It’s what the Olympics should be all about. On Saturday American Olympian Joey Cheek donated the $15,000 he will receive from the U.S. Olympic Committee for the silver medal he won in men’s 1,000 metres speedskating at the Turin Games. Reuters reports that he said his efforts have so far raised $250,000 for the humanitarian group “Right to Play” founded by former Olympic speedskating champion Johann Koss. Cheek has already donated the $25,000 he got for the 500 metres gold medal he won earlier in the Games. He told reporters “eight or nine companies decided to match my original donation”. Koss founded the charity to help children in refugee camps play and battle apathy crime and sexual abuse.
A more subtle humanitarian gesture has resulted in e-mails from Canadians to The Norway Post. Norwegian coach Bjornar Hakensmoen handed a spare pole to Canadian cross-country skier Sara Renner after she broke her left pole in the sprint relay final Tuesday. The Canadian team won silver in the event and the Norwegian competitors were in fourth place. The Norway Post reports it has been “inundated” with e-mails from the “grateful” Canadians and printed several of them in the latest edition of the newspaper. One Canadian wrote, “I have gained a new found respect for the people of Norway and will be cheering you on in the remaining days at the Olympics”. The newspaper’s editor Rolleiv Solholm wrote “we here at The Norway Post humbly thank you for all your letters. Keep cheering! It looks like we’ll need it, with so many of our competitors sick ahead or during the Games this time”.
The Turin Games have a security problem they hadn’t expected. The Sunday Mirror reports that instead of dining in the fancy Italian restaurant of her luxury hotel, Britain’s Princess Anne who is in Turin as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and President of the British Olympic Association, has been “popping out to eat with the locals – in places that haven’t had security checks”. According to a member of her security team in Turin the Princess wants to try all the local dishes and for that she has to go to the local restaurants. It’s giving her security team a headache because at times they have less than 20 minutes notice when she spots a restaurant she likes.
