1996_08 The Daily Collegian August 1996

              V
SPECIAL REPORT
Monday, August 26,1996
people's faces literally pressed
against the windows. One of the
Canadians took the big camera
from my grasp.
"Come on!" they said. Like foot¬
ball, the men had made an opening
for me to enter, shoving others
rudely aside like unworthy oppo¬
nents in a game. The Canadian
shoved the camera into my stom¬
ach on the "give" then pushed in
behind me and we all easily made
it on the first train. "We'll get you
there," he said.
My venue was seven stops up.
But the train was so full that the
driver made only cursory stops at
each, passengers disdaining to get
off. It managed to get there in ex¬
actly 28 minutes.
.My Canadian buddies saw me
ofK.waving and saying, "Get good
shots of Anne for us!" And I was
feeling the beer.
But I wasn't there yet. The
aquatic center was still a shuttle bus
trip away and with no Canadian
blockers, I did not think I was go¬
ing to beat the crowd to that one.
But I made the right turns and ar¬
rived there ahead of them. Hah!
There's the aquatic center. Sweat
popped as I stepped out of the air-
conditioned bus into the Georgia
heat. I was right on time. I mopped
my brow. I would still see most of
the diving!
Wrong. Lines stretched a hun¬
dred feet behind the security check¬
point. The clock ticked as the line
moved forward excruciatingly
slowly. We could hear the diving.
Sploosh. Applause. Sploosh. Ap¬
plause. I impatiently shifted my
weight from one foot to the other,
60 lbs. of camera gear digging into
my shoulders. At last the front of
the line became visible! At least an
hour left of diving.
Then what I had dreaded all
along occurred. "I'm sorry, sir, you
caint bring that in here." the secu¬
rity guard drawled, motioning to
my camera.
I had rehearsed what I would say
when this happened, because by all
accounts the security people hired
for the Games were an inferior
grade indeed, hired in numbers
rather than quality. So: "Where does
it say I can't bring in a camera?"
Confrontation. Four of them
now surrounded me. "You're going
to have to put that away," said one
of the new arrivals.
"Where does it say I can't bring
in a camera?" I repeated.
They huddled. "Looks like a
broadcast device to me," I overr
heard. Finally, they turned to me
and told me once again that my
equipment wouldn't be allowed in
the venue.
"It says right on the back of your
ticket you cain't bring in broadcast
devices-or flash cameras," one of
them told me.
"Well, this isn't a broadcast cam¬
era and if you aren't allowing flash
cameras in, I'd say your work
leaves a little bit to be desired!" I
told her. Even from here you could
see idiots with their tiny flash cam¬
eras going off, thinking they could
get a good picture from the seats
with them.
That didn't do it. "You're a
member of the media. You're go¬
ing to have to go down to Accredi¬
tation," she told me. She like the
(Above) British 'keeper counts her ribs after a goalmouth
encounter with a German player. (Top. center) Nigerian 'keeper
makes a heroic horizontal save in route to his country's gold
medal. (Left) Francesca Doriano of Italy attempts to make the
finial of the 10m platform diving competition.
other three wore the outfits of vol-    there with the windows rolled up. I
unteers, designed in extremely bad  ""felt like Apollo 13 when their power
taste by Hanes.
"I don't have time for that," I
told her. "This thing's already half
over."
"Well, it's too bad," she^old me.
"I want to speak with the head
of venue security," I told her. Not
with these overpaid volunteers. I
almost added.
They got the cljief. a Mr. Vernon
Worthy on the radio and thankfully
he immediately cleared me. As I
walked away with my small victory
I could feel their eight eyes staring
at me, certain I had pulled some¬
thing over on them.
Oh, by the way, I did get to pho^
tograph half the diving session. t\
got the Canadian and the Americans V
and the Chinese who were obvi- \".
ously going to win. I was doing my
job!
went out.
OK, I'm going to have to chance
it. The parking lot was reasonably
secure. There was a security guard
wandering about (fully paid, not
volunteer). But there was ten grand
worth of the Boss' equipment in¬
side my car.
Well, I was too tired to worry
about that and I fell asleep comfort¬
ably with the windows wide open.
And you know what? In the morn¬
ing, when I woke up ('came to'
might be^tfie more appropriate
phrase), my equipment was still
there!
Home sweet home.
At least what passes for home
here in Atlanta: A Pilot truck stop.
Inside are all the amenities of a
modern, world-class hotel — a
lounge with TV, two 24-hour res¬
taurants, a fully-stocked store,
showers and clean (!) restrooms. If
you didn't mind sharing it all with
about 400 smelly truck drivers and
uncouth, inbred locals.
I had carefully prepared my
Pathfinder for this trip, gathering all
the experience and knowledge
gained in other trips like, this, as¬
signments done^ on the cheap. The
rear seats were removed and the
wheel wells filled in. making a rea¬
sonably-flat, six foot sleeping area
in the back. Further, I had fully
sealed off the rear compartment,
using opaque black cloth to com¬
pletely encloak the interior.
With all the gear, and the refrig¬
erator, and mini TV set, I had fully
self-contained, self-propelled, rea¬
sonably comfortable accommoda¬
tions for the Olympics.
Except for one thing: It
was still 90 degrees and sticky, and
it was 10 at night. I was dying in
Ten days do\% n and seven to go.
have completed my softball as¬
signment and the idea now is to get
7 as many games in possible on the
$7001 have left. Hey! A double fea¬
ture in Field Hockey.
A bus. and a train take me to the
venue, where a battle between Ger¬
many and Great Britain is in
progress. The Germans go up 2-0
on the favored Britons, but end up
losing 3-2. the last goal coming just
- seconds before time. Great shots of
British players leaping about in cel¬
ebration, and German players,
mathematically eliminated, in need
of Prozac.
Then came the USA-Australia
match. Australia are reigning world
champions, and did nothing to dis¬
prove that fact, scoring on their first
possession instants after face-off.
The Americans fought valiantly,
but that one goal would prove
enough. Australia won. 4-0.
After the game I went to the Wal-
Mart on Cobb Parkway. This is the
place where all our film is done, and
the pictures from softball and div¬
ing are ready, and are satisfactory
indeed. I spend the night identify¬
ing the players in the pictures (not
an easy job when their uniform
numbers are sometimes hidden
Please sec ATLANTA page 8.