Athlete Anecdotes

Managing Victory continues in full-force with our U.S. Team doing so well at these Games. It’s been a thrill to work with them in what are such defining, shining moments in their lives.

And all of them are really good people – gracious, humble, totally pumped for their dreams to be coming true. There are exceptions here and there, but for the most part they’re all wonderful. Here are some fun athletes anecdotes I’ve witnessed throughout the Games…

I know Evan Lysacek fairly well from my days at U.S. Figure Skating. I was tremendously happy for him to have won gold, and to have remained completely above the fray while bad-loser and poor-sport Evgeny Plushenko of Russia has acted like a spoiled child over his silver medal.

Evan’s been dating Olympic gymnastics champion Nastia Liukin on-and-off for quite some time now, although they’ve kept it quiet. Apparently the entertainment media got hold of it here for the first time, which doesn’t surprise me as The Golden Couple makes a catchy headline. She is really sweet around him – definitely head over heels. He seems to be a little more cautious though, even telling the Today Show folks that he’s single and looking for that special lady!

The night any athlete wins a medal, the USOC throws them a victory celebration at USA House with 25 friends and family. Well, U.S. Figure Skating doesn’t consider 25 people a proper celebration, so they paid for about 100 more to get in! Add with the additional 200 people who were already at the house, the place was packed as everyone waited for Evan to arrive.

Not aware of how the crowd was assembled upstairs, I got on the elevator with the entourage to go up. The elevator door opened, and there were 300 people screaming congratulations, taking photos and blowing noise makers! Here is Evan’s grand entrance off of the elevator, and you can see me hiding in the blue in the back.

Today I ran into another figure skater – Sarah Hughes – at the USA men’s hockey game against Switzerland. She was sitting two rows behind me with her mom! She said she’s had been watching the Games from home – pretty much the only figure skating Olympic champion not in Vancouver – and decided at the last minute she wanted to come up for the fun! She got here just last night, and joins Kristi Yamaguchi, Scott Hamilton, Michelle Kwan, Nancy Kerrigan, Brian Boitano, Peggy Flemming, Sasha Cohen and Tara Lipinski. Most of them have broadcast gigs while they’re here.

What’s been interesting to deal with on that front is that Michelle is working for Good Morning America (ABC) and Nancy Kerrigan is working for Entertainment Tonight (CBS). Because their programs are not affiliates of our partner, NBC, they get limited access to our athletes, which can be quite frustrating to an Olympic legend. For example, the night Evan won, we had to turn Nancy and her crew away from USA House. Instead of leaving, they lingered outside in the alleyway for two hours with the hopes of grabbing him on his way in. It didn’t work. Michelle tried to go around us to get Evan for GMA and even had her agent from her figure skating days calling around to try to set something up. It didn’t work either, although she waited her turn and got him a few days later.

Apolo went through Managing Victory after he won his seventh medal, which was much appreciated by the world’s press. An athlete is not required to go through the circuit until they’re done competing, especially if their coaches and team think it would be harmful to their focus. But when you set history by becoming the most decorated U.S. winter Olympian ever, the expectations are a little different!

We worked with Apolo’s agents and press officer four days out to ensure everyone was on the same page and no one changed their mind at the last minute. They followed through, thank goodness, and everyone got what they needed.

Apolo is so focused, in fact, that he turned down Oprah for Friday. She’s doing another Olympics segment for her Friday Live, and has scheduled some Skype interviews (Shani Davis, Johnny Weir) as well as sending a correspondent to try out some Olympic sports with our athletes (curling, speedskating). Oprah only needed 15 minutes from Apolo, but because it’s his competition day, he politely declined in order to stick to his regimen.

I worked with Shani Davis through his victory circuits as well. He’s a very nice, polite, smiley young man, but he’s very guarded around the media. He did agree to two press conferences as well as four interviews with NBC – a huge improvement over his media involvement in 2006. His interview with Lester Holt for the Today Show (above), was probably the most hard hitting, but he did just fine and had inspiring, poignant answers.

When our athletes come to USA House for their celebration, they also participate in a ceremony where they recognize and express their appreciation to the coach of their choice. The coach receives a special USOC Olympic medal, and they’re entered into what we call the Order of the Ikkos. The athletes’ comments while presenting the awards have led to some exceptionally touching moments. Here Shani is presenting an Order of the Ikkos award...

The athletes have been thrilled with this program, and it’s a brilliant way to give back to the supporters and mentors who lead their athletes to greatness. But one disappointing segment of the program is that while every individual athlete gets to bestow the honor, every team gets only ONE for the whole team, and it automatically goes to the head coach. I may have a very good reason for being partial ;), but to me this is incredibly unfair to the assistant coaches who are truly the backbone of their teams!

Snowboarder Louie Vito, of Dancing with the Stars fame, is a total goofball. While riding the bus to the Opening Ceremony, he said to my boss with a smile: “Dude… What? This is happening inside? Why the hell are we wearing all of these clothes?!”

Angela Ruggiero of women’s hockey was voted in as an athlete member of the International Olympic Committee today. This is huge! We only have 2 IOC members from the USA, out of 115. There are 12 athlete spots, and it’s a great way to get more representation and influence from your country on this important global body. Angela was one of two athletes voted in by all athletes competing here in Vancouver, out of a total of nine. This is not an easy feat considering the USA’s popularity in the world, or the fact that we’re winning so many medals here. But she won and now the USA has three IOC members!

She is extremely intelligent – graduated cum laude from Harvard – and will be a fantastic representative. Now that she’s on a roll, she’s ready to win the gold medal against Canada tomorrow!