The Public Autopsy

Miah, A. (2004). "The Public Autopsy: Somewhere Between Art, Education and Entertainment." Journal of Medical Ethics 30: 576-579. Miah, A. (2003). "Dead Bodies for the Masses: The British Public Autopsy & the Aftermath" CTHEORY E119

In November 2002, Gunter von Hagens conducted a public autopsy in London, UK. Legally, it was all a bit suspect, but it was a fascinating event. This media moment took place soon after von Hagens had exhibited his plastinated bodies in the UK.

Since then, he has presented a series of programmes on UK TV called 'Anatomy for Beginners', which was considerably more professional and valuable, as an indication of what medicine does. However, the entire process relies on his technological method of plastination, so identifying the realness of the process is no easy task.

BAFTA Scotland, Glasgow

This photo was taken at the BAFTA 2004 Scotland event. While there were some very dodgy outfits and a lack of major celebrities, die-hard Scottish majors turned up: Peter Mullen, David Hayman, and even Lorraine Kelly were present, and, of course, Sharlene from Texas [pictured here in the media frenzy].

Why we should allow performance enhancing drugs in sport

Savulescu, Foddy and Clayton author this leader for the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The publication does not say much new to scholars of sport philosophy, though it does make a particular play about the importance of testing for 'health' rather than drugs. Acknowledging the value of the health argument, the authors are interested to see a more permissible culture of drug use in sport. It is important that such arguments are made in this kind of publication by these authors. In the last year or so, bioethical concerns about sport have developed a greater interest in broader bioethical spheres. This article is one contribution that is leading to a steady pace of literature in this subject beyond the sport ethics circles. As an extension of their argument, it is necessary to further question the justification of 'health' as an ethical concern in sport. There is more than one definition of health and the privileged biomedical approach, which continues to undermin anti-doping programmes is not wholly sufficient. Arguably, we have moved beyond using medicine just for therapy and this need not imply any less respect for how it also alleviates human suffering. it is but a further way in which we seek to explore the limits of being human and we have always done this, not even just with technology.

[2007.04.24: By extension, my article with Bengt Kayser and Alex Mauron has just been published by BMC Medical Ethics: 'Current Anti-Doping Policy: A Critical Appraisal (2007) ] 

Genetically Modified Athletes (2004)

As the first book ever to be published on the subject of gene doping, Genetically Modified Athletes (Routledge) has been reviewed and consistently cited around the world since 2004. It has also been covered by a range of international media including the Washington Post, the London Times, the Guardian and more. In 2008, a Brazilian translation was publshed by Phorta.

Reviews

“GMA provides a comprehensive analysis of how genetic technology will be used to enhance sports performance, and how our existing framework for dealing with the problem of sports doping is inadequate on both practical and ethical grounds.” Prof. Francis Fukuyama, PhD, Johns Hopkins University

“Andy Miah provides an incisive analysis of some of the most difficult issues facing anti-doping authorities. The research is thorough, the argument is perceptive and the conclusions are challenging. Compulsory reading for anyone interested in the future of anti-doping policy." Prof. Barrie Houlihan, PhD, Loughborough University

[GMA] is a must-read for anyone who considers seriously the future of sports performance, and the position of gene science in establishing an exciting yet level terrain for athletes. It at once calls our attention to social constructionist understandings of the body as a mediator of cultural values, and at the same time, highlights a series of sobering thoughts (at least for social scientists) about sports bodies as genetically determined. Ultimately, the text is invaluable for researchers seeking an advanced institutional analysis of how sports policies regarding the body are developed, promulgated and resisted within sporting institutions, and informed by social processes (that is, the techno-medical development of human bodies) emanating far away from sports fields. Dr Michael Atkinson, Sport in Society

It will play a vital role in future debates regarding both the ethics of genetic manipulation and, more generally, of doping and performance enhancement. The book should be read and considered carefully by scholars in sports studies, bioethicists, sport-policy makers, coaches, administrators, journalists, and, perhaps most importantly, athletes. Dr Ian Ritchie, Sociology of Sport Journal.

