International Triathlon Union

「アテネ五輪情報!(ITU News) 8/13」

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「アテネ付五輪情報!(ITU News) 8/13」  040813-1

ITU News Update: 12 August 2004

13 DAYS TO GO – ITU DIARY FROM ATHENS: Four days from now we will be
down to single digits for the count-down to the Olympic Games Triathlon. There are
still things to do at the venue, but the big items are behind us and the event
manager Gergely Markus and his team.

Over 300m of blue carpet arrived today which will cover the section of the course
which is in front of the 4000 seat stadium on the beach at the head of Vouliagmeni
Bay. The carpet will cover the transition area, bike and run course through the
stadium and the finish line.

As mention yesterday in our Diary from Athens, the training centre at the
Vouliagmeni Nautical Club opened on schedule today. It is a fabulous swimming
pool situated on the west side of the bay. Today the training centre had Olympic
triathletes from New Zealand, Greece, Canada and Luxembourg train at the centre.
Many more countries have booked training times tomorrow as they are in town for
the Opening Ceremonies, after which they will retreat back to their hot, hilly and
high altitude training camps in the nearby mountains.

An unfortunate error by an overworked technical team has resulted in a
reassessment of the replacement for Christiane Pilz. Maria Areosa of Portugal was
initially informed that she had the spot, but when officials realized that Germany was
now out of the 3 country spot, we now had to examine whether or not there was a
third athletes eligible before awarding the spot at the bottom of the rankings. The
truth is that the spot should be offered to the Czech Republic because of the rank of
Lucia Zelenkova. Although deeply disappointed, both the Portuguese Triathlon
Federation and the Portuguese Olympic Committee handled the situation with dignity
and in the spirit of Olympism.

Gergley Markus and his team spent more time on the swim exit today ensuring that
all of the small rocks in the area were completely removed. They plan to spend each
day on this task to guarantee that the area is completely safe for the athletes on the
25th and 26. Brian Mahony of ITU Media has also joined them in this daily task, but
all of us who know Brian suspect that he finally found the perfect reason to spend a
couple of hours in the soul-soothing waters of the Aegean Sea.

ITU President Les McDonald attended the three days IOC Session representing our
sport. A highlight of the session was the magnificent catch-up of the Athens
Organizing Committee (ATHOC) led by Gianna Angelopoulou-Daskalaki. Anther
highlight was the election of Gunilla Lindberg as the Vice President of the IOC.
Gunilla paid tribute to Honorary ITU President and IOC Honorary Members Gunnar
Ericsson who stepped aside to allow her to become an IOC member and who guided
her to where she is today. Gunilla has been a strong supporter of ITU, and we have
requested that she present the medals at the men’s triathlon.

Les McDonald also wishes to express his sadness and condolences to those athletes
who have been injured in the past weeks and who are now unable to attend the
Olympic Games ? Paul Amey of Britain, Christiane Pilz of Germany and Daniel Unger
of Germany.

The Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) meeting was
today, and we were well represented by ITU President Les McDonald and ITU
Executive Director Loreen Barnett. Although there are some problems with some of
the venues, the ITU Team with our competition and venue teams is evolving into one
of the strongest entities at these Games.

Tonight we passed 2 magic hours at Casa de Espana ? the Olympic House for the
Spanish Olympic Committee. The NOC managed to find an authentic Spanish style
villa in the middle of Athens, complete with an equestrian course off the veranda.
Most of the Spanish Olympic team members were there.

Just as Queen Sophia of Spain arrived to join the celebrations, Marisol Casado,
Executive Director of the Spanish Triathlon Federation, President of the European
Triathlon Union, and Executive Board member of ITU just happened to phone the
mobile of Team ITU. What fun we had describing where we were. Marisol was
delighted for us, and only wished that she could be there too. She asked us to
extend her kind regards to the President of the Spanish Olympic Committee Mr.
Etcherverria ? a task we accomplished with pride.

The Opening Ceremonies are tomorrow and with them the beginning of the Games of
the XXVIII Olympiad ? the “welcome home” Games. Team ITU will work with the
Competition Team through-out the day, but break off in time to get into the stadium
in lots of time to start the celebrations.

Because of the Opening Ceremonies, tomorrow’s edition of ITU Diary from Athens
might be delayed by some hours. Until then best wishes from Athens……

Oh my gosh…just as we were closing this edition of the Diary from Athens Queen
Sophie passed by the corridor where we were working ? interesting times in Athens.

                    
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