Going for gold
Hanson Brensen shows that bad behaviour is no hindrance to winning Olympic medals
The start of the 2006 Winter Olympics is approaching rapidly, and a gathering of the world’s finest athletes in a picture perfect snowy village seems like the ideal antidote to Hilary term in Oxford. Beautiful bodies, beautiful scenery, beautiful…debauchery? At first glance, a collection of elite athletes does not seem to be the ideal ground for a mad, bad, boozy party.
Not only are these individuals at their personal athletic peak, the Olympics seems plagued by a polite political correctness characterized by statements like, “I wish my competitors all the best.” The Oxford equivalent would be boaties: constantly on drinking bans, not to mention horrific chat that centres on erg times and the killer session last Wednesday morning down at the Isis.
The supposed relative sobriety of the Olympics can be easily explained however, if you consider that Olympians have spent the last decade training and toning their bodies in order to impress the world with its prowess.
Getting completely wellied the night before running the crucial leg of the 4X100 metre relay makes that all a bit of waste, doesn’t it? The perception of competitors as a talented but rather priggish and healthy bunch seems to have been the world’s collective impression of the Olympics thus far, and perhaps rightly so.
To be perfectly honest, who really wants to get down with the archery team? All that glistens is not gold, however, as American swimmers and World Record Holders Aaron Peirsol and Brendan Hansen reveal. I try not to look too shocked as they casually mention that, amongst other things, nudity is de rigeur inside the Olympic Village. Peirsol earned three gold medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and holds a world record in the 200m backstroke, as well as the 400m medley relay.
He describes the week after competing in the tournament as, “a week you spend making up for all the things you’ve done without for four years,” adding that the atmosphere is like “the biggest Spring Break in the world”. Brendan Hansen, who holds world records in the 100m and 200m breaststroke, is also a three time Olympic medallist. He chimes in with “It’s basically one big orgy."
Orgy? The Olympics? When pressed for details regarding the more bacchanalian side of the games, the pair snicker, and then Hansen breaks in with a story regarding looking out his window in the Olympic Village and seeing two athletes engaged in what has been described as the world’s most exciting indoor sport. “There were two random athletes having sex in the courtyard. No-one knew who they were."
These racy anecdotes are decidedly different from the usual Olympic chat regarding teamwork and international cooperation. Outside of the Village, there seemed to be no shortage of naughty activity either. Hansen and Peirsol recall hitting a variety of clubs in Athens, where the music would not start until early in the morning. Hansen says, “Well, the music wouldn’t start until three, and then you’d leave the club at eight, and then do media from ten to four."
Ah, just as painful as a tutorial following Wednesday night at Park End • we clearly have more in common than it seems at first sight. Don’t think that any of the athletes are paying for their nighttime extravaganzas either; as Hansen said sheepishly, “You’re on someone else’s dime.” This all seems a far cry from Olympic medallist Neil Walker assuring me that the Olympics were squeaky clean. “It’s a lot of healthy fun - these are peak athletes, after all."
Er, that seems to be a half truth. Booze and women dominate Peirsol and Hansen’s memories of post Olympic debauchery. It is important to keep in mind, however, that it is distinctly Olympian exclusive celebration: there is not a free exchange of celebrities and athletes during the post Olympic debauchery. When asked about inter-Olympian flirtations, Hansen remembers that at the 2000 Olympics, the Cuban athletes ran out of their allotment of condoms.
Somewhat, closer to home, Hansen also vaguely recalls partying with the U.S Girls Soccer Team, although he is rather fuzzy on the details. Peirsol, who also engaged in some inter-American Olympic teams revelry, reassures Hansen that, “They were a lot of fun.” Most mingling occurs mainly between athletes; security in Athens was tighter than it had ever been before, and the Olympic Village was strictly for competing atheletes.
Although many celebrities attended the games, there was a strict beautiful people/beautiful athletes divide. When asked about celebrities they encountered while at the Olympics, Peirsol remembers, “that dark haired girl from Sex and the City”. Other than that, celebrity wattage is fairly minimal, as the athletes mix with each other and locals at the various nightclubs.
Indeed, the models at the sponsored parties such as the official Sports Illustrated party or the Red Bull party tended to be local girls according to Hansen. “They were very hot, but they weren’t Victoria’s Secret models or anything,” he says ruefully. Personally, I think this is all splendid.
Growing up, I saw Olympic athletes as boring versions of real people who couldn’t get pissed or eat kebabs • how my eyes have been opened! As the snow gently falls on Torino this year, I am sure the après-ski will be hotter than ever, a perfect way escape from the otherwise frigid Olympic village.
9th Feb 2006