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Wednesday, April 30, 2008
I’m going to China. Are you?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Butterfly is Beijing-bound.
I’ll be traveling this summer as part of the AJC’s Olympics team, which includes veteran sports columnist Jeff Schultz and photographer Johnny Crawford.
Schultz, naturally, will be taking the lead on sports coverage. Read his recent Olympics column here
I’ll be there reporting on the social scene, and capturing the color and character of the Games for Atlanta readers, with a strong emphasis on stories with Atlanta and Georgia connections. I’m already chasing Olympics stories with Atlanta ties - such as the Buckhead couple who paid top dollar at last fall’s Atlanta Symphony Orchestra gala for a trip to the Games.
The other day I talked with gold medal gymnast Bart Conner. He and wife and fellow gold medal gymnast Nadia Comaneci will be commentators for Televisa during this summer’s Games.
“In many areas in life, you can get in the door because you know somebody, or you buy your way in, or your dad knows somebody he can call,” Conner said. “In the Olympics, you can’t get in because you’ve got connections. There’s only one way in and that’s hard work and dedication. There’s a certain credibility that goes along with that.”
Conner is a spokesman for Allstate, presenting sponsor for the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, and a Hall of Famer himself. The Hall will induct its next class, including the 1996 women’s gymnastics team, at a June 19 ceremony in Chicago.
By the way Conner and Comaneci are proud parents of Dylan Paul Conner, who turns 2 on June 3. Conner came up with five “Olympic” sports his energetic son has discovered.
He’s mastered jumping on the bed. I don’t think that’s an Olympic event. It’s something like the bedroom trampoline.
He loves to hang on the rings and swing on the rings (at the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy). As far as he’s concerned, he has a 28,000-square foot playground.
This will be his first real summer of swimming. He loves to swim.
He’s a real lover. When he leaves the gym he says to our secretary, “Ciao baby, peace out.” He’s got a little girlfriend on the team. She’s 11.
I’ve seen a few meltdowns. We’re coming into the terrible 2s. I’m hoping on the 19-hour flight to China, we don’t see an Olympic-sized meltdown.
