Top photographs
Left: Marc Daniel GUTEKUNST (DITC), Christos PALIOS (GRE), Dannette LEININGER (DITC,’92, ’96 US Olympian), Kevin YOUNG (US), Steve ALLEN (DITC)
Center: Dannette LEININGER (DITC), Steve ALLEN (DITC), Jimmy PINO (COL/WOA)
Right: Mike CAVANAUGH (USA Team Handball), Dannette LEININGER (DITC)

The whirlwind trip to the 2004 Olympic Games was made up of busy hot days and very long cool nights. I love the rhythm of life in Athens. It’s history, geography, food and people make Athens a beautiful and bustling city. Of the many places I have visited in the world, I will have to return to Athens and Greece as I feel I’ve only scratched the surface of what the country is all about.

The opportunity to attend the Athens Games was fortuitous and an unexpected pleasure. It was a bit unusual for me as I have been an athlete participating in two Olympic Games but never as a person attending the games. The ability to attend the games came up suddenly and required scrambling for resources to promote DeKalb as a sports destination, recruitment of athletes and to ensure we could properly unveil Steve Allen’s painting dedicated to the DeKalb International Training Center (DITC) and DeKalb County.

The latter event was graciously hosted at the Visa OLYMPIANS Reunion Center. The Visa OLYMPIANS Reunion Center was an ideal location for Steve Allen’s unveiling in the presence of DITC Co-Founder Prince Albert of MONACO and Dr. Marc Daniel GUTEKUNST. CEO Vernon JONES as well as many National Olympic Committee representatives and Olympians were present at the unveiling.

The Visa OLYMPIANS Reunion Center was a welcome oasis and I would like to extend my appreciation to Visa and World OLYMPIANS Association (WOA) for creating such a great space. It was an opportunity for Olympians from all over the world to relax, get a bite to eat, watch events and more importantly reunite with other Olympians. I actually ran into some American Olympic wrestlers that I haven’t seen since the ’92 Games. It was a great rendezvous spot. I really cannot say enough good things about what Visa and the World Olympians Association provided. A special thanks to Dr. Liston BOCHETTE and Rob STULL of WOA for hosting the DITC reception and creating the Visa OLYMPIANS Reunion Center.

The busy days of the Athens games consisted of starting our trek from the United States Olympic Committees Ship the World Renaissance. The USOC kindly extended an invitation to utilize their ship for the DITC staff accommodations. This was a great place for us to stay we enjoyed all the amenities that only the USOC can provide. It allowed us access to Staff and Board members and communications capabilities that made it very convenient to operate. It was time well spent every morning having breakfast with USOC Board of Directors, Staff or National Governing Body Staff. After a very short sleep we would head off the boat to attend meeting after meeting with National Olympic Committee Representatives at the Caravel Divani Hotel. Dr. GUTEKUNST made sure there was a constant flow of strategically selected NOC representatives to discuss DeKalb County and the opportunity the DITC can provide for the athletes of countries of Americas, Caribbean, Africa and Asia. Dr. GUTEKUNST was tirelessly promoting DeKalb as a viable elite athlete-training center. The DITC staff would like to extend our appreciation to the presence of CEO Vernon JONES who really bolstered the DITC credibility with all of the countries and the USOC. I believe the efforts were well spent because we received some very solid commitments from a number of countries to send their athletes to the DITC.

The evenings were filled with attending Olympic events, meetings and dinners at 12:30 a.m. were common place. Both Dr. GUTEKUNST and myself really enjoy track and field and were able to see 200m, 400m, 1500m finals one night and finals for the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays on a additional night. We saw the women’s marathon finish and Dr. GUTEKUNST witnessed his first handball match. The first handball match he watched was a Men’s match Spain v Germany, double overtime game that was decided in a shootout which is very unusual in handball but was also the deciding factor in the Women’s Gold Medal Match.

The DITC attendance of the Handball matches were very important in securing a meeting that is another stepping stone to the commitment of USA Team Handball’s Men’s Team moving to the DITC. I organized a meeting with President of the International Handball Federation, Dr. Moussa MOUSTAFFA, (EGY) Peter MUHLEMATTER, (SWI) COC, Miguel ROCA, (ESP) Treasurer of IHF, Mauoel OLIVIERA, (BRA) Pan American President, Christophe YAPO ACHY, (CIV) President of Africa, Michael CAVANAUGH, (USA) Executive Director and myself. The main topic of discussion was the future of handball in the United States and how the DITC would like to assist in this process. I believe that Michael CAVANAUGH was pleased to have a platform to speak about the progress of the American handball.

USA-Africa Track & Field Championships
During the Games we took of advantage of meeting with Dan NGEREM (NGR) President of Nigerian Athletes and Col. Malboum KALKABA (CMR) National Olympic Committee President, President of African Athletic Confederation to discuss the upcoming USA-AFRICA Championships March 12 or 13). Mr. NGEREM discussed the proposed dates and strategic planning for fundraising with South African PR firm.

Steve R. ALLEN presents his gift to the Mayor of Athens
One of the true pleasures of the games was attending Steve Allen’s presentation to the Mayor of Athens, Dora BAKOYANNIS. In attendance was Congresswoman Diane WATSON, United States Ambassador to Greece, Thomas MILLER, USOC Francisco CCAMPO, and Curt HAMAKAWA, and as it turns out an Athens Council woman that is American Yvette JARVIS. Councilwoman JARVIS is kind of the Madonna of Greece. She is commonly known as “Yvette” in Greece where she arrived a number of years ago as a basketball player, model, entertainer and finally seeking public office as a Athens City Councilwoman.

Allen's latest effort, a 42-by-48-inch painting called, "Unity and Peace Through Sport," was unveiled at Athens City Hall -- a gift from the people of California, which has twice hosted the summer Olympics, to the city hosting the current Games. Allen has been an official artist of the U.S. Olympic Committee since the 2000, and he is the DITC Official Artist in Residency.

The painting features the Olympic rings. Five runners represent the five continents of the world bringing the Olympic flame to Athens. The colors of their uniforms are made up only of the colors of the rings. The surface on which they run is comprised of flags of nations that have previously hosted the Olympics. Three women draped in the dresses of ancient Greece represent Athens giving the gift of the Games to the world. A few secrets lie hidden in the painting, such as the bib numbers of four of the runners represent the starting date of previous Games. Well what about the fifth runner with bib number 71054? That stands for July 10, 1954, Steve’s birthday.

We received an invitation to join the group for lunch and which resulted in another invitation to New Balance Hospitality, which was hosted at the Yacht Club of Greece. From the Yacht Club we rewarded with a spectacular view of three Olympic venues as well as the coastline and the Olympic sailing competition taking place. Dr. GUTEKUNST received a phone call and we were off and had to cut the visit short to meet the Cheik Talal Fahad Al Ahmad AL-SABAH, National Olympic President of Kuwait.

The 2004 Olympic Games were an unbelievable opportunity for the DITC and DeKalb County to promote our site as a sports destination. On a personal note attending the Olympics was a great experience. As an athlete attending the Games I was so focused on my competition I didn’t get to experience the Games in its entirety. I’ve gained so much appreciation of the Olympics and the people that give of their lives to make it truly a spectacular human experience.