Chapter Seventeen – Enjoying the rest of the Olympic Games
I was able to relax for the rest of the Games, enjoy the atmosphere and food of the Village and watch some of the greatest athletes in the World compete. I mainly watched the Weightlifting competitions, which I had unlimited access to. Besides wanting to support and cheer on our team mates when they were lifting, it was great having the chance to watch, and even meet, some legendary weightlifters, like Naim Suleymanoglu, Halil Mutlu, Galabin Boevski, Pyrros Dimas and Marc Huster (I even got to wear Marc’s silver medal).
On two occasions I was able to get ‘athletes tickets’ to see the Athletics at the Stadium as well. There I sat in a designated athletes area, to experience the exciting atmosphere and noise of the crowd, watching the relay finals and the awesome Marion Jones and cheering on the Aussie relay team.
As we walked around the village we played “guess which sport” people were in. I couldn’t believe everyone was sooo tall! At first I thought everyone was basketball, then I realised many of the other sports, like volleyball, swimming and rowing were also really tall. They don’t look that tall on TV! I think people were also tying to guess our sport as occasionally we heard a mutter of “gymnast” as someone walked past…
When not watching competition or eating, we played some pool and used the computer room to catch up on emails. Also, we were allowed to apply for a village pass to bring a friend or family member into the village. I was able to bring Steve in on one day to show him around. Most afternoons they had a band or some other entertainment on in the village and it just so happened Spiderbait were performing that day so Steve and I sat on a grassy hill in the sun and enjoyed watching their gig.
Meagan and I ‘went to town’ in the Dining Hall as we finally relaxed our diet. Although McDonalds was there I was more tempted by the different array of foods from other countries which was available. It was strange eating in the village dining hall, sitting at a table next to the high profile swimmers like Susie O’Neil and Ian Thorpe who I had seen on TV. I was surprised when I saw the tennis players, all sat together except for one well-known player, who seemed to be ostracised from the others as he was sitting way away on his own. I heard later the others all hated him. I kept meaning to take my camera with me, although you have to be careful about approaching some athletes before they have competed. They don’t like being hassled for autographs and photos as it is, let alone from fellow athletes. Towards the end Meagan and I did manage to get our photo taken with Nova Peris-Kneebone.
We received piles of ‘hero mail’ from school children everywhere – it was really inspiring although a lot of the theme was on hoping we won a gold medal… if anyone reading this is a teacher perhaps you could convey to your students that there is so much more to ‘achievement’ than winning a gold medal. I certainly didn’t feel a failure coming away 10th. We spent our spare time writing Olympic postcards to thank the children for their messages. I hope they received them.
We didn’t just stay in the village, we also were invited to some special team functions, one of which had John Farnham performing for us. A few of us met then Prime minister, John Howard, who was a massive sports fan.
My only complaint about the Olympics was the ticketing. Many of the weightlifting sessions were not full, yet tickets were supposedly sold out. A friend told me later he had tried to get a ticket the day of my competition to watch me but the ticket lines around Darling Harbour (where 4 sports were being held) were so long people were queuing for hours and then they were told they couldn’t purchase tickets for events held the same day. It’s a pity there wasn’t a ticket booth designated to each venue to sell tickets for those events only, perhaps even a system so those empty seats (corporate or no-shows) wouldn’t go to waste when there were people outside wanting to come in. As an athlete, it’s a much better vibe being in front of a full house of cheering spectators.
The Closing Ceremony whilst expressed as a giant party, was quite sad for most of us as it signified the event was at an end. Everyone associated with Australia was there, Elle McPherson, Kylie, Crocodile Dundee and a giant thong (flip-flop)… The athletes were in the middle on the field and we were really close to the action. Again I felt really proud that we put on a great show for the rest of the world, especially with the creative way the cauldron’s flame was carried away by jet.
The final highlight for me was the Parade through Sydney’s CBD. That morning we packed up all our belongings ready to go home. Buses collected all the Australian team from the village and delivered us to the Opera House where we mingled in a holding area. While we were there I managed to get a few autographs and before setting off for the ticket-tape parade I finally plucked up some courage and took my chance to ask Ian Thorpe for one. I was a bit offended and embarrassed by his unfriendly response, but at least he accommodated my request. I guess he was fed up by then. During the parade, again the crowds were tremendous, making us all feel special. Each sport was arranged in alphabetical order, so with Weightlifting being at the end, I expected people to be tired of cheering and waving by the time we got to them, but again we experienced their generosity. My family was in the crowd waving and cheering, as was Steve. We laughed and joked and piggy-backed each other as we walked through the streets. Meagan was in my local paper with one of the water polo girls in her arms, demonstrating her strength yet again!
We finally ended up at Town Hall at an official ceremony where we were all given a key to the city. Then we mingled around one last time before we collected our bags which had been delivered there for us and we got ready to say our good-byes and leave. I felt quite sad, having had an amazing time, I really didn’t want it to end.
That’s when the ‘come-down’ started. If I thought the build up was tough, I certainly wasn’t ready for what happened next. And I was one of the lucky ones.
Coming up next – Chapter 18: The big come down