Miah understands better than the majority of us how tomorrow’s world may look. A glimpse into tomorrow’s world, where the convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science-NBIC are becoming daily realities, might make us think that Miah’s opinion is plausible. Dorin Festeu, European Sports Management Quarterly 

Miah's book is a thought-provoking read that raises important questions about sport and society. It is a truly boundary-crossing piece of work, one within which students and scholars in a number of disciplines, from sociology and law to sports studies, will find much material to mine. Guy Osborn,  Times Higher Education Supplement

Whether the notion of genetically modified athletes (or genetically modified humans in general) fills the reader with utopian joy or dystopian dread the book is of interest to a range of disciplines, uniting sports studies with interdisciplinary bioethics and policy discussions.blurred" Mark Anthony Cutter, Genomics, Society and Policy

"Genetically Modified Athletes can be highly recommended to readers interested in doping, anti-doping policies and sport, but first and foremost bioethics" Dr Inge Kryger Pedersen, Scandinavian J of Medicine and Science in Sports

Genetically Modified Athletes is a book of great importance to both athletics and the greater society. In not taking a firm moral or political position, Miah forces the reader to come to grips with a rapidly changing world in which the line between science and science fiction is blurred" Melissa Donais, Yale Journal of Public Health

"This extremely interesting book is a must for everyone who takes the ethics in sports seriously....it is compulsory reading for anyone interested in the future of the athletes and the sports in the forthcoming 'era' of genetically engineered sports person." Fadil Ozyener, MD, PhD, University Medical School, Turkey for Journal of Sports Science and Medicine

'Always scholarly and well researched, this book had me turning pages at the rate I normally reserve for a good novel … This book not only added to my knowledge … but it also changed some of my attitudes to doping in sport and genetical modification … [Miah's] book should be compulsory reading on all Sports Medicine courses because it will promote debate, challenge consensus and make people think.'  Prof. Dr. Andy Smith, FBASES, York and St John College for British Association of Sport and Exercise Medicine Today

