A long, long day at the Olympics

Brad Alan Lewis

At 6 a.m. the television snaps to life - two alert, smiling

newcasters chatter cheerfully with Sydney Bridge in the background. The

“Olympic Sunrise” show neatly summarizes the previous day’s events for

the just unfolding day. (The female announcer bears a striking

resemblance to Kristin Scott Thomas; her male counterpart looks as though

he just finished changing the oil on his VW bus).

I considered heading out of town to watch the rowing semifinals

(90-minute train ride). Decided against it - instead watched it on

television. For two hours, every rowing event was shown from start to

finish.

For a rowing fan, that’s good television. Aussie-TV does not follow

the American model of showing women’s gymnastics 75% of the time,

swimming 20%, and everything else only 5% of the time.

Aussie-TV shows practically every event, from field hockey to archery

to team handball. As a fan of the Games, I find this varied programming

much more interesting. Why not celebrate all the sports (except rhythmic

gymnastics, which should be shown the door)? Their coverage is heavily

slanted toward Australian athletes, but at least it’s varied.

Between events I read the Sydney Morning Herald. These days only a

mighty non-Olympic story can find a place in the newspaper. Oddly enough,

the death of Paula Yates has been on the front page for three days. I

think I had the same reaction of many Americans - who the heck is Paula

Yates?

Turns out she was the widow of rock singer Michael Hutchence. As they

say in every such tragedy, ‘Cause of death is under investigation.”

When rowing wrapped, I made my way to the Powerhouse Museum, in

Darling Harbor, next to the huge Exhibition Hall where judo is contested.

The museum currently has two remarkable exhibits on display - Treasures

of Ancient Greek Games (lots of amphoras, the two-handled jug given to

winners of events) and Leonardo Da Vinci: The Codex Leicester. It’s easy

to see why the Bill Games paid $24 million at auction for the Codex. He

would find these scribblings of a left-handed genius to be an

irresistible item. (Bill Gates’ yacht, Aviva, is moored nearby in the

Rozelle Bay super-yacht marina along with a half-dozen others. Like

Private jets at Aspen during Christmas, a true measure of modern day

wealth can be taken at the super-yacht marina. Bermuda-based TV mogul Reg

Grundy leads the pack with his $100 million Boadicea. Supposedly it can

go 40 knots, powered by twin gas turbines.)

Every country has its own, unique hospitality house located somewhere

in Sydney. Here a tourist or athlete can get a taste of their respective

home.

Canada House is a big hit - a huge fiberglass moose stands at the

entrance. Around 2 in the afternoon I stopped off at the U.S. hospitality

house - the only Starbucks in Sydney. Just like the Starbucks on Balboa

Island, this Sydney version was packed - a five-minute wait in line and

not an empty chair to be found.

In fact, it seemed as though the Balboa Starbucks had been magically

transported to Sydney - every little nick-knack that can be bought back

home is available here. Cost of a tall coffee-of-the-day is $2.20

Australian. Yesterday the Australian dollar hit an all-time low against

the U.S. dollar - now it takes only 54 U.S. cents to get an Aussie

dollar, which means the coffee and everything else in town, is pretty

cheap.

While at Starbucks I was offered tickets to several events by an

American ticket-scalper from Chicago. At this stage of the Games, he was

pretty discouraged. If he tries to sell tickets in front of the venue,

he’ll be arrested and deported (as happened to several other scalpers.)

He is left trying to sell tickets at random places, like this Starbucks.

I bought his last beach volleyball ticket at face value. He threw in a

pin, too.

Coffee-ed up to the gills and ticket in hand, I jumped on an

inner-city train and made my way to Bondi Beach, site of the beach

volleyball. Throughout the walk from the train station to the beach -

about a mile - cheering from inside the beach volleyball stadium could be

heard. This walk can’t be much different than during ancient Greek Games,

or perhaps the more violent Gladiator games. Such was the case with the

last match-up of the day: Australia versus China.

First the team from China, in their red two-piece suits, was

introduced. At best, the applause was polite. (To boost TV ratings,

female competitors are required by their federation to wear two-piece,

bare midriff outfits. I doubt if we’ll be seeing any Iranian entries in

the near future)?

Then the Australian team - the lions in this case, reigning Olympic

chamions, was introduced. The packed crowd went absolutely crazy. The

foot-stomping was downright violent - you couldn’t help but wonder if the

grandstands were going to collapse.

I ran into Bob Ernst, who took a few minutes to discuss the long road

that brought him to the Sydney Olympics. In the mid-1960s Ernst attended

Costa Mesa High School, where he played football and raced on the

swimming team.

At Orange Coast he played on the water polo team. Attending UC Irvine,

he tried out for the newly formed rowing team.

After graduation he began coaching the Irvine rowing team. Several of

his rowers, including Bruce Ibbetson, Curtis Fleming and myself went on

to represent the U.S. At the 1984 Olympics.

Bob Ernst counts his greatest influences, Duvall Hecht - coach of

Irvine’s team - and Dave Grant, the former OCC crew coach. Brad Alan

Lewis is a product of Corona del Mar High and a gold-medal winner for the

United States at the 1984 Olympic Games in rowing.