters. The stadium DJ put on the famous 'Sirtaki' and the crowd clapped along the rhythm. A few sprinters decided to do their warm up on the beat of this song which increases in speed continuously. The crowd went nuts!
I assume most of you saw the race on TV. Seeing it in the stadium is amazing. 70.000 people being as quiet as can be in anticipation of the "on your marks... go!" and the erruption of noise as soon as the start shot is heard. What a climax! Things to do before you die: Watch an Olympic Mens 100 meters Sprint Final live!
After seeing one of the fastest 100 meters of all time, it was time for us to participate in one of the slowest 100 meters of all time: Between the stadium and the exit, but not before Yiorgos scored an autograph from Ato Boldon (twice Olympic 100m medal winner for Trinidad & Tobago). Ato was a bit in a hurry and tried avoiding having to sign too many papers. It's a good thing he went 'incognito' by wearing a sports shirt with Boldon written on the back...
On the way to the exit the Swedes decided to provide some of the entertainment by massively jump into the fountain to celebrate their two gold medals, singing, jumping, chanting and circling around the 20 meter high fountain. Obviously the Greeks responded with their favourite Euro2004 chant, as they do whenever some fans decide to celebrate a medal. Yes, also in the HHH.
Talking about the HHH. It is the hottest ticket in town. Many athletes are done with their events and now visit the place nightly. And not only the Dutch ones. Last night the entire Brazilian swim team was there, including Peter "Xuxa" Dral, known locally in Brazil as Fernando Scherer. Xuxa is leftmost on below pic.
That's it for this long posting. I need to get on my way to the Adidas store as yesterday I was told that volunteers get 35% discount.
Cheers,
Roberto
PS: I took 90+ pictures at OAKA, now totalling 350. Too bad I can't post them here, but there will be an on-line gallery within a few days after my return.
Row Row Row That Boat & Walk Like An Egyptian
You probably read the trashing story of Roberto already, no need to explain I was in the same "mood" the next day. As Roberto had to work a morning shift the day after and decided to go to the Olympic stadium, I decided to do a Rene's holiday shift the next day and to start at around 13.30. Well with this shift in mind I decided I might visit the HHH for one beer.
It was the celebration of the rowing team. Funny team, the team consists of eight people who look like Hercules in his best days and then there is the midget who has to scream in front of the boat. If you see them on stage it looks really funny.
With the women teams it looks the same. The entire rowing world had decided to show up in the HHH. As far as I can judge now, the Americans and Germans had decided to hold a meeting to check whether maybe next year also mixed boats will be introduced for competition. By the way they we're already practicing. I guess this new discipline will be announced soon.
The next day working was fun, the Greeks can't seem to make any difference between important and not so important issues. When an issue is not important they start to scream and call everybody to arrange things, when an athlete almost misses his game because of transport, I am the only one trying to arrange things as all the Greeks just look away and tell them it's not their fault the bus was not arranged.
For the hockey game I decided to use my privilege and go by players bus to the stadium. When I got in the bus it was packed with athletes and I decided to stand rather then sit (showing some respect for the athletes is also part of a volunteer).
A team was jelling in the back that I should take a seat with them and so I did. It was the Egyptian Hockey team, they have never won a game this Olympics and even lost with 14-0 from Korea. They started to tell jokes and had good fun, the only thing was that it was all in the Egyptian language. This was fun, me sitting in the middle of the team and everybody laughing and telling another joke, I had to laugh the entire ride.
The Hockey men won with 2-1 from the Aussies. My seat was behind some screaming Aussies with flags. They didn't understand the game at all, they just did it to attract the camera to get themselves on TV. And so I also got my five seconds of fame on world television (well atleast in all those six countries were hockey is broadcasted).
Now I'm going to prepare for the women hockey match of today, the semi finals. They must win. THEY MUST WIN as I already bought tickets for the finals and I hate it to look at a game were my team is the losing one. New yell in the stadium is a bunch of bobo's with they far too pretty looking wives pointing to the team and screaming "Waar moet 'ie in?" ("were should the ball go?"), then pointing on the goal of the opponent and scream "DAAR moet 'ie in!" ("the ball should go in THERE!"). This must be the result of a very late evening for those guys... :-)
Rene
It was the celebration of the rowing team. Funny team, the team consists of eight people who look like Hercules in his best days and then there is the midget who has to scream in front of the boat. If you see them on stage it looks really funny.
With the women teams it looks the same. The entire rowing world had decided to show up in the HHH. As far as I can judge now, the Americans and Germans had decided to hold a meeting to check whether maybe next year also mixed boats will be introduced for competition. By the way they we're already practicing. I guess this new discipline will be announced soon.
The next day working was fun, the Greeks can't seem to make any difference between important and not so important issues. When an issue is not important they start to scream and call everybody to arrange things, when an athlete almost misses his game because of transport, I am the only one trying to arrange things as all the Greeks just look away and tell them it's not their fault the bus was not arranged.
For the hockey game I decided to use my privilege and go by players bus to the stadium. When I got in the bus it was packed with athletes and I decided to stand rather then sit (showing some respect for the athletes is also part of a volunteer).
A team was jelling in the back that I should take a seat with them and so I did. It was the Egyptian Hockey team, they have never won a game this Olympics and even lost with 14-0 from Korea. They started to tell jokes and had good fun, the only thing was that it was all in the Egyptian language. This was fun, me sitting in the middle of the team and everybody laughing and telling another joke, I had to laugh the entire ride.
The Hockey men won with 2-1 from the Aussies. My seat was behind some screaming Aussies with flags. They didn't understand the game at all, they just did it to attract the camera to get themselves on TV. And so I also got my five seconds of fame on world television (well atleast in all those six countries were hockey is broadcasted).
Now I'm going to prepare for the women hockey match of today, the semi finals. They must win. THEY MUST WIN as I already bought tickets for the finals and I hate it to look at a game were my team is the losing one. New yell in the stadium is a bunch of bobo's with they far too pretty looking wives pointing to the team and screaming "Waar moet 'ie in?" ("were should the ball go?"), then pointing on the goal of the opponent and scream "DAAR moet 'ie in!" ("the ball should go in THERE!"). This must be the result of a very late evening for those guys... :-)
Rene
Pin Fever!
Forget the first two World Wars! Forget Iraq, Afghanistan, Serbia, Palestina and Vietnam! The real war is fought in Athens. It's the mother of all wars! The battle of the Pins!
Before the games some were asking me if I was planning to collect pins. My standard response would be: "Nah, what use are these pins? There's nothing I will or can do with them". Yeah right!
Just after a few hours on my first day the fever caught on. In the beginning I didn't give it much thought. My Sports Info colleagues kept asking me: "Why didn't you ask for a pin?". I didn't. I didn't care much and I found it inappropriate to be asking (read: begging) for them each time I attended to a Chef de Mission, until... the CDM of the United Arab Emirates gave me my first one.
Since then I sometimes ask for one. Mostly jokingly, if I had established a good relationship with a CDM or Team Leader. Or if I had really helped someone out of a tight situation (correcting the mistakes they make, like not confirming an athlete).
Even when Rene arrived here and saw my first pins, said that he wouldn't be collecting them. After spending his first ten minutes on the parking lot, he sent me an SMS stating: "I've caught the fever! I'm collecting pins too!".
The nicest pins are the ones they give you when you've really helped them and didn't ask for one. In those cases you might get a rare pin as a token of appreciation. It's (figurative and literally) a small thing, but with a nice sentimental touch to it. Here's a small display of some of my pins collected so far.
Some colleagues are really bold and sometimes even rude. One guy from the Wrestling desk often interrupts officials which are in the middle of an issue at our desk to ask for a pin. He doesn't seem to realise how annoying that is and that it doesn't work. We've asked him a few times to stop this and it finally worked. Well, that is... he doesn't bother the people at our desk anymore but still does it at other desks.
Pins are also bluntly stolen. Some stick their pins on their waistbag and if they turn the other way, a pin might all of a sudden 'disappear'.
A pin is not a pin. You have generic NOC pins, official merchandise pins, sport pins, sponsor pins and actual Athens 2004 NOC pins. The most popular are the Athens 2004 NOC pins. Those are country pins with the specific "Athens 2004" on it.
Most countries have a generic NOC pin (which can be used at any occasion) and the Athens pin (which is made specifically for these games). The least interesting are the merchandise pins (which can be bought in any store) and the sponsor pins (who cares about a Visa pin?).
The best pins are the numbered ones. Some delegations make just a small amount and number these on the back. My Malawi pin has "146/150" written on the back, meaning there are only 150 made. A quick check on the internet shows that pins already go for anywhere in between 5 and 150 US dollars... :-O
And anywhere you walk around with your pins on your accredidation, people might all of a sudden appear in front of you, bend over and stare at your chest. By the time you start wondering whether somethings wrong with yourself, they ask you if you're willing to trade. And the negotiations can be tough. It's a good thing I have attended the Conflict Handling & Negotiation training. Thanks boss!
