China at the Olympics - 1984 (At the dorm)

Thank goodness -- the Libyan team pulled out at the last moment because the State Department would not give visas to some of their journalists. (Games participants did not need visas, but others did.) That left empty the top floor of the dorm housing the Chinese team. As our bus pulled up to the dorm, I explained that there were neither elevators nor porters, and since their rooms were on the second and third floors, each person would have to carry his or her own luggage upstairs. In jest, I suggested that people needing assistance with heavy bags call on the members of the weightlifting team for help. One of the weightlifters quickly replied that they would be quite useless as porters, since they were trained to hold weights overhead for only a few seconds after which they would fling them to the ground!

There were no problems with the housing, but one arrangement which was not altogether welcome to at least some Chinese athletes was the fact that the dining halls were in separate buildings from the dorms. At first I was mystified as to what the problem could possibly be -- the distance from the dorm to the nearest dining hall was a very short one, and the weather in Los Angeles was positively balmy both day and night at that time of year. Surely nobody in such top physical condition could get tired walking to and from meals? I later discovered that Olympians are indeed thoroughbreds -- just as a top-of-the-line sports car performs poorly in stop-and-go city traffic, so too someone who thinks nothing of a 5,000 km run can find a short walk tiring.