Select list of Academic Citations/Reviews

1. Mazanov, J. (2009). "Without bounds: A cosmopolitan research agenda for drugs in sport." Sport in Society 12(3): 411 - 422.
2. Mazanov, J. (2009). "Debating the role of drugs in sport: a reader." Sport in Society 12(3): 296 - 312.
3. Mazanov, J. and V. McDermott (2009). "The case for a social science of drugs in sport." Sport in Society 12(3): 276 - 295.
4. McNamee, M.J. (2008) Sports, Virtues and Vices. Oxon and New York, Routledge.
5. Kious, B. M. (2008). "Philosophy on Steroids: why the anti-doping position could use a little enhancement." Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 29: 213-234.
6. Stein, D.J. (2008) Philosophy of Psychopharmacology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p.118.
7. More, Pete. (2008) Enhancing Me: The Hope and the Hype of Human Enhancement (Science Museum TechKnow Series), John Wiley & Sons, p.249.
8. Christian Lenk, Nils Hoppe & Roberto Andorno (2007) Ethics and Law of Intellectual Property: Current Problems in Politics, Science and Technology (Applied Legal Philosophy), Ashgate, p.84.
9. Heinemann Educational Publishers (2007) Perspectives on Science: The History, Philosophy and Ethics of Science.
10. Kok, F. (2007) Personalized Nutrition: Principles and Applications, p.167.
11. Green R.M. (2007) Babies by Design: The Ethics of Genetic Choice. New Haven: Yale University Press.
12. Petróczi, A. (2007). "Attitudes and doping: a structural equation analysis of the relationship between athletes' attitudes, sport orientation and doping behaviourSubstance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy 2(34): doi:10.1186/1747-597X-2-34.
13. Davids, K. and J. Baker (2007). "Genes, Environment and Sport Performance: Why the Nature-Nurture Dualism is no Longer Relevant." Sports Medicine37(11): 961-980.
14. Mitchell, C. B., E. D. Pellegrino, et al. (2007). Biotechnology and the Human Good. Washington, DC., Georgetown University Press.
15. TWINE, R. (2007) Thinking across species - a critical bioethics approach to enhancement. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, 28, 509-523.
16. D'ANDREA, A. C. (2006) Federalizing Bioethics. Texas Law Review, 83, 1663.
17. Houlihan, B.M.J. (2006) GMA Review, European Physical Education Review, 12(3), 382-384.
18. Foddy, B. (2006), 'The ethics of genetic testing in sport', International SportsMed Journal, 7, 3, 216-224.
19. Cavanagh, S. L. and H. Sykes (2006). "Transsexual Bodies at the Olympics: The International Olympic Committee's Policy on Transsexual Athletes at the 2004 Athens Summer Games." Body & Society 12(3): 75-102.
20. Parks, J. B., J. Quarterman, et al., Eds. (2006). Contemporary Sport Management (Third Edition). Champaign, IL., Human Kinetics.
21. Sheridan, H., B. Pasveer, et al. (2006). "Gene-Talk and Sport-Talk: A View from the Radical Middle Ground." European Journal of Sport Science 6(4): 223-230.
22. Culbertson, L. (2006). "Book Review: Genetically Modified Athletes." Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 33(1).
23. Tamburrini, C. (2006). "Are Doping Sanctions Justified? A Moral Relativistic View." Sport in Society 9(2): 199-211.
24. Atkinson, M. (2006). "Book Review: Genetically Modified Athletes." Sport in Society 9(1): 172-175.
25. Shanks, Pete. (2005) Human Genetic Engineering: A Guide for Activists, Skeptics and the Very Perplexed, Nation Books.
26. Moates, A. (2005). "Sports Medicine and Ethics." Chisholm Health Ethics Bulletin 11(2): 6-9.
27. Pincock, S. (2005). "Gene Doping." The Lancet: Special Supplement on Sport and Medicine 366(S18-S19).
28. Belyaletdinov, R.R. (2005) Divnyi novyi sport (Brave New Sports), Chelovek, #5, 169-173 [Russian Academy of Science]
29. Jonsson, Kutte. (2005) Cyborgatleterna äh här?! Om genus, “genfuskare” och idrottens hybrider, Idrottsforum, 1-13.
30. Ellliott, C. (2005) The Soul of a New Machine: Bioethicists in the Bureaucracy, Cambridge Quarterly for Healthcare Ethics; 14:4. 379-384.
31. Ian Ritchie (2005) Book Review." Sociology of Sport Journal, 22, 239-241.
32. Osborn, G. (2005). Uphill race for GM sprinters? Book Review. Times Higher Education Supplement. London: 24.
33. Cutter, A. M. (2005). "Book Review." Genomics, Society and Policy 1(2): 94-96.
34. Festeu, D. (2005) Book Review, GMA, European Sport Management Quarterly, 5(1), 95-97.
35. Cashmore, E. (2005) Making Sense of Sports. London & New York: Routledge
36. Donais, M. (2005) Book Review, Yale Journal of Public Health
37. Pederson, I. K. (2005). "Book Review." Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports 15: 65-66.
38. Jönsson, K. (2004). "Genetiskt modifierade idrottare." Idrottsforum 26 October: http://idrottsforum.org/reviews/items/jonkut_gma.html.
39. Hilvoorde, Ivo van. (2004) Topsport en gendoping. Grenzen aan sport, opsporing en geloofwaardigheid. In Krisis. Tijdschrift voor empirische filosofie, 5(4), 5-21.
40. Ozyener, F. (2004). "Book Review:." Journal of Sports Science and Medicine 3: 197.
41. Hosta, M. (2004). "Book Review of Genetically Modified Athletes."Druzboslovne Razprave 20(46).
42. Turner, L. (2004, August 13). Book Review: Ready, Steady…Modify, The Lancet 364:9434, pp.573-4.
43. Tooby-Smith, A. (13 July, 2004) Gene Doping, British Association of Sports Medicine Today, 2.
44. McNamee, M. J. (2004). "Philosophy of Sport." Nursing Philosophy 5(2): 182-183.
45. Córdova, M. Á. (2004). ATLETAS TRANSGÉNICOS: ¿MITO O REALIDAD? Presente: Diario Del Sureste. Mexico:http://www.diariopresente.com.mx/Portal/ArticleView.php?article_id=9919

London

This photo was taken recently in London on the way to Norwich for the Scientific Cafe talk. The presence of the London 2012 bid is very strong around the city and final bid documents are submtted to the IOC before Christmas.