Roberto
PS: Yo Dread! I got you your Jamaica 2004 pin. After reading above story you do realise that you now owe me a few beers at the Flater, don't you? ;-)
Before the games some were asking me if I was planning to collect pins. My standard response would be: "Nah, what use are these pins? There's nothing I will or can do with them". Yeah right!
Just after a few hours on my first day the fever caught on. In the beginning I didn't give it much thought. My Sports Info colleagues kept asking me: "Why didn't you ask for a pin?". I didn't. I didn't care much and I found it inappropriate to be asking (read: begging) for them each time I attended to a Chef de Mission, until... the CDM of the United Arab Emirates gave me my first one.
Since then I sometimes ask for one. Mostly jokingly, if I had established a good relationship with a CDM or Team Leader. Or if I had really helped someone out of a tight situation (correcting the mistakes they make, like not confirming an athlete).
Even when Rene arrived here and saw my first pins, said that he wouldn't be collecting them. After spending his first ten minutes on the parking lot, he sent me an SMS stating: "I've caught the fever! I'm collecting pins too!".
The nicest pins are the ones they give you when you've really helped them and didn't ask for one. In those cases you might get a rare pin as a token of appreciation. It's (figurative and literally) a small thing, but with a nice sentimental touch to it. Here's a small display of some of my pins collected so far.
Some colleagues are really bold and sometimes even rude. One guy from the Wrestling desk often interrupts officials which are in the middle of an issue at our desk to ask for a pin. He doesn't seem to realise how annoying that is and that it doesn't work. We've asked him a few times to stop this and it finally worked. Well, that is... he doesn't bother the people at our desk anymore but still does it at other desks.
Pins are also bluntly stolen. Some stick their pins on their waistbag and if they turn the other way, a pin might all of a sudden 'disappear'.
A pin is not a pin. You have generic NOC pins, official merchandise pins, sport pins, sponsor pins and actual Athens 2004 NOC pins. The most popular are the Athens 2004 NOC pins. Those are country pins with the specific "Athens 2004" on it.
Most countries have a generic NOC pin (which can be used at any occasion) and the Athens pin (which is made specifically for these games). The least interesting are the merchandise pins (which can be bought in any store) and the sponsor pins (who cares about a Visa pin?).
The best pins are the numbered ones. Some delegations make just a small amount and number these on the back. My Malawi pin has "146/150" written on the back, meaning there are only 150 made. A quick check on the internet shows that pins already go for anywhere in between 5 and 150 US dollars... :-O
And anywhere you walk around with your pins on your accredidation, people might all of a sudden appear in front of you, bend over and stare at your chest. By the time you start wondering whether somethings wrong with yourself, they ask you if you're willing to trade. And the negotiations can be tough. It's a good thing I have attended the Conflict Handling & Negotiation training. Thanks boss!
Roberto
PS: Yo Dread! I got you your Jamaica 2004 pin. After reading above story you do realise that you now owe me a few beers at the Flater, don't you? ;-)
Sunday, August 22, 2004
Thrashed!
Yesterday was definitely the day of 'being trashed'. It started actually the night before where Rene and I decided to have a "few" beers. The cool thing over here is that almost all bars give you a beer on the house after you've had a few. For all you Dutch bars, it's called increasing customer intimacy. Of course, the flip side of the coin is that you end up staying longer and having just another one "for the road" and then one more "for the throat". See? The customer intimacy programme really delivers immediate results...
So, four hours after our throat beer, the alarm clock had it's defining moment of the day. That was Trashed 1. We had to get up early to witness the Holland vs. Italy volleyball game. Well, that was Thrashed 2, as we were wondering afterwards what we woke up for. A very simple 3-0 for the Squadra Azurri and 500 Dutch fans could leave the stadium with one illusion less.
From there it was straight to work. That was fun as usual. I gave Rene my camera so he could take some pictures on the parking lot. Yes, Inge (Queen of the Pool) also posed for the camera. She's actually quite cool, as she patiently poses with everyone who asks, even though she swims a final 2 hours later.
In the evening I checked the Baseball results on the computer and yes, the Aussies completely demolished the Dutch team (yes, with all those Antillians) 22-2. By regulation they stopped the contest after 7 innings if one team is leading with more than 10 points (Thrashed 3).
At the Sport Info desk, we had decided to visit the HHH all together. Not a smart move, as we finish around 22:00 hrs and won't get to the HHH before 23:30 hrs. The place was packed! I mean, seriously packed! With the celebration of the swimmers and it being a Saturday, this meant only I could get in (as a Dutchie) but my 8 Greek colleagues couldn't. We decided to go to a trendy bar near to the HHH and try again later. When at 01:15 hrs they still wouldn't let anybody in, most decided to go home as next day the work started again at 07:00 hrs.
There were four of us left. Rene, myself and two Greek guys. First we went to a square full of trendy bars and terraces near Monastiraki. Then Rene and I suggested to go to a place where they have nice music, dancing and good looking people. We should've been more specific! They took us to a place called "Baby", with loud music, only male customers and very good looking people dancing on stage...
We explained to them that we're not really into this kind of Stage Musicals and we preffered to go somewhere else. We had a quick (expensive) beer and looked for something less "exciting", which is not a hard task in Athens as the place is full of cool bars and dancings.
To make a long story short, this morning at around 07:00 hrs we crawled back to our appartment (which is not really in "crawling distance" as the Dutch would say) to enjoy a well needed sleep (Trashed 4)
Roberto
PS: Now I need to go looking for some instructions on how to remove chewing gum from your pants, as I accidentally sat on a large yuckie piece of it... :-(
Anybody has any suggestions?
So, four hours after our throat beer, the alarm clock had it's defining moment of the day. That was Trashed 1. We had to get up early to witness the Holland vs. Italy volleyball game. Well, that was Thrashed 2, as we were wondering afterwards what we woke up for. A very simple 3-0 for the Squadra Azurri and 500 Dutch fans could leave the stadium with one illusion less.
From there it was straight to work. That was fun as usual. I gave Rene my camera so he could take some pictures on the parking lot. Yes, Inge (Queen of the Pool) also posed for the camera. She's actually quite cool, as she patiently poses with everyone who asks, even though she swims a final 2 hours later.
In the evening I checked the Baseball results on the computer and yes, the Aussies completely demolished the Dutch team (yes, with all those Antillians) 22-2. By regulation they stopped the contest after 7 innings if one team is leading with more than 10 points (Thrashed 3).
At the Sport Info desk, we had decided to visit the HHH all together. Not a smart move, as we finish around 22:00 hrs and won't get to the HHH before 23:30 hrs. The place was packed! I mean, seriously packed! With the celebration of the swimmers and it being a Saturday, this meant only I could get in (as a Dutchie) but my 8 Greek colleagues couldn't. We decided to go to a trendy bar near to the HHH and try again later. When at 01:15 hrs they still wouldn't let anybody in, most decided to go home as next day the work started again at 07:00 hrs.
There were four of us left. Rene, myself and two Greek guys. First we went to a square full of trendy bars and terraces near Monastiraki. Then Rene and I suggested to go to a place where they have nice music, dancing and good looking people. We should've been more specific! They took us to a place called "Baby", with loud music, only male customers and very good looking people dancing on stage...
We explained to them that we're not really into this kind of Stage Musicals and we preffered to go somewhere else. We had a quick (expensive) beer and looked for something less "exciting", which is not a hard task in Athens as the place is full of cool bars and dancings.
To make a long story short, this morning at around 07:00 hrs we crawled back to our appartment (which is not really in "crawling distance" as the Dutch would say) to enjoy a well needed sleep (Trashed 4)
Roberto
PS: Now I need to go looking for some instructions on how to remove chewing gum from your pants, as I accidentally sat on a large yuckie piece of it... :-(
Anybody has any suggestions?
Birthday Party !!!
On wednesday 25th August it's my Birthday!
I would like to invite all you blog readers who are volunteers in Athens and also all others who are "accidentally" in Athens to my birthday party at the Holland Heineken House. There will be a performance of a Dutch band called Soulvation and DJ Marky will spin the wheels as usually with his mix of whatever he can find in his collection. For all you non Dutch people the HHH is in Zappeion Gardens, 105 57 Athens. Come early please, after 22.00 it gets very hard to get in and bring your passport too! For the Greek that means 21.00 as you always arrive an hour later then you have planned... ;-)
Yesterday I had already a little bit of a birthday present, just before Inge de Bruin won her gold medal, I met her on my parking, I took a picture and just before she went into the bus I wished her good luck! Maybe that helped a little bit to get her to the GOLD !!!
The HHH yesterday was one big celebration for Inge and Pieter Jan. Great to see 3.000 Dutch fans cheering for these Athletes and Erica Terpstra (president of the Dutch Olympic Committee) who presented a picture to them live in front of Dutch television. Our own president JP (also known as Harry Potter) was also in the house, his popularity is way below zero maybe they should make Erica president of our country.
