Volunteer Mother Fired For Complaining Too Much
Judy Donie, the mother of two-time Olympian Scott Donie, 27, was fired as a diving venue volunteer by Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games venue manager Don Leas. Donie travelled from her Houston home at her expense to work the Games and watch her only son compete in the 3-meter springboard competition.
Donie said she was outspoken about the working conditions. Many of the volunteers are being housed in college dorms, working long hours and given one box lunch a day. The lunch consists of a cold croissant and choice of luncheon meat - ham or turkey. Volunteers are told to show no emotion, not to talk and stay out of the way, she said.
“That’s a little hard for a mother,” said Donie, who watched from high in the stands as her son qualified for the finals.
“I complained about the conditions we are working under,” said Donie, who was a deck marshall, standing in a pool hallway. “Then I was told I wasn’t needed. There were a lot of things to complain about. They told me I complain too much.”
If the shoe fits
Flamboyant is the last adjective one would apply to Michael Johnson.
But this serious man wore luminescent purple spikes at the U.S. Olympic Trials and gold lame spikes for the Olympics.
Amazing what one will do if a shoe company - in this case, Nike - pays enough for it.
Of course, Nike didn’t expect Johnson to go completely out of his character by taking off the shoes and throwing them into the crowd after Sunday’s 400-meter semifinals.
USOC reprimands Clark
Two days after she won an Olympic bronze medal for platform diving, Mary Ellen Clark learned Monday she will receive a written reprimand from the U.S. Olympic Committee because of what she was wearing when it was hung around her neck.
Other athletes might also be punished for failing to wear the official team warmup suit on the medal stand.
U.S. Olympians sign a code of conduct that stipulates they must wear the suits supplied by the official outfitter - in her case, Champion - when they receive medals. They aren’t even allowed to wear their medals in public with any other attire while the Games are in progress.
Clark, 33, who also won a bronze medal in 1992, said, “I didn’t even bring that warmup suit to the pool because I didn’t think I was going to medal.”
Retton heads gala event
Mary Lou Retton will be there. So will Olga Korbut. Nadia Comaneci and her husband, Bart Conner, will be on hand along with the 1984 U.S. men’s gold medal gang.
Add a few more stars from yesteryear, throw in all the medalists from this year’s Games and you have the guest list for today’s inaugural Olympic gymnastics gala exhibition.
Past heroes will only be required to smile and wave as they turn center stage over to the guests of honor: the newest medalists.
As somewhat of an encore, the recently crowned champions will get to show off their skills without the pressure of judges and with a splash of Hollywood-style production.
The concept was modeled after the program figure skaters have used at the past few Winter Games.
Ghaffari is class act
Olympic silver medalist Matt Ghaffari paid a surprise hospital visit to the daughter of the woman killed in the Centennial Park bombing.
“He was very nice to me,” 14-year-old Fallon Stubbs said. “I didn’t even know his name, but he gave me a little hat with an American flag on it that he wore on the medal stand, some T-shirts and an Olympic pin.”
Ghaffari finished second in the 286-pound class of Greco-Roman wrestling. He said the teenager told him, “You have a big head, you must have a big heart.”
She’s got a ticket to ride
A gold medal is already paying dividends for Lee Lai-shan, Hong Kong’s first medal winner in 44 years of Olympic competition.
Hong Kong’s subway company has offered Lee free trips for life “to recognize her admirable achievement.”
Lee received her medal Monday, one day after clinching the championship in windsurfing.