Well in advance of the 19th Olympic Winter Games, Liston Bochette breezed into town this week to see if he could make some arrangements for himself and oh, about 5,000 of his closest friends.
Bochette is an Olympian. He competed for his native land of Puerto Rico in the Winter Games in Albertville, Lillehammer and Nagano and in the summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He was first a decathlete and then a bobsledder. He never did win a medal, but he did make a lot of friendships. Friendships he'd like to maintain.
As far as Bochette is concerned, Olympians make up one of the greatest fraternities on the face of the earth and, at the very least, they should have a reunion every time the Olympics are held.
Hence his pilgrimage to On-deck City.
Bochette came here looking for a place where any living Olympian can walk in, plop down and enjoy the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic experience. A place with a few big-screen TVs, a friendly lounge area and a big bulletin board where Olympians can post messages.
Things like: "Track shoes for sale, size 9," Carl Lewis
Or "Need 2 tickets to downhill," Franz Klammer
Or maybe "Make big $$$ in telemarketing!" Call 1-800-Jenner.
The idea, of course, is to make Olympians — there is no such thing as a former Olympian — more a part of the Olympic framework. Anyone who has competed in the Olympics is an automatic lifetime member of the fraternity (and sorority) and should never feel disenfranchised. Every time the Olympics roll around is another chance to remember and celebrate all those great Olympic ideals — and have another party.
Amazingly, until now such a feeling has been practically devoid in the modern Olympic movement. It wasn't until 1995 that a handful of Olympians got together and organized the World Olympians Association. They held their first reunion at the Atlanta Games in 1996, with pretty good results. Then, this past September at the Sydney Games, they held their second WOA reunion.
Like everything else in Sydney, the success was unprecedented.
Olympians flocked to faraway Australia by the thousands. Before the 17 days of the Games were over, an estimated 5,000 of the world's 80,000 living Olympians had visited the reunion center located near the Opera House in Sydney Harbor.
Young and old, male and female, black and white, winter and summer, they wandered in and out of the reunion hall. Among them were many of the biggest Olympic names in history — Carl Lewis, Muhammad Ali, Dick Toomey, Irena Szewinska, et al. — as well as many more non-medal winners like Liston Bochette.
All of them "the faces on the rings," as Bochette refers to them.
"They are plumbers, physicians, teachers, firemen, monarchs, you name it," he says. "They are from every race, culture and country, and they all have one thing in common. All are Olympians."
So how was the WOA's secretary-general accepted here?
With open arms, said Bochette.
From the mayor's office to the organizing committee's offices to the University of Utah business school — where Jack Brittain, the dean, is proposing an extensive Olympian symposium during the Games — he reported a reception that was overwhelmingly warm and inviting.
Barring unforeseen complications, in just a little over 14 months Salt Lake City is poised to become the first Winter Games city to not just host an Olympics, but also an Olympian reunion.
As Liston Bochette noted on his way out of town, "You can't own an Olympian — but you can have them over for dinner."
Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.