Holyrood Parliament House, Edinburgh

The construction of the new Scottish Parliament house at Holyrood was completed in July 2004. It was officially opened by the Queen on Satuday 9 October. Many people were protesting for Scotland's independence from England and the Queen's presence was not welcome by all. Ridiculously, protestors were permitted to demonstrate in a 'pen' about 300m away from any of the proceedings, near to the foot of Arthur's seat. One (and only one) committed individual stayed there until the very end of the ceremony.

Boxing and the Medical View

A series of articles in the Journal of Medical Ethics discusses the role of the medical profession in how boxing is administrated. The first is by Sokol who argues that the profession should be limited to providing advice and information about the risks of boxing, rather than to campaign for it to be banned. Perhaps the most interesting article is by Spriggs who discusses the prospect of compulsory genetic tests for boxers as a way of deciding whether they should be granted a license. This matter has been raised elsewhere in the British J of Sports Medicine and in the Australian Law Reforms Commission report, 'Essentially Yours'. Since the significance of such genetic information is widely disputed, its role in determining what kind of sports people can play is certainly controversial.

Athens 2004

Lausanne, Switzerland

The AISTS is an institution growing in reputation and prestige. I have lectured for them since 2003 and this year gave presentations on my work on 'Virtual Realities, Computer Games and Sports'. Lausanne is an excellent location to create an international sports programme. The public day on 'Genetics and Sport' was hosted by the Faculty of Medicine and very well-attended.

The finishing line

This is our last day in Athens. How quickly it has all happened! The morning is spent trying to arrange bags, then rushing to meet Lucy from the Olympic Truce but she cancels so we get back to the house. We do not leave for the ZPC until 12.30 and decide to have lunch at the nice ‘Event’ restaurant to learn, upon arrival around 2pm, that at 12 there had been a press presentation by the Torino 2006 Winter Games Team. We are disappointed to have missed it, but we get some information, including an extensive press pack. On the way, before lunch, we go through Swatch street in Plaka to see ‘Kaleidoscope’, one of many sponsor-related art initiatives. It is a clever idea, consisting of objects made by athletes in the form of art displays. The street is painted as a track lane.

At our return at the ZPC, the Zappeion peristyle has been transformed into a food and drinks display from all over Greece. As always, it has been very well arranged. It is amazing how many shows they are putting on, most of them in excellent taste though poorly attended by the journalists. We get some free ice cream, which is always welcome.

We take the bus to the airport and are very happy to learn that British Airways will allow us to take all the material we have compiled without charge.

We see many athletes at the airport. They are leaving after their events, which is a shame as one would wish that the Olympic village were full and busy to the end – and that the athletes were able to enjoy the atmosphere. But reality is not always as one would like it. In the end, it is the athletes with less chances of winning who are probably making the most of the Olympic experience. At least, they can relax enough to enjoy and socialise, party and meet different cultures – and stay until to the Closing ceremony!

We, unfortunately, will have to give it a miss this year. Next stop is Montreal!

Radcliffe's Greek tragedy

We go to the Panathenaico together to see end of Women Marathon. The entry is a bit chaotic, with contradicting directions being given – entry by the stadium, where tickets are still distributed at the official boot, or through a special entrance at the National Gardens, linked to stadium through a walled corridor. At these entrance lots of people waiting, then we are told to move away, as we cannot get in without tickets. Most of us have them, so it is a useless remark that confuses people. It takes a while to make it through the corridor – constantly stopped to be checked out, with lots of police. We catch a glimpse of two ‘Greek philosophers’ at a bench behind the fences, in the park, looking in on us. (Isn’t alcohol a banned substance at the Games?) Most of the crowd are Brits carrying flags. Every British person in Athens seems to be here, benefiting from the 10 euro ticket. Not difficult to get good seats near the finishing line – the stadium is large and we are early. We are just next to the media seats, which are indeed always the best (better than the VIPs designated area on the side). While we sit, we see Bridget McConnell and her husband the first Minister of Scotland Jack McConnell. A happy coincidence. We had a chance to say hello to them both. With them is the well known former British athlete Dame Mary Peters, creating a fuss as fans ask her for a signature. Japanese fans do not know what is happening (they ask us who she is) but also ask for a signature.