Well it's way above 40 degrees today and today will be my first day on Da Beach, I got a tan but this is more a Bas Vankan (not so famous Dutch cycler) tan as my arms, part of my legs and my face is are like a brownie but the rest of my body has got a very Brittish color.
Rene
I would like to invite all you blog readers who are volunteers in Athens and also all others who are "accidentally" in Athens to my birthday party at the Holland Heineken House. There will be a performance of a Dutch band called Soulvation and DJ Marky will spin the wheels as usually with his mix of whatever he can find in his collection. For all you non Dutch people the HHH is in Zappeion Gardens, 105 57 Athens. Come early please, after 22.00 it gets very hard to get in and bring your passport too! For the Greek that means 21.00 as you always arrive an hour later then you have planned... ;-)
Yesterday I had already a little bit of a birthday present, just before Inge de Bruin won her gold medal, I met her on my parking, I took a picture and just before she went into the bus I wished her good luck! Maybe that helped a little bit to get her to the GOLD !!!
The HHH yesterday was one big celebration for Inge and Pieter Jan. Great to see 3.000 Dutch fans cheering for these Athletes and Erica Terpstra (president of the Dutch Olympic Committee) who presented a picture to them live in front of Dutch television. Our own president JP (also known as Harry Potter) was also in the house, his popularity is way below zero maybe they should make Erica president of our country.
Well it's way above 40 degrees today and today will be my first day on Da Beach, I got a tan but this is more a Bas Vankan (not so famous Dutch cycler) tan as my arms, part of my legs and my face is are like a brownie but the rest of my body has got a very Brittish color.
Rene
The Paperless Office
A day off today, so again some time to write about the experiences of the previous days without having to check my watch every few minutes.
As stated before, the Athletics desk is a one hectic place to work. Most of the other Sports Information Desks have very little to do. The Baseball desk is serving only 8 NOC's, the Modern Penthatlon desk is mostly vacant (but whenever it isn't, there's a cute German girl sitting there) and I think the girl from the Softball desk must've have finished at least 8 books by now.
Some desks are also closing now as their events have finished. Luckily for us, the Archery desk closes today and since it is next to ours, we will claim the space as soon as we can. Athletics have started, so representatives from 187 NOC's are passing by at least once a day to get start lists, results or to ask often difficult logistic questions.
Since the games are "coming home" and athletics is the most traditional sport, some events have been planned to be outside the usual Olympic Stadium. The two most notable being the Shot Put in the ancient Olympia (5 hours driving from here) and the original marathon course from Marathon to the Panathinaiko Stadium. This results in many logistical issues as athletes, coaches, officials and material have to be transported and obviously some NOC's decided to stay outside the Village...
Efficiency is also a concept not invented over here (sorry Greece). Or is it because volunteers are volunteers? Meaning, they're cheap and therefore any investment in efficiency is a waste of money? Interesting business proposal...
I think by now we must've gotten rid of at least half of the Brazilian rain forest with all the paperwork going on. Whatever happened to computers, email and printers? Well actually, all NOC's have an office with a computer, a printer and there is an internal email network and an intranet with all the latest info. Still we keep printing out everything 200 times and my guess is that at least 50% of the information is unwanted. Many NOC's with only one runner are not interested in the Hammer Throw start list, as an example. So these papers go straight from their mailbox into the paper recycling bin.
The argument used is that they want to make sure everybody actually gets all information. Better safe than sorry, and there is a valid point in that. Oh well, it's a good thing they actually do recycle paper over here...
Roberto
As stated before, the Athletics desk is a one hectic place to work. Most of the other Sports Information Desks have very little to do. The Baseball desk is serving only 8 NOC's, the Modern Penthatlon desk is mostly vacant (but whenever it isn't, there's a cute German girl sitting there) and I think the girl from the Softball desk must've have finished at least 8 books by now.
Some desks are also closing now as their events have finished. Luckily for us, the Archery desk closes today and since it is next to ours, we will claim the space as soon as we can. Athletics have started, so representatives from 187 NOC's are passing by at least once a day to get start lists, results or to ask often difficult logistic questions.
Since the games are "coming home" and athletics is the most traditional sport, some events have been planned to be outside the usual Olympic Stadium. The two most notable being the Shot Put in the ancient Olympia (5 hours driving from here) and the original marathon course from Marathon to the Panathinaiko Stadium. This results in many logistical issues as athletes, coaches, officials and material have to be transported and obviously some NOC's decided to stay outside the Village...
Efficiency is also a concept not invented over here (sorry Greece). Or is it because volunteers are volunteers? Meaning, they're cheap and therefore any investment in efficiency is a waste of money? Interesting business proposal...
I think by now we must've gotten rid of at least half of the Brazilian rain forest with all the paperwork going on. Whatever happened to computers, email and printers? Well actually, all NOC's have an office with a computer, a printer and there is an internal email network and an intranet with all the latest info. Still we keep printing out everything 200 times and my guess is that at least 50% of the information is unwanted. Many NOC's with only one runner are not interested in the Hammer Throw start list, as an example. So these papers go straight from their mailbox into the paper recycling bin.
The argument used is that they want to make sure everybody actually gets all information. Better safe than sorry, and there is a valid point in that. Oh well, it's a good thing they actually do recycle paper over here...
Roberto
The Daily Whim
Somebody writing an internet column seems to have noticed our blog. He wanted to check whether Olympic Blogging Came of Age. It's an overview of blogging activities during Athens 2004 compared to previous games and he found our blog through a simple web search. His column can be found HERE.
As even participants are exploiting their own blog, the organisation has decided last Friday that no athlete, coach, support personnel or other official is allowed to report on the games through a blog. This is to protect the broadcast rightsholders for the event. There's one exception: if the blogger already had a blog or site which was not set up specifically for the Games... (???) See the CNN article HERE.
Funny enough, the news article does not mention volunteers. At least, the quote "personnel or other officials" can be translated as paid staff. In every Olympic release, volunteers have always been mentioned separately, so I guess we can assume the same here...?
(What was that project managers line again? Never ASS-U-ME, because that makes an "ASS" out of "U" and "ME")
Of course, the Daily Whim couldn't have let this press release pass by without his view on the matter. One quote from his column (hopefully with his permission):
First, it’s notable that the IOC believes not only that “athletes and their coaches should not serve as journalists,” but also that the simple act of blogging would breach that barrier. Ergo, bloggers are journalists. It’s an Olympic decree.
If these athletes blogged, they wouldn’t be getting attention because they were engaging in journalism, they’d be getting attention because they were athletes, doing something that millions of individuals do … publish their thoughts on the web. To say that publishing on the web makes an Olympic athlete a “journalist” is as absurd as saying that putting an experienced sportswriter on the Olympic track makes them a sprinter. It is skill, training, and experience that makes a journalist, or a sprinter … not the medium.
(His entire column can be found HERE)
The question remains: are we "allowed" to blog? I can hardly imagine our little blog to have an impact on the billions of dollars paid by the broadcast stations. Of course, I come across many things that some newspapers might find very interesting and I even write about these things. However, as I avoid mentioning the NOC's involved and I'm pretty sure the things I see are not new, I don't see why a harmless non-commercial blog aimed at sharing experiences with friends and family can be a big issue.
My personal opinion as a person, not a volunteer? I think the IOC needs to realise that internet has changed the world and that what they're trying to stop is unstoppable. Communication has come a long way since the first games in 1896, but the IOC seems to be still living in that 19th century.
It reminds me of the Record Companies twisting and turning in every direction trying to stop the exchange of music through MP3 files. As we all know, with very little success.
It's a bit naive...
What's next? Thou shall not take digital pictures with thy mobile phone at broadcasted events? Try stopping that! As two years from now everybody will be walking around with 2 megapixel camera's built into their phone...
Oh well, let me get of my soapbox and start on a 'normal' blog posting...
Roberto
As even participants are exploiting their own blog, the organisation has decided last Friday that no athlete, coach, support personnel or other official is allowed to report on the games through a blog. This is to protect the broadcast rightsholders for the event. There's one exception: if the blogger already had a blog or site which was not set up specifically for the Games... (???) See the CNN article HERE.
Funny enough, the news article does not mention volunteers. At least, the quote "personnel or other officials" can be translated as paid staff. In every Olympic release, volunteers have always been mentioned separately, so I guess we can assume the same here...?
(What was that project managers line again? Never ASS-U-ME, because that makes an "ASS" out of "U" and "ME")
Of course, the Daily Whim couldn't have let this press release pass by without his view on the matter. One quote from his column (hopefully with his permission):
First, it’s notable that the IOC believes not only that “athletes and their coaches should not serve as journalists,” but also that the simple act of blogging would breach that barrier. Ergo, bloggers are journalists. It’s an Olympic decree.
If these athletes blogged, they wouldn’t be getting attention because they were engaging in journalism, they’d be getting attention because they were athletes, doing something that millions of individuals do … publish their thoughts on the web. To say that publishing on the web makes an Olympic athlete a “journalist” is as absurd as saying that putting an experienced sportswriter on the Olympic track makes them a sprinter. It is skill, training, and experience that makes a journalist, or a sprinter … not the medium.
