Dog Tales: Working The Atlanta Olympics
August 11, 2016 | General
Aug. 11, 2016 By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
Twenty years ago, Ron Courson spent a memorable and furiously busy few weeks living in the training room at the Olympic Stadium in Atlanta.
Courson, Georgia's Senior Associate Athletic Director for Sports Medicine, was the chief athletic trainer for track and field during the 1996 Summer Olympics. He's been plenty busy lately, with Georgia football practice under way, but fall camp may not have been quite as demanding as his schedule was this time 20 years ago.
"We would pretty much go from 5 in the morning to midnight, because track is long and we had double sessions every day," Courson said.
Georgia athletes qualified for the 1996 Games in five different events, from United States women's basketball legends Teresa Edwards and Katrina McClain, to a pair of Icelandic track and field athletes — one third of the entire Icelandic delegation — in Guðrún Arnardóttir and Jón Magnússon.
In all, 14 Bulldogs competed in Atlanta, but they weren't the only people with Georgia athletics ties heavily involved in the Games. Numerous athletic department staff members worked events — for several it wasn't their first or only Olympics — and some, like Courson, had very prominent and important roles.
Claude Felton, Georgia's longtime Senior Associate Athletic Director for Sports Communications, was the Press Venue Chief — or as the sign in his office from the Games reads in French: "Chef du Service de Press" — for among the more high-profile events, the men's and women's semifinal and finals soccer games at Sanford Stadium.
Multiple members of Felton's sports communications staff also worked the games, serving as Press Venue Chief at different events: Tim Hix was at Stegeman Coliseum with rhythmic gymnastics and early-round volleyball; Christopher Lakos was at Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta for baseball; and Mike Mobley was in Atlanta at the Hank McCamish Pavilion for boxing.
Steven Colquitt, another longtime sports communications staff member for Georgia, was the sports editor of the Athens Banner-Herald in 1996. Colquitt covered the volleyball action at Stegeman and directed the newspaper's coverage of the soccer and rhythmic gymnastics.
Stephanie Ransom, Associate Athletic Director for Business Operations, was a Georgia student in 1996 and a member of the brand new women's soccer team. Georgia's soccer program played its inaugural season in 1995 and during the soccer at Sanford Stadium, Ransom (then Stephanie Yarem) and some of her teammates were part of the field crew that fixed divots at halftime and after the games.
While Courson was busy at the Olympic Stadium, Steve Bryant, Georgia's Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Medicine, was working the Games at Stegeman Coliseum.
Felton's first Olympic experience came in Los Angeles in 1984, where he was on the U.S. Olympic Committee's media relations staff. That job was much easier than his 1996 role, he said, because he was just dealing with U.S. athletes and the English language. During the soccer in Athens, he and his staff were dealing with thousands of media members and officials from numerous countries, many of whom didn't speak English.
"I was chewed out a few times in other languages," he said, laughing.
Felton has worked in sports communications at Georgia since 1979 and been in Sanford Stadium for almost countless football games. The Olympic soccer, and its inherent media crush, was nothing like a fall Saturday in Athens.
"It was a lot more complicated than a Georgia game," he said. "Now, if I walked in today and had to do a Georgia game, my first Georgia game, it would be pretty challenging.
"A Georgia game you're talking hundreds of media and this you're talking like thousands. It was a lot of moving parts, all happening at the same time."
For Courson, the demands of the Games weren't just limited to the summer of 1996. He was part of the planning committee and said that for three years leading up to the Games he would have to go to meetings in Atlanta, first monthly and then weekly. There are few things more logistically challenging than trying to put into place all of the different pieces that go into hosting an Olympics.
In 1988 Courson was in Seoul, South Korea, for the Olympics, working as a trainer, and he was a liaison with the U.S. Olympic Committee in 1992. The Atlanta Games were something else entirely, he said.
"When I went to Korea and Spain, you just pack your bag and go, and a lot of logistical things are already set," he said. But for Atlanta, with Courson in charge of everything sports medicine related at track and field, "We set up all of the emergency venues, I got to pick the entire staff — athletic trainers, physicians and paramedics — so there were a lot more logistics and a lot more work, but it gave you a much better appreciation for it all when you did it."
Courson and some of his staff wound up sleeping at Olympic Stadium because not only were they working incredibly long days at the venue, but between going through security and traveling to and from the Olympic Village they lost another hour or two each day. The simplest solution was to not leave the stadium.
"I brought a sleeping bag in and actually got about two more hours of sleep every night by doing that," he said.
Courson said he's had the opportunity to work Olympics since but the Games' schedules haven't worked with the start of football practice. But he's open to doing it again, if possible. Doing all he did in Atlanta, Courson said, was "definitely one of the highlights" of his career.
Along with the many University of Georgia employees that worked the Games in staff positions, there were many, many volunteers that got involved. For more than a year after the Games you might see them around town in their Atlanta Olympics polo shirts or hats.
Felton had a few of the polos, which may not have been the most fashionable things ever produced, but his primary uniform included an Atlanta Games coat, tie and straw hat.
"You're wearing all that and it's 90-something degrees down there every day," he said. "There was a lot of sweating going on."
Felton has worked two Olympics, numerous Final Fours, bowl games and even the many NCAA Tennis Championships Georgia has hosted. Generally speaking, he said, the success of all of them hinges upon one thing.
"So much of the success of those events really comes down to how good your volunteer staff is," he said. "We had a great group of volunteers, a lot of whom I knew from around here, but a lot of whom I didn't know, that were assigned to our area. No doubt, an event like that, if you've got really great volunteers you can be successful. And we had great volunteers."
