July 26, 1996
Olympic shame moves to woeful stadium
By STEVE SIMMONS
Toronto Sun
ATLANTA -- You have seen the great heavyweight stare-downs before, in the centre of a boxing ring.
Now get ready for something entirely different.
The great Olympic stare-down of the 100-metre runners. Atlanta style.
In other words, all messed up.
When the greatest sprinters in the world prepare for the marquee event at these Olympic Games, their regular routine will be thrown off by the organizers of Atlanta, who for some reason built an Olympic Stadium without a practice track.
So, instead of warming up at an adjacent field and then walking into the main stadium, the eight finalists in the greatest race in the world will be transported together in one van before running the 100 metres.
Just one question: who gets the front seat?
This is, like so much of these Games, a situation that is beyond sporting comprehension.
BEYOND COMPREHENSION
But the Atlanta Organizing Committee isn't trying to repeat history. It clearly is trying to make its own. And so far we have witnessed many of the results of that mismanagement.
But nothing quite so shocking as the shuttles, which are fine for taking people to the airport, just not for the 100-metre final.
"It's distracting and it's wrong,'' said Bruny Surin, the Canadian sprinter, who finished second at the world championships last year.
Surin shook his head and offered a "what can we do about it?" expression when asked why the Olympic organizers here would alter the regular routine of the athletes for an event as significant as this.
"It's typical,'' he said.
Track officials all over the world have been astounded to learn the race is being compromised by a questionable lead-up. Said one British official, who asked not to be named: "This is mind-boggling incompetence. These are warriors. You would not see Mike Tyson and his opponent sharing the same dressing room just before they fight.
"This is a very important period for the athletes, a time when they are preparing mentally. Why they would do this is beyond me.''
The explanation for this new and not improved format comes from Phil Henson, ACOG's competition manager for athletics. Henson said yesterday the Olympic Stadium was built in a lot adjacent to Fulton County Stadium, leaving no room for a warmup track to be built.
Henson said the drive from the warmup track to the stadium is only three minutes long, but two coaches yesterday estimated it could be as long as 12 minutes before all the sprinters get into the van and eventually get out.
"I don't see where the problem is,'' said Henson. "We took an existing facility 800 metres away and turned it into a practice facility. I think everything will work out just fine.''
When asked if he didn't think it was a little strange to ask eight emotionally charged, highly tuned athletes to share the same shuttle ride and then race against each other, Henson thought the question was out of line.
"It's a very short ride,'' he said, clearly not understanding. "I don't see this as a very big issue.''
To the athletes, though, this is a big issue and an even bigger disruption. Sprinters, at the worst of times, are high strung. They are creatures of habit. The smallest change in plans can set them off.
And here we are, at what is supposed to be the greatest sporting event in the world, and the Atlanta organizers have chosen to change things.
ANGER
"It's like the rest of the games,'' Michel Portmann, Surin's coach, said through an interpreter. "It doesn't look real well organized.
"This is an event that is supposed to be for the athletes and this is not good for the athletes. They're getting ready. They're warming up. This is not a time to be distracted.
"You have to understand, they're preparing, they're really concentrating, you get into a mind frame.
"I don't think it's very fair. It's bad, but (track athletes) are not alone.''
If anything, this bout of Olympic messiness could end up favoring Canada's Donovan Bailey, who, despite reports of being troubled, traditionally has been more loose than many of his 100-metre foes.
But still, anger amongst track people exists. This is the event the entire world will be watching and it isn't being handled properly.
"I don't know why they would do this,'' said Portmann. "I've never heard of anything like this anywhere in the world. And to start it here, at this time, makes no sense at all.''