(His entire column can be found HERE)
The question remains: are we "allowed" to blog? I can hardly imagine our little blog to have an impact on the billions of dollars paid by the broadcast stations. Of course, I come across many things that some newspapers might find very interesting and I even write about these things. However, as I avoid mentioning the NOC's involved and I'm pretty sure the things I see are not new, I don't see why a harmless non-commercial blog aimed at sharing experiences with friends and family can be a big issue.
My personal opinion as a person, not a volunteer? I think the IOC needs to realise that internet has changed the world and that what they're trying to stop is unstoppable. Communication has come a long way since the first games in 1896, but the IOC seems to be still living in that 19th century.
It reminds me of the Record Companies twisting and turning in every direction trying to stop the exchange of music through MP3 files. As we all know, with very little success.
It's a bit naive...
What's next? Thou shall not take digital pictures with thy mobile phone at broadcasted events? Try stopping that! As two years from now everybody will be walking around with 2 megapixel camera's built into their phone...
Oh well, let me get of my soapbox and start on a 'normal' blog posting...
Roberto
Friday, August 20, 2004
Going Postal
Remember the bodypaint news I wrote about yesterday? They got approval!!! This is going to be the coolest sight in the Olympic Stadium.
They figured, as long as there's no commercial text or logo's it shouldn't be any different than a tattoo (which is obviously allowed as skin stripping is not an Olympic event).
What a day. Poles (for the pole vaulting) went missing, but luckily only on paper. So at least the athletes can try to break the 6 meter height with something better than a tooth pick.
The athletics desk just became more of a crazy house. The competitions have started and this means that every few minutes we get a stack of 200 copies of a result sheet or start list. With over 35 disciplines and 200 mailboxes, we are trying to fill these so called pigeon holes faster than Hugh Hefner scores blond playmates. Well, nobody can keep up with good ol' Hugh...
It doesn't help very much that the results printing department is slower than myself opening the front door for Rene last night. This basically means we have some 30+ coaches at our desk screaming for these docs, even before we get them. They arrive from the stadium (20 minutes drive) way before the papers (which come from the office next door). I'm sure an IT Architect can design some sort of Message Bus Architecture to solve this issue... ;-)
Oh well, at least now I understand those US Postal workers that went nuts a few years ago, spraying bullets all around in the local shopping mall.
Cheers from a not-yet-so-nuts Roberto.
They figured, as long as there's no commercial text or logo's it shouldn't be any different than a tattoo (which is obviously allowed as skin stripping is not an Olympic event).
What a day. Poles (for the pole vaulting) went missing, but luckily only on paper. So at least the athletes can try to break the 6 meter height with something better than a tooth pick.
The athletics desk just became more of a crazy house. The competitions have started and this means that every few minutes we get a stack of 200 copies of a result sheet or start list. With over 35 disciplines and 200 mailboxes, we are trying to fill these so called pigeon holes faster than Hugh Hefner scores blond playmates. Well, nobody can keep up with good ol' Hugh...
It doesn't help very much that the results printing department is slower than myself opening the front door for Rene last night. This basically means we have some 30+ coaches at our desk screaming for these docs, even before we get them. They arrive from the stadium (20 minutes drive) way before the papers (which come from the office next door). I'm sure an IT Architect can design some sort of Message Bus Architecture to solve this issue... ;-)
Oh well, at least now I understand those US Postal workers that went nuts a few years ago, spraying bullets all around in the local shopping mall.
Cheers from a not-yet-so-nuts Roberto.
Don't Drink and Drive
Yesterday was one of those days that writing a book may be easier then just drop a blog.
After a visit to the internet cafe we took a cab to the station, the driver seemed to be OK, but already after a few meters driving we saw the bottle of vodka and noticed that the driver was drunk as hell. Driving here in Athens is somehow suicide already but with this driver it was a nightmare. The guy tried to speak some kind of a hand language and didn't use his steering wheel. He stopped sometimes suddenly (why we not know) and after Roberto suggested we might reach our destination faster when he would drive, he hit the gas again and screamed "I am Schumacher". I was on the backseat and had tears in my eyes of laughing. Roberto didn't feel comfortable as he was sitting in the front (in a car without airbag). The guy even stopped alongside a police car and started screaming at them, this guy was totally nuts.
The basketball was amazing, it's not the Dream Team but the Americans know what to do with a ball that's for sure. They were behind till the fourth quarter and it looked like the Aussies would win the match, but then the show started with Slam Dunks and Alley Hoops, and they won, amazing.
We decided to visit the Holland Heineken House again and that was a good idea. They celebrated the silver of Mia Audina, her husband came on stage and sang a great gospel song, the crowd went crazy.
After a few beers I even met the major from Da Bush again, as he is doing his job during daytime and I can claim to rule the city of Da Bush at night, I decided to let Roberto take a picture of us both. The guy was surprised and didn't really laugh about the joke of Da Bush (I actually don't like him too much because of what happened with the riots in Da Bush a couple of years ago, when some hooligans decided to have huge fights for a couple of days and he went to a classical concert as if nothing was happening). Well who cares, me and the major are friends again.
Roberto decided to leave a bit earlier than I and took my key, when arriving home (don't ask me the time) he didn't pick up his phone, so there I was, in the middle of Athens, homeless. After screaming awake the entire neighbourhood and even trying to throw little things into the open window, a guy came and entered the building. After ringing the doorbell for like two minutes Roberto decided to let me in. Pfew that saved my day.
My parking activities got a boost today as our own WA (Mini, from Mini and Maxima) announced on television yesterday that the transport of the players is better then in Atlanta and Sidney, thank you WA, it's my pleasure. I saw Willem during a hockey game, really funny, everybody of the orange army screams "Willem zwaaien" and then he gets up and waves to the crowd.
Sports is the most fantastic thing over here, as the hockey ladies are doing very well I decided to buy tickets for the finals today. The 26th will be the magic moment, let's hope they win gold then I will go nuts!!
I'm now going to prepare my birthday party. My birthday is the 25th August and I have decided to create some invitations and invite every beautiful women in the city for my party in the Heineken Holland House. When nobody shows up I will think like Pieter vd H after not qualifying for the 50 meters, I have gold at home and if nobody shows up for this short distance run, BOEJUH !!
The next part is only for my girlfriend who is travelling Thailand at the
moment:
Hoi poepie,
Trek je maar niks aan van die laatste regels, meen het allemaal niet maarja je moet op zo'n blog natuurlijk mensen ook amuseren, en dan is zo'n regeltje natuurlijk altijd leuk. Ik hoop dat jullie een super tijd hebben in Thailand en verheug me waanzinnig om je weer te zien !!!
Dikke kus
Rene
After a visit to the internet cafe we took a cab to the station, the driver seemed to be OK, but already after a few meters driving we saw the bottle of vodka and noticed that the driver was drunk as hell. Driving here in Athens is somehow suicide already but with this driver it was a nightmare. The guy tried to speak some kind of a hand language and didn't use his steering wheel. He stopped sometimes suddenly (why we not know) and after Roberto suggested we might reach our destination faster when he would drive, he hit the gas again and screamed "I am Schumacher". I was on the backseat and had tears in my eyes of laughing. Roberto didn't feel comfortable as he was sitting in the front (in a car without airbag). The guy even stopped alongside a police car and started screaming at them, this guy was totally nuts.
The basketball was amazing, it's not the Dream Team but the Americans know what to do with a ball that's for sure. They were behind till the fourth quarter and it looked like the Aussies would win the match, but then the show started with Slam Dunks and Alley Hoops, and they won, amazing.
We decided to visit the Holland Heineken House again and that was a good idea. They celebrated the silver of Mia Audina, her husband came on stage and sang a great gospel song, the crowd went crazy.
After a few beers I even met the major from Da Bush again, as he is doing his job during daytime and I can claim to rule the city of Da Bush at night, I decided to let Roberto take a picture of us both. The guy was surprised and didn't really laugh about the joke of Da Bush (I actually don't like him too much because of what happened with the riots in Da Bush a couple of years ago, when some hooligans decided to have huge fights for a couple of days and he went to a classical concert as if nothing was happening). Well who cares, me and the major are friends again.
Roberto decided to leave a bit earlier than I and took my key, when arriving home (don't ask me the time) he didn't pick up his phone, so there I was, in the middle of Athens, homeless. After screaming awake the entire neighbourhood and even trying to throw little things into the open window, a guy came and entered the building. After ringing the doorbell for like two minutes Roberto decided to let me in. Pfew that saved my day.
My parking activities got a boost today as our own WA (Mini, from Mini and Maxima) announced on television yesterday that the transport of the players is better then in Atlanta and Sidney, thank you WA, it's my pleasure. I saw Willem during a hockey game, really funny, everybody of the orange army screams "Willem zwaaien" and then he gets up and waves to the crowd.
