So about those two Olympic toilets. Otherwise known as Putin’s mixed message. Otherwise known as Larry Craig’s ultimate fantasy. When photos surfaced of two toilets side-by-side in the same men’s room stall at an Olympic mountain venue, officials for the Sochi organizing committee and the Putin government went all Ron Zeigler on the media. The photos were taken out of context, they said. It was really going to be a closet, they said. The toilets just hadn’t been removed yet. On and on. The only problem is that media members who were at the venue Tuesday said they were still there. The other problem is that there are also two toilets in the same stall in the women’s section WC next to the skating arena in Olympic Park. Currently weighing whether it’s worth possible arrest to get my photo taken with the twin hot seats. The arrest part is no laughing matter. Monday IOC president Thomas Bach had a press briefing. His bio says he’s German. I’m skeptical because he actually has a sense of humor. He was on my flight from Frankfurt and shortly after take off, he bailed on the other IOC suits in first class and spent much of the flight back in the cheap seats hanging out with the German women’s hockey team, figure skaters from Canada, snowboarders from the Netherlands (that ought to be an interesting drug test) and low life media types. Anyway a blogger from the U.S. forgot his backpack in this giant press conference room (think Kane Hall) after the Bach briefing. Later he went to lost and found. Russian authorities indeed had his backpack. They also arrested him. During his hour long interrogation it was clear the Russian police thought he might be a terrorist. Or worse GAY! After all he was in his late 20s and still single, and you know, American. You know that suspicious type. So finally after assuring Boris and Sergei that yes, he had many, many girlfriends back home, he was released. The gay issue like mud and abandoned vodka bottles is everywhere here. One of my favorite parts of the Olympics—besides the Hudson’s Bay Company store, Linda you will be happy to know this year access to Canada House is by invitation only although Dick Pound can get me in—is how the Dutch take over the speed skating venue. Whether it’s Salt Lake City, Turin, Vancouver, Dutch speed skating fans come by the thousands. Think Hayward Field only painted orange and drenched in Heineken. They ride their bikes every day from their hotels to the venue, where they turn the Olympics into a two week Queen’s Day. The roar of fans dressed in their bright orange clogs and cowboy boots, cowboy hats, wigs (there’s even a guy in an Orange Borat mankini), within the small confines of the building is deafening. And the Dutch never go to a major speed skating competition without their renown polka band. Whether it’s the Olympics or World Championships or a meet in the Netherlands, the band is always trackside, cranked up to 11. A few weeks ago the group was approached by LGBT groups in the Netherlands, who asked if the band would play gay songs in Sochi in protest of Russian anti-gay laws. That’s right they wanted the band to play “YMCA.” Of course the group agreed. Call them the Olympic Village People. The Russian authorities, however, said “nyet.” So the Dutch are weighing their options. My friends in the Dutch media said it’s a major story back home. Hell, its even bigger than The Bieber. Maybe they can just sneak a little of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” past the Russians.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Feb 2014 09:30:04 +0000
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