David Hearn’s Olympic Journal

The Opening Ceremony

Our trip to the Opening ceremony began with a change in plans. We had been instructed to meet at our Cleveland, TN athlete village to catch the bus leaving at 3:30 pm. Here we would be handed our marching tickets, without which we would not be permitted to parade with our team. On the morning of the Opening, we heard before our whitewater workout that the tickets had not been sent, and would have to be picked up early in the Village in Atlanta. No matter, we would ride our team van 2 hours from the Ocoee in TN to the Village, get dressed in our suits in the van, clear security into the Village, and shower in our sprint teammates' rooms prior to catching the bus to Olympic Stadium for the festivities. All went according to the modified plan, and we even had time to enjoy the Village atmosphere for a couple hours. We checked out the game room, and had dinner at the main dining hall, spying stars like Monica Seles, being ferried on a golf cart with her visor pulled low on her forehead, and Dolph Lundgren, looking very blond and all business as he organized his Modern Pentathlon Team.

The van was a bit cramped, but appreciably larger than a phone booth, and nothing out of the ordinary for us river rats who are accustomed to modestly accomplished quick changes of clothes before and after paddling sessions. We had with us the trousers of a certain Scott Shipley on a hanger in the van, not to be forgotten. Nevertheless, forget them we did until the last possible moment, when I whisked them off the hangar after someone noticed them remaining alone. Shipley was found dressed impeccably in USA Parade attire, sans slacks, at the Village. He was unconcerned when informed that his pants had been forgotten. He had on some shorts instead, and had spent much of the afternoon trying to convince other US Olympic Team members that he could participate dressed the way he was. Nobody bought it, but many were convinced that he believed it. So we gave him the pants.

The atmosphere in the Village was festive, the air ripe with anticipation. Spicy music drifted from the Cuban block, and females leaned out the windows and called to team members below. We did some photos of our whitewater team, and saw swimming athletes hanging out in casual attire on a balcony just watching. They elected not to march because their events began early the next day.

The staging area in Fulton County Stadium was hectic as we entered off our bus from the Olympic Village at Ga. Tech. Volunteers offered up boxed meals and frozen lemon ice and the requisite water to drink. They were out of spoons to eat the lemon ice with, but as I walked along farther a man with a box of spoons gave me one. Two athletes from Mexico asked to “cambiar” pins but I was caught with none to trade. It was warm but comfortable sitting in the USA Team section looking out over an empty but neatly groomed ball field. Delegations from countries starting with A were seated opposite us, with the rest of the “alphabet du monde” arrayed in a semicircle to our left. Katie Couric was on the scene with her NBC TV crew filming interviews with guys like Dan O’Brien, Michael Johnson, and Bruce Baumgartner, our bear-like flag bearer. US officials passed out small USA flags for us to carry and wave, and I tucked one into the band of my hat.

We watched the first hour or so of the ceremony on closed circuit TV from the baseball arena. As teams were called for the parade of nations, I went out to the hall to watch them go by, on the way out to the Olympic stadium. I looked for athletes I knew from countries with whitewater teams, and waved and yelled and offered high fives to those I saw. A volunteer wondered how I knew athletes from so many countries, and I explained that our sport is community in which we know most of our competitors. Large gaps developed between nations at times, because the teams were unable to move fast enough out of their seats in Braves stadium as they were called. It was a long distance just around the arena to the exit, and then more arduous down a steep ramp, up stairs, and down the final ramp onto the Track. Some teams were exhorted to run to catch up, but it was difficult to accomplish for some of the athletes and officials.

This was my best look at some of the exotic dress worn by delegations. I snapped some photos as they hurried by, just before they met up with the nation placard identifying their country. Soon the USA leaders were organizing us to go, and we were off, ladies first, and I tucked in just behind, on the front end of the USA men. As we came down the ramp, and all around the track, the stadium was rocking, filled with positive energy, US flags in abundance, and cheers went up. I thought I knew what it would be like, after experiencing the Ceremony in Barcelona four years ago, but this was different. It is hard to describe the feeling of total support I felt in that stadium, but it was great! I waved and smiled and just enjoyed the moment which seemed to go on forever as we made our way around the track.

Adam Clawson of our team looked over as he walked and saw Bruce Willis. They made eye contact, and Adam felt compelled to walk over and present him with his flag he had been waving. The funny part was, Adam did not notice who was standing right next to Mr. Willis. The next day, we were asking Adam what Demi Moore was wearing, and he realized that in all the excitement he didn’t notice anyone else, even though she was standing right next to her husband. Doh!

There wasn’t much room left on the infield as we completed the march, but we found space to stand. The Dream Team ended up right next to me and I got to meet Sir Charles, Akeem, The Mailman for the second time (the first was Barcelona on the infield), Grant Hill and Michael Johnson. Horace Holden of our doubles canoe team and I snapped photos for each other, and it was great.

The highlight of the evening, however, was the arrival of the Olympic Flame. We watched the torch wend its way under the stadium on the big screen, and were progressively more amazed as Al Oerter, Evander Holyfield, Paraskevi Patoulidou, female hurdler who won the first gold medal in years for Greece in 1992 , and Janet Evans carried the flame into the stadium, around the track, and up the ramp we had marched down. And then we were overwhelmed with emotion as Muhammad Ali lit the torch from Evans and held it up for all to see. Although his left hand shook, his will and his right hand were solid as he lit the wire to lift the flame to the cauldron. The Games had finally begun!

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Last updated: January 18, 2006