Sports is the most fantastic thing over here, as the hockey ladies are doing very well I decided to buy tickets for the finals today. The 26th will be the magic moment, let's hope they win gold then I will go nuts!!
I'm now going to prepare my birthday party. My birthday is the 25th August and I have decided to create some invitations and invite every beautiful women in the city for my party in the Heineken Holland House. When nobody shows up I will think like Pieter vd H after not qualifying for the 50 meters, I have gold at home and if nobody shows up for this short distance run, BOEJUH !!
The next part is only for my girlfriend who is travelling Thailand at the
moment:
Hoi poepie,
Trek je maar niks aan van die laatste regels, meen het allemaal niet maarja je moet op zo'n blog natuurlijk mensen ook amuseren, en dan is zo'n regeltje natuurlijk altijd leuk. Ik hoop dat jullie een super tijd hebben in Thailand en verheug me waanzinnig om je weer te zien !!!
Dikke kus
Rene
Thursday, August 19, 2004
Finally Gold!
As you know, yesterday was a great day for the Dutch delegation in Athens. At the SIC (Sports Information Centre) it is one big battle between the Greeks and me, as I am almost the only non-Greek in the place.
Up to yesterday they kept teasing me, asking how many gold medals Holland had achieved so far. They already had two (synchronised diving and judo). My responses were somewhere along the lines of "we don't depend on jury sports" and "we do not compete with imported players". Of course, the latter is totally true with "real" Dutchies like Mia Audina (in the final!), the former African athlete running for Holland and the entire Baseball team, but what do they know... ;-)
But then came yesterday and the locals are very quiet now. After the NED-GRE baseball game I had already learned how to say "11-0" in Greek, but now the real fun starts. All in good fun of course...
Thanx Leontien and Pieter-Jan!
Roberto
PS: I finally found Brazil on the medal table. Two bronze medals! Muito bom! I'll have a few caipirinha's in the Old Dutch on you!
Up to yesterday they kept teasing me, asking how many gold medals Holland had achieved so far. They already had two (synchronised diving and judo). My responses were somewhere along the lines of "we don't depend on jury sports" and "we do not compete with imported players". Of course, the latter is totally true with "real" Dutchies like Mia Audina (in the final!), the former African athlete running for Holland and the entire Baseball team, but what do they know... ;-)
But then came yesterday and the locals are very quiet now. After the NED-GRE baseball game I had already learned how to say "11-0" in Greek, but now the real fun starts. All in good fun of course...
Thanx Leontien and Pieter-Jan!
Roberto
PS: I finally found Brazil on the medal table. Two bronze medals! Muito bom! I'll have a few caipirinha's in the Old Dutch on you!
Bodypainted Runners?
Last week we got a very curious request from a country. They asked if their relay team could run with bodypaint (!!!). The original request was denied for reasons of commercial limits, but yesterday they came again to appeal. They should a picture of what they are intending to do and I must say: It is really cool!
I'm hoping they get a decision in their favour, because it will definitely be a sight to see. I can't tell which country it is, but I'm sure at least one of you will immediately know which it will be...
Roberto
PS: By the way, yesterday I met the most elegant lady ever to set foot on a track. Of course I'm talking about Merlene Ottey. She is very nice and still a very beautiful woman. She will compete for Slovenia these games. I totally forgot to take a picture. Maybe next time.
I'm hoping they get a decision in their favour, because it will definitely be a sight to see. I can't tell which country it is, but I'm sure at least one of you will immediately know which it will be...
Roberto
PS: By the way, yesterday I met the most elegant lady ever to set foot on a track. Of course I'm talking about Merlene Ottey. She is very nice and still a very beautiful woman. She will compete for Slovenia these games. I totally forgot to take a picture. Maybe next time.
Monday, August 16, 2004
Tostie rules
Well yesterday I had a day off, probably you noticed a few athletes not showing up for their game but I can't co-ordinate the parking 24 hours a day.
Roberto introduced me in the beautiful game of Baseball, we saw a great match of Holland against Greece. We WON!! I didn't know Baseball was such a great sport to watch, a lot of tactics are included in the game. I even saw two homeruns!! After the victory we started singing the well known "wat zijn die grieken stil".
Tiesto was playing in the Heineken Holland House during our game, but as we knew he also would play in Venue we went to this really beautiful club at Da Beach. After a little bit of a struggle we ended on the VIP deck (I had arranged already the guest list when I was in Holland, but here this means you have to pay entrance fee but you are allowed entrance to the VIP).
I am not going to talk again about the female population on the VIP deck this can not be described via a blog. Tiesto arrived behind the decks and the venue was already packed (3000 people) and the crowd went wild. I have never seen a crowd who knows to party that well as the Greeks, from record one till the needle was taken of the record three hours later the party was on. Tiesto may be a huge DJ in Holland but isn't always treated like that, here he is a God. I can't describe what we saw, but I hope Roberto get's his pictures as soon as possible online so you all can enjoy. To see a person from your own country drive a crowd of thousands crazy is really great !!
Because of our nightly adventure I have decided to volunteer for a day off today. Tomorrow I will go to my spot again. Normally they forget to put the music on at the parking, so as a sort of standard I first look for Micheal who then arranges the music (always the same CD of Bob Marley but that is cool). I am looking forward to see the athletes which I know by face a little bit better then in the beginning. Mia has made the semi finals!!
Funny thing is that I can't remember the names, I met and talked to a Greek weightlifter and according to all the others he was the best in the world, but I didn't remember his name. When we were walking into the metro station Roberto pointed to a huge advertisement of Adidas and asked me if he was the one I saw. That was him! Nice of those Greek people to help me a little bit.
That's it for know, check the Venue Website for any pictures of Tiesto (and to take a look how great the place is).
Rene
Roberto introduced me in the beautiful game of Baseball, we saw a great match of Holland against Greece. We WON!! I didn't know Baseball was such a great sport to watch, a lot of tactics are included in the game. I even saw two homeruns!! After the victory we started singing the well known "wat zijn die grieken stil".
Tiesto was playing in the Heineken Holland House during our game, but as we knew he also would play in Venue we went to this really beautiful club at Da Beach. After a little bit of a struggle we ended on the VIP deck (I had arranged already the guest list when I was in Holland, but here this means you have to pay entrance fee but you are allowed entrance to the VIP).
I am not going to talk again about the female population on the VIP deck this can not be described via a blog. Tiesto arrived behind the decks and the venue was already packed (3000 people) and the crowd went wild. I have never seen a crowd who knows to party that well as the Greeks, from record one till the needle was taken of the record three hours later the party was on. Tiesto may be a huge DJ in Holland but isn't always treated like that, here he is a God. I can't describe what we saw, but I hope Roberto get's his pictures as soon as possible online so you all can enjoy. To see a person from your own country drive a crowd of thousands crazy is really great !!
Because of our nightly adventure I have decided to volunteer for a day off today. Tomorrow I will go to my spot again. Normally they forget to put the music on at the parking, so as a sort of standard I first look for Micheal who then arranges the music (always the same CD of Bob Marley but that is cool). I am looking forward to see the athletes which I know by face a little bit better then in the beginning. Mia has made the semi finals!!
Funny thing is that I can't remember the names, I met and talked to a Greek weightlifter and according to all the others he was the best in the world, but I didn't remember his name. When we were walking into the metro station Roberto pointed to a huge advertisement of Adidas and asked me if he was the one I saw. That was him! Nice of those Greek people to help me a little bit.
That's it for know, check the Venue Website for any pictures of Tiesto (and to take a look how great the place is).
Rene
Brasil, the Greatest Sports Country of all Time!
That is at least what a Brazilian colleague of mine believes. I think the 5 football world cups they won, have gone to his head and he extrapolates this - indeed great - achievement to cover all sports worldwide.
Obviously, some might tend to disagree... Not only the Americans, Chinese, Russians and Germans, but also undersigned. Of course Brazil is not the greatest sports country in the world. It's Curacao!
So, here was a bet in the making. I need to state that the terms and conditions of this bet were made on a terrace in Utrecht underneath a burning sun and under influence of a few "wit biertjes" (= white beer). Leandro (another Brazilian) was promoted from DevLAN manager to Official Cafe Flater Betting Judge (without increase in salary). He was actually supposed to minute the agreement which he didn't, but we'll blame that on Freddy Heineken.
As betting on Curacao would obviously be too unfair to my colleague, we decided that I would side for Holland. The bet is simple: If Holland gets more points that Brazil, I win, and he wins if it's the other way around. Points are scored with medals. 5 points for Gold, 3 for Silver and 1 for Bronze.
The loser has to organise a party in the Old Dutch (a bar in our office) in honour of the winning country. The invite should state this specifically. This includes flags, balloons and music from the winning country and obviously the loser gets to wear the opponents shirt behind the bar. The loser should also offer Caipirinhas as these are hell to make (but extremely tasty).
You are hereby all invited to attend and order as many Caiprinhas as you can...