As it turned out, Mobley was just getting started with the Atlanta Olympics. He also worked the London Olympics in 2012 and is currently in Rio de Janeiro working at the team handball venue.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
UGAAA Staff Writer
Twenty years ago, Ron Courson spent a memorable and furiously busy few weeks living in the training room at the Olympic Stadium in Atlanta.
Courson, Georgia's Senior Associate Athletic Director for Sports Medicine, was the chief athletic trainer for track and field during the 1996 Summer Olympics. He's been plenty busy lately, with Georgia football practice under way, but fall camp may not have been quite as demanding as his schedule was this time 20 years ago.
"We would pretty much go from 5 in the morning to midnight, because track is long and we had double sessions every day," Courson said.
Georgia athletes qualified for the 1996 Games in five different events, from United States women's basketball legends Teresa Edwards and Katrina McClain, to a pair of Icelandic track and field athletes — one third of the entire Icelandic delegation — in Guðrún Arnardóttir and Jón Magnússon.
In all, 14 Bulldogs competed in Atlanta, but they weren't the only people with Georgia athletics ties heavily involved in the Games. Numerous athletic department staff members worked events — for several it wasn't their first or only Olympics — and some, like Courson, had very prominent and important roles.
Claude Felton, Georgia's longtime Senior Associate Athletic Director for Sports Communications, was the Press Venue Chief — or as the sign in his office from the Games reads in French: "Chef du Service de Press" — for among the more high-profile events, the men's and women's semifinal and finals soccer games at Sanford Stadium.
Multiple members of Felton's sports communications staff also worked the games, serving as Press Venue Chief at different events: Tim Hix was at Stegeman Coliseum with rhythmic gymnastics and early-round volleyball; Christopher Lakos was at Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta for baseball; and Mike Mobley was in Atlanta at the Hank McCamish Pavilion for boxing.
Steven Colquitt, another longtime sports communications staff member for Georgia, was the sports editor of the Athens Banner-Herald in 1996. Colquitt covered the volleyball action at Stegeman and directed the newspaper's coverage of the soccer and rhythmic gymnastics.
Stephanie Ransom, Associate Athletic Director for Business Operations, was a Georgia student in 1996 and a member of the brand new women's soccer team. Georgia's soccer program played its inaugural season in 1995 and during the soccer at Sanford Stadium, Ransom (then Stephanie Yarem) and some of her teammates were part of the field crew that fixed divots at halftime and after the games.
While Courson was busy at the Olympic Stadium, Steve Bryant, Georgia's Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Medicine, was working the Games at Stegeman Coliseum.
Felton's first Olympic experience came in Los Angeles in 1984, where he was on the U.S. Olympic Committee's media relations staff. That job was much easier than his 1996 role, he said, because he was just dealing with U.S. athletes and the English language. During the soccer in Athens, he and his staff were dealing with thousands of media members and officials from numerous countries, many of whom didn't speak English.
"I was chewed out a few times in other languages," he said, laughing.
Felton has worked in sports communications at Georgia since 1979 and been in Sanford Stadium for almost countless football games. The Olympic soccer, and its inherent media crush, was nothing like a fall Saturday in Athens.
"It was a lot more complicated than a Georgia game," he said. "Now, if I walked in today and had to do a Georgia game, my first Georgia game, it would be pretty challenging.
"A Georgia game you're talking hundreds of media and this you're talking like thousands. It was a lot of moving parts, all happening at the same time."
For Courson, the demands of the Games weren't just limited to the summer of 1996. He was part of the planning committee and said that for three years leading up to the Games he would have to go to meetings in Atlanta, first monthly and then weekly. There are few things more logistically challenging than trying to put into place all of the different pieces that go into hosting an Olympics.
In 1988 Courson was in Seoul, South Korea, for the Olympics, working as a trainer, and he was a liaison with the U.S. Olympic Committee in 1992. The Atlanta Games were something else entirely, he said.
"When I went to Korea and Spain, you just pack your bag and go, and a lot of logistical things are already set," he said. But for Atlanta, with Courson in charge of everything sports medicine related at track and field, "We set up all of the emergency venues, I got to pick the entire staff — athletic trainers, physicians and paramedics — so there were a lot more logistics and a lot more work, but it gave you a much better appreciation for it all when you did it."
Courson and some of his staff wound up sleeping at Olympic Stadium because not only were they working incredibly long days at the venue, but between going through security and traveling to and from the Olympic Village they lost another hour or two each day. The simplest solution was to not leave the stadium.
"I brought a sleeping bag in and actually got about two more hours of sleep every night by doing that," he said.
Courson said he's had the opportunity to work Olympics since but the Games' schedules haven't worked with the start of football practice. But he's open to doing it again, if possible. Doing all he did in Atlanta, Courson said, was "definitely one of the highlights" of his career.
Along with the many University of Georgia employees that worked the Games in staff positions, there were many, many volunteers that got involved. For more than a year after the Games you might see them around town in their Atlanta Olympics polo shirts or hats.
Felton had a few of the polos, which may not have been the most fashionable things ever produced, but his primary uniform included an Atlanta Games coat, tie and straw hat.
"You're wearing all that and it's 90-something degrees down there every day," he said. "There was a lot of sweating going on."
Felton has worked two Olympics, numerous Final Fours, bowl games and even the many NCAA Tennis Championships Georgia has hosted. Generally speaking, he said, the success of all of them hinges upon one thing.
"So much of the success of those events really comes down to how good your volunteer staff is," he said. "We had a great group of volunteers, a lot of whom I knew from around here, but a lot of whom I didn't know, that were assigned to our area. No doubt, an event like that, if you've got really great volunteers you can be successful. And we had great volunteers."
As it turned out, Mobley was just getting started with the Atlanta Olympics. He also worked the London Olympics in 2012 and is currently in Rio de Janeiro working at the team handball venue.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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