Twa Explosion Dims Excitement In Olympic City
The threat of terrorism had lingered in the background for months while Atlanta prepared for the Olympic Games. It moved swiftly into the foreground on Thursday following the crash of a TWA jet in New York.
The fear that the crash was caused by a terrorist’s bomb cast a pall over the Games one day before the Opening Ceremonies and set some people in the Olympic city on edge.
“Yes, it has heightened my anxiety a little bit,” conceded Don Mischer, executive producer of the Opening Ceremonies, which President Clinton plans to attend. “But I also have confidence that our security system is going to rise to the task here.”
Mischer said he might revise the Opening Ceremonies tonight to acknowledge the tragedy.
Police and soldiers, 30,000 strong, have been a constant presence in central Atlanta this week. At the offices and hotel used by Olympic officials, soldiers in combat fatigues search every car that pulls into the garage, even using mirrors on poles to scan the underbodies.
At highly secure areas, such as the Olympic Village, an elaborate clearance system has been established that relies on “biometric” scanners to determine people’s identity through an optical scan of their hands.
Keeping perspective
U.S. women’s basketball coach Tara VanDerveer spent much of her time during a news conference expounding on her team’s rugged 10-month road to Atlanta - more than 100,000 air miles around the globe while playing 52 exhibition games.
“I think the thing I underestimated was just the stress that the travel puts on your body,” she said. “But, quite honestly, in the wake of what happened (Wednesday) night, I’m glad that a lot of our travel is done.”
The coach was referring to the crash of a TWA jet off Long Island, N.Y.
“That just takes on a different sense to you,” VanDerveer said. “We were in so many airports in so many countries… . I just feel so lucky that we’ve been so healthy and so safe.”
China tests entire team
Rather than risk an embarrassing drug scandal, a top Chinese official acknowledged her team took the precaution of drug-testing each of its athletes within a week of leaving for the Games.
“Everybody was tested,” said He Huixian, publicity director for the Chinese Olympic Committee. “They did not all leave together, so we did it in groups. But every athlete was tested within a week before they leave.
Officially, the Chinese delegation includes 310 athletes, almost two-thirds of whom are women - led by medal favorites Wang Junxia (distance running), Le Jingyi (swimming) and Bin Chi (diving).
What has been a stunning reversal of Chinese athletic fortune this decade, however, has been overshadowed by a proportionately large number of positive drug tests, particularly among women swimmers - seven of whom flunked drug tests at the 1994 Asian Games.
California rules
Which state has the most U.S. Olympians? It isn’t even close. California boasts nearly one-fourth of all U.S. team members - 160 of approximately 650 athletes. New York is next with 35. Texas and Florida are third with 32 each.
Notable
The U.S. men’s basketball team is staying in the downtown Omni hotel rather than the Olympic Village… . Richey Reneberg, rather than higher-ranked Todd Martin has replaced the injured Pete Sampras in the Olympics tennis singles competition.