Roberto
PS: Holland currently has 1 silver and 2 bronze, which totals 5 points. I'm trying to calculate the Brazilian points, but I can't find them on the medal table. Can anybody help me out? ;-)
Obviously, some might tend to disagree... Not only the Americans, Chinese, Russians and Germans, but also undersigned. Of course Brazil is not the greatest sports country in the world. It's Curacao!
So, here was a bet in the making. I need to state that the terms and conditions of this bet were made on a terrace in Utrecht underneath a burning sun and under influence of a few "wit biertjes" (= white beer). Leandro (another Brazilian) was promoted from DevLAN manager to Official Cafe Flater Betting Judge (without increase in salary). He was actually supposed to minute the agreement which he didn't, but we'll blame that on Freddy Heineken.
As betting on Curacao would obviously be too unfair to my colleague, we decided that I would side for Holland. The bet is simple: If Holland gets more points that Brazil, I win, and he wins if it's the other way around. Points are scored with medals. 5 points for Gold, 3 for Silver and 1 for Bronze.
The loser has to organise a party in the Old Dutch (a bar in our office) in honour of the winning country. The invite should state this specifically. This includes flags, balloons and music from the winning country and obviously the loser gets to wear the opponents shirt behind the bar. The loser should also offer Caipirinhas as these are hell to make (but extremely tasty).
You are hereby all invited to attend and order as many Caiprinhas as you can...
Roberto
PS: Holland currently has 1 silver and 2 bronze, which totals 5 points. I'm trying to calculate the Brazilian points, but I can't find them on the medal table. Can anybody help me out? ;-)
Dutch Antilles - USA: 11-0 !!!
Yesterday we went to the first baseball match of Holland, against Greece. The (very nice) stadium was packed with Greeks cheering on 'their' heroes. Actually, 22 out of the 25 players on the Greek team are actually Americans who once ate a Pita Giros... Any good American player with a great great great grandfather born in Greece was eligible for this Greek team.
The Dutch team is a bit similar but not entirely the same. 75% of the Dutch team are actually players from the Dutch Antilles. Major difference, however, is that these players are already born with the Dutch nationality. They play for Holland, as it is almost impossible for the Antilles to qualify for the games in a region with all major baseball countries (USA, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Panama, just to name a few)
The starting pitcher was Calvin Maduro (Aruba) who played a few years in the Major League and he was on fire. He only allowed 2 hits in his 7 innings. The locals were still hopeful until the fourth innings when Yurrendel DeCaster (Curacao) totally smashed a fastball for a 3-run homerun. There were some 50 fans of the Dutch team singing chants like "Wat zijn die Grieken stil!" and "Zij gaan op Tienertour". The final score was 11-0 to Holland.
After the game I had a quick chat with the delegations of the Dutch Antilles and Aruba, which were also in the stadium cheering the Dutch team on. For you Arubans out there, the Aruban sprinter is targetting 10.45 for his 100 meters. Let's hope he achieves this as he is still young and hopes to peak 4 years from now.
I've tried to get my pictures on-line but these internet cafes are a bit strict on connecting cameras to the PC's. It must be the Taurus build... ;-)
(that's an insiders joke)
Roberto
The Dutch team is a bit similar but not entirely the same. 75% of the Dutch team are actually players from the Dutch Antilles. Major difference, however, is that these players are already born with the Dutch nationality. They play for Holland, as it is almost impossible for the Antilles to qualify for the games in a region with all major baseball countries (USA, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Panama, just to name a few)
The starting pitcher was Calvin Maduro (Aruba) who played a few years in the Major League and he was on fire. He only allowed 2 hits in his 7 innings. The locals were still hopeful until the fourth innings when Yurrendel DeCaster (Curacao) totally smashed a fastball for a 3-run homerun. There were some 50 fans of the Dutch team singing chants like "Wat zijn die Grieken stil!" and "Zij gaan op Tienertour". The final score was 11-0 to Holland.
After the game I had a quick chat with the delegations of the Dutch Antilles and Aruba, which were also in the stadium cheering the Dutch team on. For you Arubans out there, the Aruban sprinter is targetting 10.45 for his 100 meters. Let's hope he achieves this as he is still young and hopes to peak 4 years from now.
I've tried to get my pictures on-line but these internet cafes are a bit strict on connecting cameras to the PC's. It must be the Taurus build... ;-)
(that's an insiders joke)
Roberto
All in a Days Work
Many people ask me what kind of things I am supposed to do at the Athletics desk. Well, officially I'm supposed to do the following:
- Sign in country delegations at first arrival (authorisation forms, team leaders guide, invitations to technical meetings, etc.)
- Provide information regarding the competition to Athletes, Trainers, Team Leader and/of Chef de Missions. This includes training possibilities, transport arrangements, schedule changes and important meetings.
- Hand out start lists before and results after the competition.
- Receive comfirmation from the officials regarding their participating athletes.
- Arrange transport for shot put participants and officials to the Ancient Olympia.
- Arrange tours for viewing the stadium, marathon and race walking courses.
- Take photographs of the official competitions uniforms and track suits.
Yes, we do all those things mentioned above. But as I stated in an earlier posting, we don't send people with requess outside our area to "the next counter", so I also did:
- Call all Athens Head Offices of all major sport brands to find a pair of 100 meter Female Sprinter Spikes for an athlete who lost hers...
- Arrange with the Travel Agency a bus tour to ancient Olympia for those athletes and officials that want to go as a spectator.
- Cover the info desk for Archery and Badminton (our next door neightbours) when they need to go to lunch, as these desks are often manned by one person.
- Call all Athens Head Offices of all major sport brands again as one (major) athletics country had received sets which were a few sizes too big for their athletes. Can you imagine??? Neither could the Chef de Mission. He was so pissed off he didn't care whether the set I could find was of a different brand then their actual clothing sponsor.
- Play translator for most desks whenever a delegation comes by that speaks only Spanish.
- Chase the Chef the Mission of a large European country for two days as he had forgotten to confirm his shot put athlete for the competition... (!) Finally I found him by running through the village and stopping every athlete from his country to ask for him.
In short, never a dull moment...
Roberto
- Sign in country delegations at first arrival (authorisation forms, team leaders guide, invitations to technical meetings, etc.)
- Provide information regarding the competition to Athletes, Trainers, Team Leader and/of Chef de Missions. This includes training possibilities, transport arrangements, schedule changes and important meetings.
- Hand out start lists before and results after the competition.
- Receive comfirmation from the officials regarding their participating athletes.
- Arrange transport for shot put participants and officials to the Ancient Olympia.
- Arrange tours for viewing the stadium, marathon and race walking courses.
- Take photographs of the official competitions uniforms and track suits.
Yes, we do all those things mentioned above. But as I stated in an earlier posting, we don't send people with requess outside our area to "the next counter", so I also did:
- Call all Athens Head Offices of all major sport brands to find a pair of 100 meter Female Sprinter Spikes for an athlete who lost hers...
- Arrange with the Travel Agency a bus tour to ancient Olympia for those athletes and officials that want to go as a spectator.
- Cover the info desk for Archery and Badminton (our next door neightbours) when they need to go to lunch, as these desks are often manned by one person.
- Call all Athens Head Offices of all major sport brands again as one (major) athletics country had received sets which were a few sizes too big for their athletes. Can you imagine??? Neither could the Chef de Mission. He was so pissed off he didn't care whether the set I could find was of a different brand then their actual clothing sponsor.
- Play translator for most desks whenever a delegation comes by that speaks only Spanish.
- Chase the Chef the Mission of a large European country for two days as he had forgotten to confirm his shot put athlete for the competition... (!) Finally I found him by running through the village and stopping every athlete from his country to ask for him.
In short, never a dull moment...
Roberto
Sunday, August 15, 2004
What you see is what I get
Greetings my friends from the king of the parking.
It's amazing to see all those athletes which I helped on the bus were walking the ceremony. I even recognised some of them. I have given myself a promotion, I am not only helping the Athletes I also do the entertainment while their waiting. Some of them don't like to talk but most of them prefer a nice little chat before they go to the venue.
Yesterday I spoke a little Dutch girl, afterwards Roberto explained to me it was Mia Audina or something and today she is in the quarter finales of badminton. Funny !!
There are 20 or something volunteers working on the parking and when a women's team arrives all the male volunteers gather and try to do their best to leave them outside the bus as long as possible. Waterpolo (canadian women team) has become my favorite till know. My colleague is totally fan of "Inje de Broein" (he even is considering moving to Holland because of her if I promise him all girls in Holland have the same body), I had to disappoint him, such well trained bodies are not common (unfortunately).
Yesterday the first game, Beach Volleyball, don't know if Roberto is already typing something about this in our blog but this was great. There are dancing girls, and then girls who are dancing, after that there are some girls who do a little bit of dancing and oh yeah sometimes there are a few boys or girls who play beach volleyball but to be honest that disturbs a little bit the game of the girls dancing.
Today we are going to watch Baseball, Netherlands against Greece, the Greece have seem to convince a bunch of Americans to become Greek so it's not really a Greek team and the Dutch team is almost totally from the Roberto country. But this doesn't seem to bother anyone.