The stadium is in full swing with the British fans dancing and flashing their flags. A smaller contingent of Japanese fans is also visible. The race starts and Paula Radcliffe is leading, which brings cheers around the stadium. But she stops, unexpectedly, in the 23 mile mark – just 3 miles to go. She is in tears, and the stadium in disbelief. The Japanese runner wins the race, with all Japanese of a sudden getting prominence. We all cheer for the runners as they arrive, especially for Liz Yelling. When she arrives, Andy spots her husband Martin, an old friend from Bedford, and has a chance to talk with him.

It is nice to stay until the very end – the race started at 6pm and the final runner arrives around 9.45pm – almost 10pm. It feels like this is the real Olympic spirit. It is inspiring to see the reactions and appreciation of the runners who arrive exhausted and still have the strength to smile or send kisses to the crowd while they run the final lap. Several of them collapse after the finishing line and must be taken out in a stretcher. The Japanese winner, though, after a moment of rest, is unstoppable, running around everywhere, carrying the Japanese flag, talking to the media and then, after receiving flowers – one hour or so after winning – running up and down the seating area, mingling with the fans that follow her around. Andy manages to shake her hand. It is so funny! Like a Benny Hill show, says Chris, as we look at the Japanese running around after her, some of them in funny costumes, a group of them all dressed in bright pink. What a strange sight, in this so beautiful and solemn stadium! It is a nice feeling throughout, despite the sad end to Paula’s race.

We go for dinner in the Italian restaurant that is team Japan’s house after submerging our feet in the Kiatsu bath at the entrance. It consists of hot water and stones for massaging the soles of your feet. It is an initiative of the Japanese to promote healthy practices during the Games, and it works!

Visa Olympians meeting centre

After a big breakfast with our hosts, we get to the ZPC and spend some time taking photographs at the Olympic Truce stand. We will use these for our university press release and to distribute information about the Truce more widely. We also go around the Panathenaiko stadium to take some photographs while it is empty. It is such a beautiful and memorable stadium. Later on today we will come here to see the end of the women’s marathon. After lunch, we go to the Visa Olympians Meeting Centre to attend the International Olympic Academy Participants Association (IOAPA) reunion. It is a good chance to catch up with old ‘Olympic circle’ friends. Amongst the best surprises is seeing Thomas Kaptain, who is in excellent shape and funny as ever. We also see Kostas Georgiadis and his wife. Norbert Muller and Manfred Messing from Mainz University are also there. As is Holger Preuss from the same university with whom we have a brief chat.

We also have a chat with Evi, and a quick hello to Elisabeth Hanley who makes a speech to congratulate Laurel Iversen for her dedication to the IOAPA. We see Bob Barney, John Lucas and Cesar Torres but have no chance to say hi. We meet a UN culture and sport officer working in Kosovo who knows Ana Belen Moreno (from the Olympic Studies Centre in Barcelona). Ana Belen was working with him the year she went to Kosovo. He is an interesting person with a very interesting job. To be followed up. As always a bit of surprise as, in the end, we do not know so many people within the IOA world!

The longest time is spent with Noemi Monin from the Museum/OSC, now in charge of Summer Games Coordination – a post briefly held by Nuria Puig, who is now back at the OSC in Lausanne. She will be working on the Beijing links. We discuss our views about the Athens cultural programme. Few people knows about the ‘cultureguide’ and are often confused about the diversity of activity on offer.

We share most of the afternoon/ evening with Berta and Chris (from the Centre for Olympic Studies in Barcelona), who have had the chance to see some events through IOC support. They have collected lots of material (25kg) mainly through the Main Press Centre, where they were based. They also visited the ZPC and found it very useful and accessible.

