The Olympics... and beyond

At the end of August, I took a short trip to Lake Placid, N.Y. to visit some Olympic sites from the Winter Olympics of 1932 and 1980. This is the column that appeared in Salmon Press Newspapers in the week following the trip and I thought I'd share it here. As anyone who has read these pages over the years probably knows, I am a big Olympics guy. I’ve had the honor of covering six Olympic Games over the last 12 years, four Winter Games and two Summer Games. Even before I got those credentials for the 2014 Sochi Olympics, I loved watching them on television. All those things considered, it’s pretty surprising that I had never been to the Olympic venues that are physically closest to where I live. My recent trip to Los Angeles allowed me to see some of the venues being used in two years (and some that were used in 1984) and I’ve also seen places in Atlanta that hosted the Games in 1996. But until last Monday, I had never been to Lake Placid, the two-time Winter Olympics host in upsta...

Way back in 2012 I submitted my first application for credentials for the Olympics, hoping to attend the Sochi Olympics in 2014 to see Kennett graduate Leanne Smith and possibly fellow Kennett grad Sean Doherty compete on the big stage. I was not terribly optimistic about my chances of getting those credentials, but I figured it couldn't hurt to at least put my name out there. I remember where I was when I got the e-mail stating that I had been approved for credentials (the North Conway Burger King parking lot after a Kennett football game) and ever since then, it's basically been a constant process of applying.  I didn't apply for those first Summer Games after Sochi (Rio in 2016) but applied again for PyeongChang in 2018 and then started looking at the Summer Olympic possibility and applied for Tokyo. Due to the COVID pandemic, the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 came just six months or so after I got back from Tokyo in 2021 and then it was Paris in 2024 and Milan-Cortina...