I am going to write a letter to Mr. Heineken (or Miss Heineken as it is now a days) and tell her to change the name of the Heineken Holland House into the Heineken Hockey House. This place looks very familiar to me as I sometimes go to the Hockey cantina in Da Bush, amazing, the same people doing the same (....) things. Yesterday I saw the mayor of Da Bush and that was too much for me. I left the place crying on Roberto's shoulder.
I can tell much more stories, but as you already have experienced, Roberto is much more of a blogger then I am so I will leave him the juicy stuff.
It's great here, the Olympics, the participation as a volunteer, the venues, the Athletes (no need to say which gender), the matches we are going to watch and the beach volleyball girls. It sounds all to good to be true, but believe me, what you see is what we get. Well... apart from the beach volleyball cheerleaders, which are not shown on television. That would make the transmission inappropriate for minors.
Rene
It's amazing to see all those athletes which I helped on the bus were walking the ceremony. I even recognised some of them. I have given myself a promotion, I am not only helping the Athletes I also do the entertainment while their waiting. Some of them don't like to talk but most of them prefer a nice little chat before they go to the venue.
Yesterday I spoke a little Dutch girl, afterwards Roberto explained to me it was Mia Audina or something and today she is in the quarter finales of badminton. Funny !!
There are 20 or something volunteers working on the parking and when a women's team arrives all the male volunteers gather and try to do their best to leave them outside the bus as long as possible. Waterpolo (canadian women team) has become my favorite till know. My colleague is totally fan of "Inje de Broein" (he even is considering moving to Holland because of her if I promise him all girls in Holland have the same body), I had to disappoint him, such well trained bodies are not common (unfortunately).
Yesterday the first game, Beach Volleyball, don't know if Roberto is already typing something about this in our blog but this was great. There are dancing girls, and then girls who are dancing, after that there are some girls who do a little bit of dancing and oh yeah sometimes there are a few boys or girls who play beach volleyball but to be honest that disturbs a little bit the game of the girls dancing.
Today we are going to watch Baseball, Netherlands against Greece, the Greece have seem to convince a bunch of Americans to become Greek so it's not really a Greek team and the Dutch team is almost totally from the Roberto country. But this doesn't seem to bother anyone.
I am going to write a letter to Mr. Heineken (or Miss Heineken as it is now a days) and tell her to change the name of the Heineken Holland House into the Heineken Hockey House. This place looks very familiar to me as I sometimes go to the Hockey cantina in Da Bush, amazing, the same people doing the same (....) things. Yesterday I saw the mayor of Da Bush and that was too much for me. I left the place crying on Roberto's shoulder.
I can tell much more stories, but as you already have experienced, Roberto is much more of a blogger then I am so I will leave him the juicy stuff.
It's great here, the Olympics, the participation as a volunteer, the venues, the Athletes (no need to say which gender), the matches we are going to watch and the beach volleyball girls. It sounds all to good to be true, but believe me, what you see is what we get. Well... apart from the beach volleyball cheerleaders, which are not shown on television. That would make the transmission inappropriate for minors.
Rene
Too Greek to be True
The title of his posting is the best line I've heard so far in this place. They tell me it's actually a local saying and it refers to the Greek way of doing things.
One of the main examples is, of course, the whole construction surrounding the Olympics. How everythig started really slow and how they needed 24 hour construction shifts to finish everything just in time. The JIT (Just In Time) principle is usually applied as a matter of efficiency, but I can assure you that that is not the case here.
It is not because we are volunteers, but after a week I can also assure you that these games would never be possible without them. And this is not only because of the costs. Very little seems to be planned to the detail. This means that what actually makes this machine work is the improvisation, dedication and flexibility of the thousands of volunteers. The volunteers are really the oil in this machine.
But, credit where credit is due. The Greek organisation is very keen on delegating responsibility downwards. The volunteer manual even states that you are supposed to solve all problems yourself and only escalate if you cannot solve the issue. Also you should not adopt a civil servant attitude by sending athletes and officials to the 'next counter' if their issue is not within your area.
I don't know if Atlanta and Sydney were like this (I doubt it), but these principles really make the work very interesting and diverse. And the locals are very very very determined to make these games a big success.
I know, this sounds a bit slimey, but that is not the intention. I just wanted to express my admiration for the locals and if something goes wrong... well just say "This is too Greek to be true".
Roberto
One of the main examples is, of course, the whole construction surrounding the Olympics. How everythig started really slow and how they needed 24 hour construction shifts to finish everything just in time. The JIT (Just In Time) principle is usually applied as a matter of efficiency, but I can assure you that that is not the case here.
It is not because we are volunteers, but after a week I can also assure you that these games would never be possible without them. And this is not only because of the costs. Very little seems to be planned to the detail. This means that what actually makes this machine work is the improvisation, dedication and flexibility of the thousands of volunteers. The volunteers are really the oil in this machine.
But, credit where credit is due. The Greek organisation is very keen on delegating responsibility downwards. The volunteer manual even states that you are supposed to solve all problems yourself and only escalate if you cannot solve the issue. Also you should not adopt a civil servant attitude by sending athletes and officials to the 'next counter' if their issue is not within your area.
I don't know if Atlanta and Sydney were like this (I doubt it), but these principles really make the work very interesting and diverse. And the locals are very very very determined to make these games a big success.
I know, this sounds a bit slimey, but that is not the intention. I just wanted to express my admiration for the locals and if something goes wrong... well just say "This is too Greek to be true".
Roberto
Facts & Figures
In this first week of Athens I have gone out of my way to collect some important facts and figures regarding this great place.
50% of the girls are named either Elena or Eleni. In case you chat up a Greek girl and due to the alcohol consumption you forgot her name, just call her Eleni. Less that 50% chance of a slap in your face.
Most common boys name is Georgos/Yiorgos. Ladies, if you forget the name of the Greek boy you're chatting up, just call him anything. He won't care as long as you don't slap him in the face... ;-)
After the opening ceremony, less than 50% of the Greeks still believe DJ Tiesto is Italian.
More than 50% of the locals smoke. This presents quite a problem as the entire Olympic complex is supposed to be smoke free. As you would guess, this objective set by the organising committee could be the theme of the next Mission Impossible movie. The number of self defined Official Olympic Volunteer Smoking Areas grows with each day.
The parking centre is very efficient if you're a male athlete. It takes you no time to catch the right bus which almost always leaves exactly on time. However, a female athlete should plan a 23 minute buffer to wade through the sea of extremely helpful smiling male volunteers (this includes Rene). For some reason this does not apply to weightliftsters...
Most popular athlete with the boys of the parking lot (yes, that also includes Rene from P3) is Dutch swimmer Inge de Bruijn. Whenever she needs a bus to the aquatic centre all valet boys drop whatever they're doing to run and make sure she gets on the right bus.
More F&F's later these games...
Roberto
50% of the girls are named either Elena or Eleni. In case you chat up a Greek girl and due to the alcohol consumption you forgot her name, just call her Eleni. Less that 50% chance of a slap in your face.
Most common boys name is Georgos/Yiorgos. Ladies, if you forget the name of the Greek boy you're chatting up, just call him anything. He won't care as long as you don't slap him in the face... ;-)
After the opening ceremony, less than 50% of the Greeks still believe DJ Tiesto is Italian.
More than 50% of the locals smoke. This presents quite a problem as the entire Olympic complex is supposed to be smoke free. As you would guess, this objective set by the organising committee could be the theme of the next Mission Impossible movie. The number of self defined Official Olympic Volunteer Smoking Areas grows with each day.
The parking centre is very efficient if you're a male athlete. It takes you no time to catch the right bus which almost always leaves exactly on time. However, a female athlete should plan a 23 minute buffer to wade through the sea of extremely helpful smiling male volunteers (this includes Rene). For some reason this does not apply to weightliftsters...
Most popular athlete with the boys of the parking lot (yes, that also includes Rene from P3) is Dutch swimmer Inge de Bruijn. Whenever she needs a bus to the aquatic centre all valet boys drop whatever they're doing to run and make sure she gets on the right bus.
More F&F's later these games...
Roberto
The Ha Ha Ha
Friday night we watched the opening of the Games in the Heineken Holland House (HHH) on a large movie theatre screen in the garden. It was really fun to watch it there. They've decided to open the house to anyone above 18 instead of only the Dutch.
Thank God, otherwise the place would be packed exclusively by "important" old men reliving their days in the student fraternity house. My guess is that more than half of the people there are VIPs, sponsors, politicians, BN-ers (=Well Known Dutchies) and others with a high level of self-importance.
The place itself is quite impressive. Heineken rented this large restaurant/conference centre in a large park near the Syntagma square. They have a central area with food stands ("broodje bal"), merchandise shop, info stands, ticket centre, internet stations, news wall, many plasma TVs and of course, beer stands. Seperately there's the earlier mentioned movie screen, a relaxation garden and the dancefloor with stage. This stage will be used for performances (yesterday was Brainpower, tonight is Tiesto) and for honouring the medal winners. Tonight, Inge de Bruijn and the other 3 supporting actresses will be honoured.