Olympic park - athletics

A full day at OAKA today for the athletics. We depart at around 730am, missing our bus and, thus, taking around 40mins to get to the tram. We arrive at OAKA around 915am and are, again, able to sit where we like. So we get some near front-row seats to watch the Heptahlon long jump. Denise Lewis pulls out with injury, though looked good in the performance. A strong performance from Team GB’s Kelly Sotherton. We also ‘see’ the 100m heats, which include Maurice Greene, Kim Collins and Greg Campbell, though the sprint track is on the other side of the stadium, so we don’t really see much more than small dots of people and the television screens in the stadium. We took some time to get to know the OAKA complex. It is a bit desert-like, sand on the ground, seemingly unfinished, though possible to pass of as a traditional Mediterranean dry and dusty landscape! Sponsors are not too overwhelmingly, though are clearly present in the facilities spaces. Many Kodak and coke stands and the McDonalds restaurant is bursting at the seams. Water and food are reasonably priced though.

At 125pm we take the metro to Nea Ionia to see the DESTE foundation exhibit ‘Monument to Now’. Well worth a visit, though the volunteers around the area did not know about its existence.

Olympic opera

At 7pm we leave the ZPC for the Odeon of Herod Atticus. There we are going to see the opera ‘Rea’ by Spyros Samaras, which has been made famous because of its music becoming the basis for the modern Olympic Hymn. We are really exhausted and the hard stone seats do not help to make us feel relaxed, so we decide to leave at the end of act 1 and make a couple of tourists very happy with our tickets for the opera’s second half. We go out for dinner at Kolonnaki square, a very pleasant and upmarket area of the city were prices are high but service is truly excellent. We are lucky and have an uneventful public transport return to our flat.

Commonwealth connections

After the exhausting – but great – interviews session, Beatriz gets back to the Zappeion Press Centre to attend a press conference by the organisers of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006. During the press reception, we have a brief chat with Lord Sebastian Coe, the chairman of the London 2012 Bid. He is happy to hear about our project and very encouraging. We also see Prof Kristine Toohey from University of Technology in Sydney, with whom Beatriz had worked during her experience at the Sydney Organising Committee for Games in years 1999 and 2000. The press conference is interesting enough, but the best part comes at the end, with the distribution of information backs and, best of all, nice Commonwealth pins. The pin mania is difficult to avoid in Olympic and related circles!.

Research intensive

A full research day for both of us. Andy spends time in the ZPC working on new archival material, promotion for the public communication of our work, articles for newspapers and subsequently visits the archaeological site in Athens. Despite it being summer and Games week, it is relatively empty. Beatriz has to go through a real marathon of interviews at the Hellenic Culture Organisation (HCO) headquarters. This is the group in charge of the Cultural Olympiad on behalf of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture. The meetings start at 1pm and do not finish until practically 6pm. She receives great support from Takis Panagiotopoulos, HCO president advisor.

The first meeting is with Amaryllis Frangou, the director of communication. She is a very straight forward person who offers very useful information about the evolution of the Cultural Olympiad marketing and promotional campaigns. She shows videos of the Cultural Olympiad TV campaign from 2002 onwards. It is also helpful to learn about the progress of the logo and the notion of a ‘brand’ that is supposed to survive the end of the Games and become established as a permanent Cultural Foundation with a base in Greece.

The next interview is with Liza Tsaliki, director of international collaborations. It is excellent to meet her and it will be definitely be worth keeping in touch. She has an academic background in cultural and media studies and is good friends with Prof. Neil Blain from Paisley University in Glasgow, who happens to be the head of Andy’s school. The interview provides detailed information about the Olympiad wider (and complex!) political context and the difficulties in securing a broad international projection.

An unexpected meeting with Elias Vergidis, manager of the new Athens Culture Guide, proves very useful as well. The Guide is rapidly becoming a key reference point of Athens cultural agenda. It is by far the best guide to get an impression of the wide range of cultural activity happening in Athens during the Olympics, including not only ATHOC and Municipality cultural activities, but also the Cultural Olympiad, the Hellenic festival programme and a range of alternative offerings. The guide is supported by the HCO and has been set as a long term project.

The final meeting is with George Liontos, director of the ‘department of programme realization’, that is, the man in charge of cultural programming. He is a rather authoritative man, with a far reaching experience at the Ministry of Culture. He has a very good insight of the evolution of the Cultural Olympiad since its original inception in 1998 and is also well aware of the difficulties in confirming certain acts and responding to the very ambitious design of the Olympiad during the four years it has lasted. He offers a magnificent selection of Cultural Olympiad publications. These include several hard-back (and extremely heavy!) exhibition catalogues with great photographs, which are, indeed, extremely valuable additions to our Olympic culture library collection.

