Up in Ontario

Olympic Village People

Paul Hochman reports for The Scotsman that "The secret of the modern Olympics is that the athlete village, with its tightly packed collection of firm young bodies, 24-hour sports television and all-you-can eat international cuisine, has become the most exclusive VIP club in the world."

Condom allocations depleted long before the end of the two weeks indicate the real reason the Greeks competed nude. This article provides a behind-the-scenes account of life in the Athletes Village, cobbled together from anecdotes, first-hand accounts, gossip and documented reports. And for nationalistic pride, the Canadian teams seem to account themselves well, particularly in the winter Olympics, where they and their daily deliveries of Molson's products are fingered as "the most boozed up partners in Olympic town," based on an informal poll of athletes.

The latest attraction is free internet service, which Marco Buechel, an alpine ski racer who competes for Liechtenstein, put to good use in Salt Lake City. "You can contact any athlete, even if you don’t know them at all," says Buechel. "They give you a list when you get there. Everybody uses it. I saw this beautiful ski racer, from Greece of all places. She had the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. I saw her at the village and sent her an e-mail, in English. Her reply was very short: ‘Not good English. Want meet you.’"

According to Buechel, he and the Greek beauty made arrangements to meet soon after. "We tried to talk, which wasn’t very successful," says Buechel, "and then we started to drink, which was much more successful." And? "It was very beautiful," he says. "A beautiful international incident."

Citius, Altius, Fortius indeed.