The DJ is of the type "everybody happyyyyyyyyy?" and the music is somewhere in between Boney M and that Romanian tune which is currently driving everybody nuts (sorry Cosmin). If you wouldn't know better, you would think you were in Holland instead of Athens.
Check THIS LINK for our impersonation of the average HHH visitor... ;-)
Roberto
PS: Keep posting those comments. We enjoy the feedback
Thank God, otherwise the place would be packed exclusively by "important" old men reliving their days in the student fraternity house. My guess is that more than half of the people there are VIPs, sponsors, politicians, BN-ers (=Well Known Dutchies) and others with a high level of self-importance.
The place itself is quite impressive. Heineken rented this large restaurant/conference centre in a large park near the Syntagma square. They have a central area with food stands ("broodje bal"), merchandise shop, info stands, ticket centre, internet stations, news wall, many plasma TVs and of course, beer stands. Seperately there's the earlier mentioned movie screen, a relaxation garden and the dancefloor with stage. This stage will be used for performances (yesterday was Brainpower, tonight is Tiesto) and for honouring the medal winners. Tonight, Inge de Bruijn and the other 3 supporting actresses will be honoured.
The DJ is of the type "everybody happyyyyyyyyy?" and the music is somewhere in between Boney M and that Romanian tune which is currently driving everybody nuts (sorry Cosmin). If you wouldn't know better, you would think you were in Holland instead of Athens.
Check THIS LINK for our impersonation of the average HHH visitor... ;-)
Roberto
PS: Keep posting those comments. We enjoy the feedback
Thursday, August 12, 2004
My fist day
Here I am again in the internet cafe with my sigarette and frappe. My first day was great. I arrived at 11.00 and Helena picked me up, but dropped me after one minute again at a parking. Ouch, this was quite a little disappointing, after all the great stories of Roberto I ended up as king of the parking I thought.
A guy called John from Canada was explaining what to do, he had a list with busses and were they go and I should make sure that the athletes would be in time on the bus. That didn't sound too exited, till the first busses arrived and all the athletes came. I did my job and made sure they would get the right bus, but also talked the entire day to all possible athletes. Great stories, great fun (also with my collegues).
On my platform there are four people working and I can assure you, when the Brazilian women basketbal team arrived, no one was paying attention anymore to the weightlifters.
As Roberto has got a real schedule, I was wondering what schedule I would get. Well, they explained to me that I was a volunteer, so no shedule for me. I thought they were joking so I tried to ask everyone but everyone came with the same answer. So instead of the shifts which are normally from 07.00 till 15.00 and from 15.00 till 23.00, I have decided I create my own Rene's holiday schedule. When I'm feeling fit I will go from 11.00 till 17.00 and after a hard night I will go from 13.00 till 20.00 (yes that's zeven hours, but after 21.00 no busses leave anymore and in the last hour all those paid people may do the job).
After "work" I also made a walk through the Olympic village. This gave me really the feeling to belong to the biggest family in the world, the first athlete I recognised was Leontien van Moorsel (and after that some name of her husband which I forgot) but that wasn't as impressive as all those smiles on the faces of all people comming from all those countries.
Tomorrow the Olympics start, as we don't have tickets for the opening we have decided that we are going to watch the opening in the Heineken Holland House, which will probably mean I am going to start my job on Saturday at around 13.00.
Yesterday I didn't really understand Roberto screaming that he was planning to book his ticket to Beijing but from my experience today I can reccomend everyone to volunteer at such an event once in your live, it is amazing.
Rene
P.S. Today I got a call from my girlfriend somewhere in the bush (no not da Bush) in Thailand, she had made a two day jungle trip and was experiencing the trip of her life. Climbing waterfalls, discovering new species of animals etc. From here in Athens I would give her and her girlfriend Fleur with whom she is a big kiss !! As from tomorrow I'm afraid the only jungle I will see is the Holland Heineken House and all the athletes are allready new species to me (I saw a guy going to the training of the modern Penthatlon or something, what kind of sport is that ????)
A guy called John from Canada was explaining what to do, he had a list with busses and were they go and I should make sure that the athletes would be in time on the bus. That didn't sound too exited, till the first busses arrived and all the athletes came. I did my job and made sure they would get the right bus, but also talked the entire day to all possible athletes. Great stories, great fun (also with my collegues).
On my platform there are four people working and I can assure you, when the Brazilian women basketbal team arrived, no one was paying attention anymore to the weightlifters.
As Roberto has got a real schedule, I was wondering what schedule I would get. Well, they explained to me that I was a volunteer, so no shedule for me. I thought they were joking so I tried to ask everyone but everyone came with the same answer. So instead of the shifts which are normally from 07.00 till 15.00 and from 15.00 till 23.00, I have decided I create my own Rene's holiday schedule. When I'm feeling fit I will go from 11.00 till 17.00 and after a hard night I will go from 13.00 till 20.00 (yes that's zeven hours, but after 21.00 no busses leave anymore and in the last hour all those paid people may do the job).
After "work" I also made a walk through the Olympic village. This gave me really the feeling to belong to the biggest family in the world, the first athlete I recognised was Leontien van Moorsel (and after that some name of her husband which I forgot) but that wasn't as impressive as all those smiles on the faces of all people comming from all those countries.
Tomorrow the Olympics start, as we don't have tickets for the opening we have decided that we are going to watch the opening in the Heineken Holland House, which will probably mean I am going to start my job on Saturday at around 13.00.
Yesterday I didn't really understand Roberto screaming that he was planning to book his ticket to Beijing but from my experience today I can reccomend everyone to volunteer at such an event once in your live, it is amazing.
Rene
P.S. Today I got a call from my girlfriend somewhere in the bush (no not da Bush) in Thailand, she had made a two day jungle trip and was experiencing the trip of her life. Climbing waterfalls, discovering new species of animals etc. From here in Athens I would give her and her girlfriend Fleur with whom she is a big kiss !! As from tomorrow I'm afraid the only jungle I will see is the Holland Heineken House and all the athletes are allready new species to me (I saw a guy going to the training of the modern Penthatlon or something, what kind of sport is that ????)
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
AHOY AHO!!!
AHO is the Olympic abbreviation for Antilles Hollandaises which refers to the beautiful island group of the Dutch Antilles. As most of you know, the place I call 'home'.
From the start I have been waiting impatiently for the CDM (Chef de Mission) of AHO to arrive at the athletics desk to enlist his delegation. I've attended to CDM's from the most exotic locations (who's ever heard of Vanuatu?), but still no AHO. All my colleagues have been instructed to leave AHO for me in case they appear when I'm not at the desk. They all had my mobile number on 'hot standby' for that purpose.
One day passed, two days passed... still no sign of AHO. The first thing I did when arriving at my desk at 06:20 (!!!) yesterday morning was to check whether AHO had dared to show up during my day off. They didn't. Third day passed and today my fourth day was coming to an end when all of sudden.... my mobile rang during my lunch break! AHO's Chef de Mission was there!
I dropped my fork and knife, abandoned my moussaka and ran back as fast as I could. I think I even qualified for the 200 meters race which will be held somewhere next week.
At the desk my wonderful Greek colleagues have been brilliant in delaying him in order to give me the opportunity to 'handle' him. My first line was a loud "Bon Tardi". He looked up in great surprise and responded with a relieved "Hombu, ta bon pa tende un tiki papiamentu den e luga aki".
The rest is now officially part of history. Volunteer Roberto stood at the basis of the Antillian participation in the Greek Olympics...
Roberto (AHO)
PS: He didn't give me a pin... yet... I hope!
From the start I have been waiting impatiently for the CDM (Chef de Mission) of AHO to arrive at the athletics desk to enlist his delegation. I've attended to CDM's from the most exotic locations (who's ever heard of Vanuatu?), but still no AHO. All my colleagues have been instructed to leave AHO for me in case they appear when I'm not at the desk. They all had my mobile number on 'hot standby' for that purpose.
One day passed, two days passed... still no sign of AHO. The first thing I did when arriving at my desk at 06:20 (!!!) yesterday morning was to check whether AHO had dared to show up during my day off. They didn't. Third day passed and today my fourth day was coming to an end when all of sudden.... my mobile rang during my lunch break! AHO's Chef de Mission was there!
I dropped my fork and knife, abandoned my moussaka and ran back as fast as I could. I think I even qualified for the 200 meters race which will be held somewhere next week.
At the desk my wonderful Greek colleagues have been brilliant in delaying him in order to give me the opportunity to 'handle' him. My first line was a loud "Bon Tardi". He looked up in great surprise and responded with a relieved "Hombu, ta bon pa tende un tiki papiamentu den e luga aki".
The rest is now officially part of history. Volunteer Roberto stood at the basis of the Antillian participation in the Greek Olympics...
Roberto (AHO)
PS: He didn't give me a pin... yet... I hope!
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