Ancient Olympia or bust

At 3.45am, we walk over to Syntagma to catch the media coach down to Olympia. This was not provided free and was actually quite expensive. Their luxury coach was far from being luxury and we did feel sorry for some of the media, many of whom were big guys with big equipment. The 5hr journey down to Olympia cannot have been easy. Most of the journalists were from the Main Press Centre and it was full. We arrive in Olympia at 9am and the route was quite different towards the end. Olympia had gone through some dramatic changes in recent months. Andy was last here in June 2003. Upon arriving, we discover that departure is not until 8pm – we had been told it was 1pm, after the shot put finished. This spoils our plan to be back in Athens for the Cultural Olympiad event tonight at 9pm, so new plans were necessary. The tour guide assures us she will find out about other possibilities, so we watch the event and relax a little. It is amazing how they have transformed the walk from Olympia down to the stadium, though there are nearly no water kiosks and certainly no food anywhere.

At around 1230pm, we rush to the restaurant to see if we can grab a bite before learning that we need to take the 1pm train back to Olympia to ensure we make it there for the evening. Shame, since it would have been good to talk more with the journalists, one of whom said that being in Olympia is the highlight of his career. So much for being cynical about the sports media journalist. Here we were in the heart of where sport began and it actually managed to touch someone in a very important way. How reassuring.

The train back to Athens was not much fun. First leg was packed in like chickens. The second leg began in a nice first class carriage, until we were moved and had to walk through a ‘raining’ carriage – air conditioning leaking into the train – and into our less air-conditioned, but dry carriage. It took around 6.5 hours to get back and we were exhausted by the end of it. Still, just enough time to get cleaned up for the Cultural Olympiad function.

Zappeion events

Later that day, the Expo 2008 Thessaloniki bid committee gave a presentation about their aims. That night, we would prepare for one of the ZPC culture events, an evening of Greek cuisine. We had hoped for a table with ZPC officials and it more or less worked out, except for an unusual Frenchman who decided to sit with all of us and show us photographs of him with, among others, the Pope! This was a truly bizarre evening, with somewhat serious consequences. The meal was supposed to be the one occasion when colleagues from the ZPC could sit and have some relaxing, together time. Well, while we had been invited to join their table, he had not and he was taking the last seat. Ultimately, the boss of the ZPC group dealt with it very professionally, but we did feel sorry for them! Anyway, the food was great, but nearly non-existence, so it was a quick McDonalds later. We stayed at the ZPC all night tonight, since tomorrow was the 4.30am departure to Olympia for the Shot put.

Athens by art

Depart home around 9.15am, Beatriz was due to meet Nelly Kyriazi, Director of the Municipal Gallery of Athens. She is meeting her to talk about her role as curator of the ‘Athens by Art’ contemporary public art programme being presented throughout the city during the Olympic fortnight. Andy was at the ZPC until 1230pm, conducting the daily archival work.

City scenes

Arrive at ZPC at 1130am only to find out that our Main Press Centre accreditation application has been declined. The ZPC officials are clearly not that influential when it comes to ATHOC accredited buildings. We go to the New Benaki Museum, another Cultural Olympiad venue; an impressive exhibition of clothing from a range of locations called ‘Ptychoseis=Folds+Pleats’. This is definitely one of the most extraordinary exhibitions during the Games. We then venture over to the Technopolis venue, an extensive complex of cultural centres and activity. There were few people around and the guard seemed desperate to talk to someone. One of the exhibits was a video of Olympic history, which included interviews with Olympic veteran academics John MacAloon and Norbert Mueller.

Back at the ZPC at 7pm to find out about a Torino 2006 function due to take place that night. No info is available, which ruins the plan for that evening. Instead, we take the evening to have some sushi and find some of the Catch the Light events. However, there was no information available about this at Syntagma square and the people handing out leaflets about it at Korai Square were almost invisible. At around 10pm, one of the ticket booths happened to be closing and we saw an argument between a visitor and an employee, the former of which was protesting at their closing so early. A fight very nearly broke out! The volunteers are so vulnerable sometimes and just get too hard a time from visitors.

The tram home functioned well.