In 1994, for the Spartanburg (S.C.) Herald Journal, I went to Norway, the land of my ancestors, to cover my first Olympics in Lillehammer.
I immersed myself in the culture. I tried Gamalost, a potent well-aged cheese, for a food column. I wrote about the jokes Norwegians tell about Swedes (“Did you know they had to close the museum in Stockholm? They rented out the book.
”) I went to a movie theater to interview attendees about “Kalde Rumpur," known in America as “Cool Runnings,” a story about the Jamaican bobsled team. At the time, I figured those Winter Games might be the only Olympics I would cover. Not so.
I went on to cover the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney and 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City for the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal, and Summer Games in 2004 in Athens and 2008 in Beijing for the late, great Rocky Mountain News. So that’s five Olympics. Here are 10 favorite moments from my history of Olympics coverage: 1.
Will the 1980 gold-medal hockey team light the cauldron? At the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, I sat behind members of the legendary gold medal-winning U.S. hockey team at the opening ceremonies.
I interviewed several, including Mike Eruzione, to ask if they were going to light the cauldron. All denied it. Being on a tight deadline, I wrote a story before the cauldron was lit, quoting members of the team as saying they wouldn’t be called into action.
Shortly after I filed it from the press room, I looked at a television and the hockey players we.
